Some years ago, the solution to a debt-ridden dockyard was to dramatically reduce the workforce. But there was procrastination on Eddie Fenech Adami’s part. By the time a decision had to be taken, the dockyards – already having lost hundreds of millions – were about to cost yet more millions in an early retirement programme.
We tend to forget the actions of Fenech Adami when we talk of the present prime minister not taking the bull by the horns. Fenech Adami avoided industrial unrest and confronted the General Workers’ Union on the issue.
The Labour party, then under Alfred Sant, was careful not to point out that the solution to many of the problems at the dockyards was to reduce the exaggerated size of its workforce. He too was conscious of the backlash from the union. But to his credit, when he tried to reform the dockyard in 1996 by removing the workers’ self-management, he was lambasted by the Nationalist press, and of course the media.
Losing somewhere in the region of €800 million does not seem to bother anyone anymore. That is the amount the country lost at the docks. At the very end, the downsizing and changes at the drydocks were rendered redundant with the mistake made by the new management with the Fairmount contract.
In this scenario, we of course saw the criticism by the opposition and the silence of the media. Even State TV programmes such as Bondiplus were of course busy with other subjects and that is probably why Mr Bondì (who styles himself as ‘the journalist’) has been on state TV for 18 years… for the very simple reason that he has been a good servant of the state. A party boy and a spin-doctor par excellence, he has also skirted debating topical subjects such as the Tonio Fenech scandal (in that month he discussed the morning-after pill, poverty, Maltageddon (!!) and a ‘best PM of all time’ edition).
Bondì has not only survived because of the protection afforded to him by editorial boards (politically appointed by the same party in government), but also because of his smugness at the whole issue of ‘being fair’.
But a cue from the dockyard saga takes us straight to the Enemalta debate: two decades and more mismanagement, and more interestingly repetitive mistakes committed by this government and more recently by Austin Gatt. The hedging agreement, which was originally a concept championed by Alfred Sant and derided by Fenech Adami, was strangely taken up by Austin Gatt. And let’s face it, he made a mess of it. The combination of an excessive workforce, a large amount of electricity and water unaccounted for, and incompetent hedging has led to massive losses at Enemalta.
When finally the water and electricity tariffs were linked to the profits and losses of Enemalta, Austin Gatt imposed a tariff structure on the public so government can make ends meet. This was an act of irresponsibility set upon thousands of families and businesses.
Despite the writing on the wall, warning this would further stall growth in a depressed economy, nothing appears to have stopped this tariff review. And though backbenchers have voiced dissent, none of them have the balls to do anything about it. In reality, all of them of them (with the apparent exception of one) are scared that if they do take remedial action and vote against their party or leader, the reprisal would be personally disastrous.
In all this confusion we hear of a demonstration to be held tonight. The protest is captained by the General Workers’ Union and of course the Labour party will be jumping on the bandwagon, as it would be silly of them not to. But as we all know, these protests do not get you anywhere.
When such protests take place in France, they are accompanied by strikes. When they take to the streets in Greece, Athens turns black with smoke from burning cars. In Italy, the whole idea of protesting stops flights and trains.
In Malta we just have a lot of hot air. The whole protest exercise is one very good way of wasting a Sunday. And in reality the big question is: what is Labour or the GWU planning to do to reform the tariff structure?
Okay, the first step would be to scrap the hedging agreement, and the second to bring the tariff structure a wee bit down – since there is no obligation for the government to turn Enemalta into a showcase of a profit and loss accounting system. And yes, you can subsidise some of Enemalta’s expenses. Why not? If necessary, why shouldn’t the government intervene?
Yet beyond that, the reality check that needs to take place in the Joseph Muscat camp is whether or not he will take stiff action to reduce the workforce at Enemalta. Will he impose stricter rules for fighting the misuse of energy? Will he replace people like chairman Alex Tranter with other political poodles who only take orders from ministers?
I have a feeling that tonight is not going to be a good night… for the very simple reason that none of us have any clear solutions. Except for Gatt, but as is typical for him, he went to the other extreme.
The argument that the alternative political formation to the present administration is no alternative at all does not mean that we should not take to task the decisions being taken today.
And yes, if Joseph Muscat wants to be taken seriously he has to come up with very clear proposals and details to specifically outline what his reform is going to be about.
I have a feeling that all politicians suffer from the same malaise of pleasing their voters with rhetoric, but with little or no intention of acting afterwards.
Big fat lie
The biggest laugh we had this week came from the fact that the Bidnija blogger claimed she has a source in our newsroom. She said this after someone at PBS leaked questions received from Illum, to the blogger. A very senior source at the Prime Minister’s office has also said that he has a mole at MediaToday.
I have only one answer to that: BOLLOCKS. Besides being a big fat lie, this is proof that the woman is not only hysterical but delirious. The staff at MediaToday will never have anything to do with a person who has made it her mission to destroy her reputation and that of others, and which is inspired by one principle: hate.
The suggestion that people at MediaToday leak information to the Office of the Prime Minister or the blogger was met with a thunderous laugh.
But why should we be surprised at such claims? The blogger has constantly lied and invented stories about people. She lied when she said I was asked to accompany John Dalli to leave MaltaToday to Brussels: I never asked, or discussed the subject, and was not asked. Unlike her (had Richard Cachia Caruana become commissioner as he wanted to), I never planned to do so.
She said I proposed the TV programme Oikos to PBS and it was rejected. Another lie. I decided not to propose any programmes to PBS. Firstly because the hapless and helpless chairman Clare Thake Vassallo has no say in editorial policy, and also because the editorial board run by the politically-appointed Joe Pirotta and Natalino Fenech is so antagonistic towards MediaToday that applying to PBS would be just a waste of time. Oikos is an EU-funded programme that is 50% financed by MediaToday and is targeted and specifically created for a TV audience that Super One caters for.
The blogger suggested that I am paid by Super One for the programme and insinuated that because of my presence on Super One I would go soft on Joseph Muscat. Another lie. There is no payment from Super One. Time will tell how soft I get on Muscat. But unlike the blogger, I have no agendas and nobody to defend.
I am sure of one thing. Many have decided to leave out certain names from their dinner party lists: the blogger and Mr Bondì should know. So that is why I look forward to next week and hope that the Magistrate who will preside over the blogger’s case will not be intimidated by the tantrums and theatrics of a cruel and vile woman, and act as he would act if I had done the same… that is, making unproven allegations about a magistrate simply to deflect attention from the fact that her husband filed a police report against her.
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