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I had every intention of treating you all to the joys of Gino Cauchi the Labour candidate, the PBS Head of Programmes who does not comprehend or speak Maltese, and Bertu Mizzi. I have been told they buy their copy of this newspaper at 5am every Sunday.
I had hoped for some kind remarks about Lawrence Gonzi and his ecstatic delivery at the Granaries and of course the reaction to what the media, this media, had to report about SmartCity.
But there are far more important things.
Even the Archbishop’s retrograde and outdated medieval entreaty for Maltese women to stay at home will only take up the latter part of this opinion.
Today’s front-page story overshadows everything else.
The news that the Malta Tourism Authority board members could face surveillance from the police over the leakage of a draft document reminds me of Inspector Clouseau and the return of the Pink Panther.
With this kind of criteria, I suggest Joe Zammit Maempel is roped in to investigate the PN Cabinet ministers and their habit of leaking news stories to the press. Or are the ministers who talk to the friendly press just ghosts and imaginary figures?
The suggestion that MTA members could be open to police scrutiny is comical and scandalous. This is a leaked draft letter, not the top secret plans on how to defend the country from an alien invasion.
The last thing we need to worry about is investigations by the Maltese Security Service into our emails and telephone conversations. It was bad enough when we had George Grech as Commissioner of Police, the lover boy on the quay, as head of the security service.
What has happened in the MTA board is the first cock up for the new, youngish chairman who comes by the name of Sam.
The etymology for the Hebrew name Sam takes us back to the word ‘sunshine’. But since Sam took over at MTA, there has been anything but sunshine. It is clear that Sam Mifsud has little or no confidence in his board. He will not say if he has confidence in his board and I take it that means that he does not. I am not too sure what the board thinks about him, but I am sure they prefer their plastic Barbie dolls to Sam Mifsud. But of course they would not say it. As things stand the board members are petrified.
If he did have confidence then he would not have asked for an investigator to land unannounced in a hastily called board meeting and read out the implications of divulging confidential information. The man the Tourism Minister chose to carry out the dirty job is Joe Zammit Maempel, the man who informed the board about the criminal implications of a leak. Procedures could lead to imprisonment and fines.
There is no proof that the chairman of the MTA did not want this kind of aggressive approach. What I cannot understand is how people of certain standing can live through such a dressing down.
Does an MTA stipend erase their pride forever? What does it take for one to lift their hand and point their middle finger and simply tell them to f*** off?
I recall the shouting outbursts of Eddie Fenech Adami’s right-hand man Richard Cachia Caruana at his staff and his entourage. He would scream over why someone’s tie was too short, or why someone’s hair was too long or why the coffee was too cold.
I warned him that if he raised the voice with me I would simply stand up and leave.
And yet, I am sure that the vast majority just took it upon themselves to wallow in his verbal abuse.
The suggestion that the police could tap a phone over something as silly as a letter that was never sent, raises the question of whether this thinking process has been already applied.
We have an investigation about the leak of a draft letter to the press, but we do not investigate why Romwald Lungaro Mifsud has his salary extended to March next year or why someone decides to fork out EUR50,000 to a single tour operator who decides to create a private Maison de Malte in France. Or better still, why our branding campaign was such a bloody mess.
Tapping a phone with the Israeli Mossad equipment funded by our taxes was supposed to be applied only to bring down drug barons and criminals. Not the man with a chip on his shoulder who wishes to leak a document to the media.
The lawyer who was selected to inform the board of his brief went one further. He said that the police had the opportunity, if they wished, to walk into the buildings of The Times and Maltastar and confiscate the hard disks of the journalists.
“Mhux hekk, Joe!” – coming from Zammit Maempel, the legal advisor of the Nationalist party, I would not be blamed for pinching myself and play rewind to listen to the Gonzi speech on the Granaries about the ugly eighties and the new way of doing politics.
Here we are, listening to the PM reminding us about the time ‘we’ militated against the excesses of yesteryear, only to realise that someone is suggesting that it could all happen again.
The MTA, Malta’s tourism authority, is a veritable throwback to the Mesozoic period. It is the epitome of what an organisation funded by public funds should never be.
Well, young Sam is in for some fire. Good luck to him, but if he does intend to depart I suggest that he should make sure his salary is extended beyond his resignation date.
And yes, if you want an excuse for your departure, you can always say that you accomplished your mission to dig out the bastard who leaked the draft letter.
The ugliness of hunting is best described by the untimely death of a hunter. The darkness of Maltese hunting is best understood by the hundreds of Maltese hunters who gun down birds of prey.
Dwejra, Tas-Salib, Dingli Cliffs, Mizieb, Buskett, Rabat, Victoria Lines, Ta’ Cenc and practically every corner in Malta and Gozo are hounded by these men who do not shoot for game but for trophies.
Sometimes I wonder if it is not best to invite all the developers of this world to cement Malta and Gozo. We could start with Hondoq, a place the Prime Minister wishes to see developed.
Like his minister, Mr George Pullicino, he wants to replace MEPA with his wisdom and decide what is best for all of us.
Lino Farrugia, the hunters’ representative, says that the police are making the life of hunters in Malta and Gozo a nightmare.
Okay, everyone sit back. Are you ready? Okay… laugh.
With the elections looming, Minister Pullicino has made a point not to rock the boat. It is bad enough that he has lost all his green friends. He cannot afford to lose the support of the hunting fraternity, those noble men and youngsters who kill anything that flies.
The Archbishop has proclaimed Europe to be morally sick. It could be worse. At least many Europeans do not pretend to be Christians. If morally sound Malta is the setting for a Catholic paradise, then give me Europe any day.
The women whom he has asked to stay at home are not only interested in working because they need the money. Many women have the same interest in a career like any man. I wonder who is morally sick, the Europe that stands for diversity and opportunity and preaches equality, or the institutions that encourage a status quo and a return to the Stone Age?
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