Party leaders will always have to contend with the actions of their ministers and parliamentarians, but whether they take meaningful action over their behaviour seems to be another matter altogether. Momentous decisions make or break leaders, but their inaction speaks volumes about how they treat delicate matters that tend to embarrass them and their political parties.
During the 1996-1998 Labour government, then prime minister Alfred Sant was faced by allegations, brought to light back then by the newspaper The People, on the questionable employment of staff from within the electoral district of a parliamentary secretary, Joe Cilia, at the national pool, which fell under his remit.
Silence was followed by inaction. But when the junior minister’s actions went unchecked, destiny manifested itself again with another serious episode. In 2002, this newspaper revealed that the police had questioned the owner of a rental car over the alleged harassment of a woman. The car’s owner was questioned over the incident, because it had reportedly taken place from inside the car. The owner told the police that the car was not in his possession at the time, but was being driven by his business partner, Joe Cilia.
Once again, the reports did little to stoke up the fires at Mile End, where no response was forthcoming by the Labour leadership. It remained unclear as to whether the party was taking any interest into the story itself, which never went uncontested by Cilia himself, who also chose to employ the silent treatment. Indeed, Cilia had told MaltaToday back then that its questions did not even “deserve a reply” and famously stated he would no longer communicate with this newspaper.
In the end, Cilia decided to leave politics, by not contesting the general elections of 2003. But the episode highlighted here lends credence to the role the press plays in bringing to light the actions of elected representatives, who should be held accountable for their actions.
MaltaToday has upheld this role in society with the utmost responsibility. Claims that this newspaper’s reporting on Finance Minister Tonio Fenech are intended to slander him are unfounded. It is the duty of the press to report on the people occupying public posts, which in a democratic society are reasonably open to any form of scrutiny.
This week we have witnessed a cautious stand being taken by the Prime Minister over reports on a small turnkey contracting firm that claims to be owed a not insignificant sum of money by the finance minister. The firm, Rainbow Turnkey Projects, were sub-contracted by JPM Brothers, and claim that JPM’s director said the works at the finance minister’s house were in return for the minister’s intervention on a hotel sale. This allegation has been denied by Tonio Fenech.
But the Prime Minister has neither taken on the media, nor set up a formidable defence for his minister on this matter. Recently, the outburst of a backbencher during a PN parliamentary group meeting led to the outing of Tonio Fenech having accepted freebies from two major businessmen. Fenech later claimed he had the Prime Minister’s blessing. So amid accusations of Fenech breaching the Cabinet Ministers’ code of ethics, the perception created was that Lawrence Gonzi had seemingly backed Fenech’s ill-thought decision to take a trip aboard a private jet to watch Arsenal play. The Prime Minister appeared to take the flak, while Tonio Fenech dealt with the questions from the press.
In the case of the Arsenal trip, it seemed convenient to prop up Lawrence Gonzi as the person who ‘announced’ that his finance minister was being blackmailed by an anonymous letter, which Gonzi is said to have shown to MPs at the PN parliamentary group meeting (smoke screening the fact that it was a backbencher who raised the matter).
In the latest allegations by Rainbow Turnkey Projects, the Prime Minister chooses to refer to the matter as a civil dispute. Readers will understand that the Prime Minister might not be in the best of positions to take up the defence of his finance minister any longer.
Once again, we are faced with the reality of the way the Prime Minister has dealt with similar allegations against his ministers, as had happened when John Dalli was shown the door under the impression that he was ‘under investigation’. Dalli, Gonzi’s leadership rival, may have then been the easiest decision for a prime minister to take.
Not so with Tonio Fenech, his trusty finance minister. Gonzi’s wall of silence is just a symptom of the serious situation in which Fenech finds himself politically at the moment.
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