Oh dear, oh dear, yet another member of parliament shows us how careful we have to be when we approach the ballot box.
The honourable Joe Abela (Labour) had this to say late on Monday speaking during the adjournment of the House of Representatives: “The current state of affairs was such that it was almost better to have a field of ‘haxixa’ than to have a field where one could go hunting.
“It was unacceptable in this country that one could buy ‘haxixa’ everywhere and at any time, but then the special forces were deployed to persecute hunters, stopping them as they walked in the countryside without any suspicion of wrongdoing. This was a violation of people’s rights.”
I am not sure which planet this particular MP lives on, but it ain’t this one. On his planet we cannot walk through the streets without tumbling over spaced out people high on grass, which is available at all corner shops, while we cannot hear ourselves speak for the chirping of real birds in an otherwise peaceful countryside devoid of decoy bird song and constant gunshots.
Mr Abela was reported as describing himself as having “great sympathy” for birds, which is a rather telling choice of words. One usually has great sympathy for victims. But if he sees the hunters as the victims, surely his great sympathy lies with them, and not the hunted!
His objective in painting his vivid fantasy scenario is to get a judge to abstain from hearing a case against a hunter accused of shooting a protected bird.
So it is not a case of someone being “persecuted” for “walking in the countryside”, but a case of someone breaking the law.
He is also shocked that EU funds are used to highlight the way our countryside has been taken over by hunters, which he claims is a false premise, and questioned whether this kind of free speech was “healthy”.
Mr Abela claims that it was well known that many hunters owned the fields where they went hunting and that most of the complaints about access to the countryside regarded private property.
It is true that RTO is splashed all over the countryside, but unlike Mr Abela I am sceptical about the rightful ownership of these zones. This also raises the question as to who owns the airspace above these areas.
Maybe there should be flags hoisted to indicate which airspace is safe for birds to fly through. That would be quite revealing.
Anyway, if they have their own fields to shoot from, why do hunters use public roads as their shooting grounds? Besides, shooting protected birds is illegal even if you shoot them down on your property.
Even the FKNK has come out, for the first time, against hunters who break the law, so why is Mr Abela taking up the cudgels of the “trampled upon” hunters?
Mr Abela made a strong attack against the government’s treatment of hunters and if he thinks that he is somehow going to win votes for his party with his, frankly, pathetic arguments he is way off beat.
I am appalled at the level of intellect displayed in our parliament and suggest that both parties should be taking a serious look at their members who will be either standing for re-election or election soon.
We the electorate have had enough of mediocre, and worse, representatives in the House, which sets out legislation and the way our lives are governed.

MEPA should be saying ‘No’
Hands up anyone on the island who thinks MEPA is doing a good job. I know they (the people who run it) do feel got at. But they only have themselves and their incredible arrogance to blame.
The latest swing of the axe came from the flamboyant architect Richard England, who recently turned 70 with a certain degree of pomp, "On the whole, we have screwed up Malta and Gozo!
“Malta has been wrecked…the clients, many being the big contractors; some architects, regretfully; but the ultimate stamp of approval comes from MEPA, which is responsible for what you see around you. Somebody is saying ‘yes’ when they could and should be saying ‘no’.”
Indeed. But Richard left out the politicians and the rest of us who shrug our shoulders and accept the dictates of the Authority that should be guarding our heritage not helping to destroy it.
Excepting for the under resourced NGOs and Alternattiva Demokratika who are remarkable in their constant championing of our heritage, most of us could do more.
It is true that quite a crowd turned up in Valletta in discomforting heat to oppose MEPA last summer, but nothing seems to ruffle MEPA’s feathers and no matter how much criticism the authority gets, its officials hang on in their ivory tower.
If it were not for its auditor - whose wings have incidentally been clipped, in case you had not noticed, by moving him under the Ombudsman’s umbrella – we the public would not know half of what goes on in that secretive enclave, despite its so called transparency.
Mr Falzon, who incidentally is snowed under – another obstacle to better auditing – has made known his reservations on this arrangement. And we have all noticed that the Ombudsman’s office has lost its oomph since Mr Joe Sammut left the post.
How much of our time and effort is our heritage and justice worth? You the reader have the answer. Share it with the rest of us.

pamelapacehansen@gmail.com