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Tony Abela not to be confused with his namesake Toni Abela is Malta’s burly junior defence minister. A week ago, the Armed Forces of Malta replied to a query by MaltaToday and inadvertently sent all the ‘Top Secret’ electronic correspondence between the junior defence minister and senior AFM commanders.
What was not supposed to have been dispatched to MaltaToday made its way to this newspaper and made very interesting reading.
The correspondence was relevant to the public domain and confirmed that the government is not in any way equipped to carry out inspections on a regular basis at fireworks factories.
The email also quoted the Armed Forces of Malta’s representative on the so-called explosives committee as stating - incidents are always bound to occur, notwithstanding all the safety precautions taken.
In another country such a serious testimonial would lead the defence minister to resign. But this is Malta not another country.
The reaction to this story has been arrogant and unwise.
One of Tony Abela’s men, the portly Tonio Farrugia who loves to appear on Super One in one of those Jesus loves you programmes, said in a very unchristian way, that In-Nutar did not want to talk to MaltaToday.
He argued that we had an agenda against In-Nutar and that we had been unethical because we had published the contents of the email.
Now a defence minister should be the best person qualified to distinguish friend from foe. Indeed we quite admire the notary for his brusque and funny ways.
He may not know it, but we do.
Why should we have an agenda against Notary Abela?
Indeed Tony Abela should avoid imitating Tonio Borg; obsessed with the idea that MaltaToday wants him dead rather than alive.
In another civilised country in Europe, where the press is respected and supreme, such an email would have made the news and led to some repercussions.
It would not have led to a Tonio Farrugia barking down the phone that his master was very angry and boycotting MaltaToday, just like Alfred Sant did with MaltaToday for three solid years.
Rather it would have led to some explanations and recriminations.
In the last four decades, there have probably been as many deaths from fireworks accidents in Malta than Londoners dying from suicide bombs.
The contents of the email which would have sat comfortably on the front page of The Guardian or The Times in London would have probably led to a minister’s resignation.
Notary Abela will not only be remembered for snubbing MaltaToday but notably for his much revered stunt at a PN fund raising event, where he was filmed rolling out hundreds of liri from his pockets to a very ecstatic and awe-struck Joe Saliba.
To be fair, it has to be said that nowadays the only way one can earn a brownie point in the cabinet is taking out a MaltaToday and passing it through a shredder.
That is what happens when the country loses its opposition and the media
Which brings me to the opposition.
And undoubtedly Lorna Vassallo’s ‘literary’ piece in The Valletta Times, which I am sure will be talked about in cocktail parties as the joke of the week.
That her contributions get to be published in a newspaper is already an accomplishment. She must be thankful that some newspaper editors find it easier to publish opinions than hard-nosed news. But really and truly her writing remains a great work of amusement.
She writes as if the whole world is waiting for her to speak. And she makes it more obvious with her narcissistic comments which can only be described as hilarious.
From now on she must be known as Lorna the side-splitting Labour party candidate.
Well, Lorna did not make it to the House, but Jason did. His entertaining comical deliberations in a Guido De Marco voice reminds me of Sandro Schembri who has finally had to face the wrath of the law.
Not because his fellow notaries beckoned the authorities to take action, but because some unfortunate client found the courage to visit the police and report on Sandro’s bad habits. Who by the way appeared on Super One yesterday in the same Jesus loves you programme, with the very special and unforgettable contribution of the Hizbollah militant look alike Tonio Farrugia from Notary Abela’s secretariat.
Back to Jason Azzopardi. The youngish lawyer who prides himself on being a defender of the Christian faith is also Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
A more dynamic committee led by a far more forceful chairman would have addressed the issue of Tunisia and Libya but no, instead we are left with meek statements about building diplomacy.
If Julian Manduca was still around he would raising be hell over the new proposed fast track golf course. The opponents to the golf course have no charismatic leader and the government is aware of this.
Yet, Julian did not only raise the flag over golf, he entrenched himself at the planning authority and one of his last stories centred round board member Ronald Azzopardi.
When Julian uncovered the largish sums this man owed to several land owners and speculators, he intended to highlight without saying it that a MEPA board member in this position could easily be blackmailed.
How Azzopardi got himself nominated to the MEPA is in itself a mystery.
Ronald Azzopardi was not blackmailed as far as I know, but he was shot at.
And yet when the story of how much money he owed surfaced, it took Mr Azzopardi up to a month to decide to resign.
Soon after this I received a telephone call from a senior government officer calling Julian all sorts of names and for having “haraq ir-ronald Azzopardi, ragel validu.” Those words will never go away.
That Ronald Azzopardi a Nationalist activist owed hundreds of thousands of liri did nothing to thwart the authorities from appointing him, beats me.
Now the government is going ahead with plans for the golf course and the greens are in dire need of a Julian Manduca to fly their flag.
The expense from tax payers pocket for the Commonwealth conference is not going to be Lm1.5 million. Take my word for it.
Just as in the same way, the Brussels palace will cost more than Lm9 million.
And when all those dictators and self-important leaders leave our shores, take a look around and ask yourselves how much you would have pocketed for a motley crowd of Asians, Africans and Europeans to smile infront of a camera and whisper, cheese.
Opinion writers are little self-centred monsters.
So, you will excuse me if I recount a personal incident that happened this week.
I happen to live opposite the local council offices in Naxxar.
This week, some time after nine pm, the local council held one of its meetings.
As I drove down past my house, I could not find any parking. So as I waited for someone to walk down the road I reversed into a parking space for handicapped to avoid blocking the road. There are no shops open at this time. It would have taken three minutes of waiting time at the most.
There and then out of the blue the Mayor of Naxxar, Dr Maria Fatima Deguara appeared in her car. She made it clear that she wished to move into the parking lot reserved for the handicapped.
I do not know the Mayor as suffering from any handicap.
Needless to say I decided to stay in the car. And angrily the Mayor drove off looking for a parking space. She parked some metres away. A minute later I was off.
Then some days later, I get a warning from the local police that they had been asked to look into why I was parking in the parking area for the handicapped. Thoughtfully, the police admitted that they had never seen my car in the parking lot.
To say that I flipped is an understatement.
It is not a sign of the time, but a sure message that next time round I will be canvassing for a new council, with Anglu Xuereb and Michael Zammit Tabona at the helm. A Naxxar run by private citizens is a Naxxar tenfold better than one run by political parties.
And if Maria Fatima the health minister’s wife, is planning to stand in the next election to replace her very bouncy husband the honourable Louis Deguara, she should know that my first count is reserved for one of her colleagues and my very last count for her.
The award of the month goes to the consortium that has made a mess at Buskett. And I mean what I say.
George Pullicino should get them out of there NOW.
Buskett is a Natura 2000 site not a roundabout as James Debono writes in his feature. It is not the consortium’s fault that they cannot understand that Natura 2000 sites are ‘wild habitats’ and not supposed to be treated like gardens.
The Nature organisations are right to be incensed at the Minister. And one other thing, natural areas are not only protected if indicated in Maltese law.
In a Natura 2000 site one does dispatch horticulturalists and landscapers. Horticulturalists and landscapers are reserved for Golf courses, the ones that can hold 30,000 fictitious tourists driving thousand of balls in holes at Xaghra l-Hamra and sipping thousands of gin and tonics in the hotel of Nazzarenu Vassallo.
saviourbalzan@newsworksltd.com
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