MaltaToday
Norman Darmanin Demajo
Front PageTop NewsEditorialOpinionInterviewLettersCulture
OPINION | Wednesday, 25 July 2007

Pardons as a political weapon

saviour balzan recalls some unforgettable pardons and their consequences on the political scene

I could not help being the target of a good deal of anger from some Labour MPs who serve as lawyers, after last Sunday’s MaltaToday exposed the fact that they all requested Presidential pardons in their capacity as lawyers. I guess they have not quite grasped that one cannot pick and choose when and how Presidential pardons are wrong or right.
Which takes us back to March 2000, when global warming was a joke, immigration not an issue and low cost airlines an impossibility.
In the year 2000, the Nationalist government pardoned the General Workers’ Union and its legal advisor, Dr George Abela. Two years before that, Abela had been deputy leader of the Malta Labour Party. He too had fallen out with Sant. Alfred Sant, I mean.
And in 1999, the union and George Abela took to the streets, blocking a police bus carrying arrested union activists to prevent it from reaching party headquarters.
The activists were fire-fighters from the airport who caused irreparable damage to airport equipment during an impromptu protest.
I recall the indomitable George Abela clinging to the bus together with his aides, as the police pushed and shoved. The cameras rolled and the reporters took notes while the men pushed and shrieked. Between Tony Zarb and George Abela, it could well have been an advert for the Sumo wrestling world championship.
Well, many moons later Dr Abela began to chime bells of discord within both the Labour Party and the GWU. And the Nationalist government, in its typical wily way, decided to pardon the GWU officials; including, of course, Dr George Abela.
It was not precisely a Presidential pardon, but a pardon none the less. The government’s decision led to the first shake up for the GWU; since then, it has continued on a downward spiral to fast become a pale shadow of its former self.
Dr George Abela was by then quite detached from the Labour party and facing divorce from the GWU.
Pardons, as I see it, serve to neutralise people and to confirm the efficacy of the PN’s Machiavellian way of dividing and conquering.
It did not stop there.
If one had to analyse pardons over the last 20-odd years, one could identify an underlying trend.
Today’s front page article about Joe Brincat and his request for a Presidential pardon for the late Lorry Sant proves beyond doubt the PN’s cunning traits.
It is a long time ago but it reminds me of how forgetful Brincat was when replying to our questions last Sunday, when he denied requesting any Presidential pardons. It also reminds us how cunning the PN machine has been (please note: “has been”, not “is”).
Fenech Adami had a wonderful situation unfolding before him in the aftermath of his election victory in 1992. The Joe Brincat plea for a Presidential pardon occurred in May, three months after the Nationalists had convincingly thrashed Labour at the polls. Labour was in a sorry state at the time, and former Works Minister Lorry Sant was suspended from the party, a result of allegations put forward to the Vigilance and Discipline board.
Fenech Adami did not want to see Lorry Sant turned into a political martyr and effectively did not want any court ruling that would pressure the Labour Party structures to rethink his exile from the party.
Indeed, in an interview with RTK, Lorry Sant repeated that he was looking forward to being active once again in the Labour party.
Unfortunately for him, he died two years later and the party lifted his suspension some weeks before he died.
So the logical thing to do was to accept Brincat’s request.
Lorry Sant’s crimes in this case were unpardonable. He had not only organised an illegal protest, far worse: he captained a bunch of thugs and ransacked the courts, physically attacked the building and caused irreparable damage to files and documents … all this in the first months of the 1987 Nationalist administration.
Everyone will remember those days, the tension and the feeling that we had not really transferred governance to the Nationalists.
Fenech Adami, of course, is not Lawrence Gonzi. He was surrounded by many astute advisors, but in the long run his political nose was his greatest asset and helped him in sniffing out a political killing.
Some call it the sixth sense in politics. Perhaps Lawrence could do with some.



Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click the button below

Search:



MALTATODAY
BUSINESSTODAY
WEB

Archives

NEWS | WEDNESDAY, 25 July 2007

MEPA says Astrid Vella still in Gozo planning breach

New waste collection scheme proposed

Greens for EU migration policy

Processing of surcharge vouchers falls behind, says MP

No serious uptake for Tridentine Mass, says Curia

Electric cabs attract unwanted attention from white taxis



Copyright © MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016, Malta, Europe
Managing editor Saviour Balzan | Tel. ++356 21382741 | Fax: ++356 21385075 | Email