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Do Labour’s own friends of friends show little can change in Maltese politics?
Matthew Vella
Chums, buddies, mates, but also comrades. The trouble with Labour is having to cringe at those revelations which put Alfred Sant’s credibility in question, such as the Bondiplus eye-opener of who Labour’s travelling partners were at a meeting with Maltacom’s new owners in Dubai back in June.
Sant says, rightly, that government is shackled by its “friends of friends” networks, the old boy clique who in the last 20 years have lapped up all the political appointments, the chairmanships, the handsome salaries, and scholarships for their privileged offspring.
It’s a sad cycle of history. One of the first things Alfred Sant’s leadership brought in 1992 was a clean sweep of the apparatchiks and hangers-on who benefited from widespread corruption in the 80s Labour government. So long as New Labour was a spotless bunch, it could take a swipe at the Nationalists over the myriad appointments of family members, confidants and chums, and that was the easiest campaign of all.
Now it’s Labour’s turn for a slice of the pie as the election draws nearer, which is why people like Denis Baldacchino, Carmelo Penza, Ray Vella, and Patrick Dalli – the trusted businessmen who accompanied the Labour delegation to meet the Dubai property giants taking over Ricasoli – will most probably be claiming their valued friendship very shortly.
They are indeed, amongst the closest of all businessmen and building developers to the Labour party. Ray Vella had a hand in building Labour’s new headquarters in Hamrun. Both he and Denis Baldacchino are shareholders in Medina Construction Services and El-Ikhlas, whose directors include Charles Buhagiar, the Labour MP and architect.
Together with Patrick Dalli and Carmelo Penza, Baldacchino formed Unita Group Holdings, a now defunct company which grouped their construction firms Penza Construction, Rite-Mix, CJP Tarmac and Tal-Maghtab Construction. The company secretary was none other than former Wardija lawyer Patrick Spiteri.
Dalli, the husband of Labour MP Helena Dalli, is also involved in extensive business interests, including Elcar Developments together with Labour deputy leader Charles Mangion. Through his company Pada, he is also involved in CJP Tarmac and Roads Group International.
So you can be pardoned if you couldn’t see through all the construction dust when Sant was pontificating over the congealed network of friends’ friends toasting their contracts and appointments.
The question is, why all the fuss about the Nationalist coterie of “hbieb tal-hbieb” when history is about to repeat itself anyway? Do we believe that a Maltese government will never be held to ransom by the people whose wealth keeps the party machine alive?
Too much has changed since Sant’s mercurial rise in 1992. Too many Nationalists have enriched themselves over 20 years of government. Too many Labourites have been denied jobs and other treasures from the government booty – Sant himself told Lou Bondì on Tuesday that a future Labour government would sort out the injustices suffered by Labourites (he mentioned scholarships, but of course there’s jobs and the cushy chairmanships). Even on that, there’s a bitter lesson learnt for Sant who understandably, despite the good will of having kept JR Grima at the helm of the civil service for some time after Labour’s election in 1996, feels he should not have to be so kind to people who do not share the same political vision.
The truth is that Maltese politics is defined by the interests of the wealthy friends of friends, and they have to be cut out. The sad part is that there’s nothing heartening about the promises of meritocracy from Labour, whose many voters are demanding a slice of the pie.
In a sense, Alfred Sant’s harping on Nationalist cliques betrays the anxiety of any politician who fears his party will still ignore any modest attempts at meritocracy and instead reward their long-suffering voters.
Once meritocracy becomes a cultural trait, and Maltese politics no longer remains enamoured of building contractors and their limestone empires, friends of friends will become less influential even in a small nation as Malta. It’s not entirely wishful thinking.
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
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