Trip down memory lane…

Judging by the rapid escalation in cases on both sides of the political divide, temporary memory loss seems to have already reached epidemic proportions. 

Beppe Fenech AdDespite having shouted that name himself on innumerable occasions this past month, it came as an earth-shattering surprise to Jason Azzopardi to be reminded that he himself may have had dealings with the same Gaffarena in the past.
Beppe Fenech AdDespite having shouted that name himself on innumerable occasions this past month, it came as an earth-shattering surprise to Jason Azzopardi to be reminded that he himself may have had dealings with the same Gaffarena in the past.

There seems to be some kind of summer bug going round. Symptoms include the sudden development of temporary (and hugely selective) memory loss… and judging by a rapid escalation in cases on both sides of the political divide, it seems to have already reached epidemic proportions. 

The latest to succumb to this virus appears to be the former Lands Department parliamentary secretary Jason Azzopardi, who told us this week that he had ‘forgotten’ all about a little meeting he apparently arranged in 2010 between the Lands Department and a certain Marco Gaffarena.

You may have heard that name before: it is, after all, the same name that the Nationalist Party has been spouting, day in, day out, these past few weeks.

And yet, despite having shouted that name himself on innumerable occasions this past month, it came as an earth-shattering surprise to Dr Azzopardi to be reminded that he himself may have had dealings with the same Gaffarena in the past. And interesting dealings they seem to have been, too. If the allegations are correct, it would seem that Jason Azzopardi organised a meeting to facilitate the redemption of temporary emphytheusis on a property leased from the government by Gaffarena.

Personally, I was unaware that the parliamentary secretary for Lands was also expected to act as a ‘go-between’ on behalf of a lessee who is widely known (by everyone, it seems, except Azzopardi and his colleagues) to make donations to political parties. There is, after all, a Customer Care department to handle such requests… and this is, after all, the same Marco Gaffarena whose property dealings with the present government are held up by the PN as examples of Labour’s ‘scandalous corruption’. 

If rumours of this 2010 meeting are true, it would constitute the exact same form of ‘political interference’ the PN – and Azzopardi in particular – howl about so loudly when perpetrated under a different government today. But of course we can’t be sure, because Dr Azzopardi has meanwhile developed a rather convenient memory lapsus concerning events which supposedly took place… oh, way back in the time of the dinosaurs, it would seem.

“I absolutely have no recollection of such a meeting or request,” was his reported response. “How can I remember if it happened five years ago?”

Five years, huh? Gee, how can anyone’s memory possibly be expected to stretch back so long?  

And yet, curiously, the rest of us out here are often expected to remember things that happened much further back in time: in some cases, 25 years ago or more. Things like the ‘good old days’ of Mintoff and Lorry Sant, for instance, that Azzopardi’s party is so hell-bent on reminding us about at every opportunity.

I wonder if Jason remembers those times? I think it’s safe to assume he does, seeing as how he keeps yammering on about them the whole time. So how on earth does he manage to retain such clear, precise memories of things which occurred long before many of the people reading this article were even born… yet simultaneously argue that he can’t possibly be expected to remember what he himself did just five years ago? 

But still, let’s be fair: if it is a virus we are talking about, then it’s clearly a health issue… and it’s not exactly kosher to pick on the health issues of others, now is it? Besides: perhaps this virus only affects short-term memory. Yes, that would explain it. And even then, only the sort of ‘short-term memories’ that are politically convenient for people like Jason Azzopardi to actually not remember at any given moment. 

This is not, after all, the only symptom of temporary amnesia exhibited by this particular politician. Earlier this year, Jason Azzopardi was heard loudly protesting against a proposal (which has since been scrapped) to move the Valletta market from its current location to Ordnance Street, right under the new House of Parliament. 

Then as now, it seems to have completely escaped Azzopardi’s memory that he himself had entered an almost identical agreement with the same monti hawkers… on the day of the 2013 election itself, no less (which, incidentally, was a lot less than five years ago). We later discovered that he had even entered into this agreement IN WRITING… yet somehow still managed to forget all about a letter, bearing his own signature, which likewise proposed to move the Valletta market to the same place he would later complain about. 

Personally, I’ve always found that ‘writing things down’ helps me remember them longer. Evidently, it seems to work the other way round with Jason Azzopardi. I guess it really does take all kinds…

But hey, let’s not limit ourselves only to the former Lands Department head when diagnosing the symptoms of this mystery virus. It’s not fair on all the other sufferers; they might start feeling a little… well… neglected.

And quite a few others, it seems, have also suffered inexplicable memory lapses of late. Beppe Fenech Adami is another member of the shadow Cabinet whose memories concerning Gaffarena connections appear to be somewhat… shadowy. 

In his case, the lapsus is more bizarre still. Having led the entire Nationalist cavalcade against Labour’s ‘shameful’ links with the Gaffarena family, it transpired that three members of the same family had previously been his own clients. Beppe Fenech Adami had represented their interests as a lawyer… yet later went on to claim that he had no recollection of any dealings with the Gaffarenas whatsoever; and that his presumed ‘acquaintance’ with Marco Gaffarena in particular was limited only to a ‘chance meeting’ (which, of course, he went on to forget all about).

Nor are such cases limited only to dealings with the Gaffarenas… or even to the Nationalist Party. Perhaps it is the close proximity of MPs in the new House of Parliament – whereby one of them sneezes, and they all catch cold – or perhaps this virus is more contagious than it seems. But Labour, too, has been suffering isolated bouts of selective amnesia of late. 

The symptoms are identical: spectacular precision when it comes to remembering all past blemishes and misdemeanours of its political adversaries… yet an absolute inability to retain even the slightest recollection of ever being guilty of the same shortcomings itself.

So when it came to exposing all the PN’s close encounters (of the dubious kind) with the Gaffarena family, the Labour Party managed to recall the exact sequence of events concerning everything that took place under the preceding administration: including all the things that supposedly took place behind closed doors. 

Yet it somehow spectacularly forgot a teenie-weenie detail: the only reason Labour won the election in March 2013, was that it had successfully convinced the electorate that it would not repeat the same blunders once in government.

That was only two and a half years ago. Not even 30 months have elapsed since then, and already the Labour Party has forgotten all about its past promises of a ‘more transparent’ and ‘less nepotistic’ way of doing politics. It has evidently slipped Joseph Muscat’s memory that an unprecedented majority voted for his party in that election, precisely because it was sick and tired of the constant shady dealings that had reduced the former administration to an extension of a handful of individual business interests here and there. 

So not only did the Labour government go on to emulate its predecessor’s modus operandi in practically every respect – not just through dubious property dealings, but also by extending the development boundaries, appointing members of its own fan club to the magistrates’ bench, reducing the national broadcaster to an extension of its own PR department… you know, all the things it had so fiercely criticised the PN for over the years – but it is now even caught in flagrante delicto with the exact same army of lovers, too. 

Political interference to favour a covert political party financier? That’s the sort of thing we have come to expect from both sides. But that the ‘party financier’ would in both cases turn out to be one and the same person – Gaffarena – who was evidently favoured in exactly the same way by both parties… which, of course, go on to accuse each other of ‘scandalous corruption’ for association with the same business interests…?

That, I fear, is something that can only be explained as a sickness. And by the looks of things, it has now spread too far to ever realistically be cured.