It can only get messier

That former disgraced Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the government’s handling of the planning reform was a ‘mess’ (froġa) continues to fuel the narrative that the whole exercise is a disaster.

Muscat is not one to put spanners in the spokes of the construction industry without reason. He is so pro-business and pro-construction. But he has an axe to grind. Well, several axes in fact.

His comments were directed at Robert Abela and though he had many caveats in store for those who criticised Abela, his main line of attack was clear for all to see.  

The man who faces some serious criminal charges over the Vitals hospitals sham was clearly enjoying himself. But there were some valid points which he raised. Hate him or love him, Muscat is good at what he does and despite his fall from grace, still manages to get the most unlikely of people to work with him—such is the case with former Nationalist MP Claudio Grech.

Muscat lamented the ‘media fuck’ that took place with the publishing of the proposed planning reform laws on a Friday afternoon at the end of July.  And he listed all the truths and untruths according to him from the proposed bills, comparing his notes to what the objectors were stating.

Using Facebook as his favourite launching pad, he made one notable comment—the idea of giving the responsible minister the power to pass judgment over certain permits is not on.

Muscat is still relatively young but before turning to consultancy for big business he grew up and matured in the shadows of a Labour Party in Opposition. He knows exactly what the Lorry Sant days as minister responsible for permits and planning meant to the plight of the Labour Party in the 1980s and how that part of history plagued the party for many years to follow.

Awarding a politician with that discretion would open a hornet’s nest and yet, Robert Musumeci (the man behind the law) in his yearning to get things done, did not see the bigger picture. Neither did the other government consultant Sandro Chetcuti, a multimillionaire developer who loves to flirt with Labour and the PN, had no sense of how this proposal would ruffle feathers.

All the protagonists, Joseph Muscat included, are not reading the situation right.  It is true that many people have more money in their hands and there is little doubt that many have enriched themselves thanks to the neo-liberal politics of Joseph Muscat and his changes to planning policies. But there is a new wave of discontent. 

Most people are financially comfortable or close to that. They are financially cushioned but can at times feel the pressure of inflation eating away at their wallets. But despite this general sense of comfort these people are also feeling claustrophobic, uncomfortable with construction everywhere, the dirt, the traffic, the noise, the rapid increase in foreigners and the impact this has had on public infrastructure.

It is not one or two, but thousands who feel that they are caged in and they blame it on the government.

Most people do not travel as frequently as all the protagonists in this saga, or own a boat or a swimming pool. They have a simple life and that simple life of theirs is becoming more and more restricted and limited. 

The vast majority want a serene life.  In this proposed law they see an attempt to make developers richer and to a great extent freer to act without shackles. They see an attempt to allow developers to build and build. Most could not give a hoot about the minutiae of the law. The message, as Muscat said, is that this reform is ‘bad’.

Instead of responding to what people’s concerns are, the government responded to the demands of the developers.

As a consequence, they will need more workers to work on their projects and they will source them from abroad. These workers will come here to be exploited while putting more pressure on our infrastructure and services.

So, against my better judgement, big business consultant Joseph Muscat was right when he described the planning reform as a big veritable mess.

Edward

Edward Scicluna was always a moderate voice and face that served Labour well in its victories in 2013 and 2017. He came across as a decent man. He did not look like a 1987 Labourite. The rumour and probably the truth was that when he was finance minister, the real minister was Alfred Camilleri, his permanent secretary.  Both Camilleri and Scicluna now face criminal charges linked to the Vitals hospitals deal.

It's been a year since the conclusion of the Vitals inquiry by Magistrate Gabriella Vella. 

Though we could agree that the inquiry includes a disjointed pastiche of sweeping statements based partly in fact and conjecture, it also contains facts that raise serious questions about the role of the Office of the Prime Minister in this shady deal.

The criminal charges filed last year led Chris Fearne, then deputy prime minister, to independently volunteer his resignation from Cabinet and withdraw his candidature for the post of EU commissioner.  It was a high price to pay but Fearne receives full marks when it comes to integrity, ethical standing and respectability.

On the other hand, Scicluna, believes that his reinstatement as governor of the Central Bank of Malta, based on the assumption what is good for the goose is good for the gander, will endear him to everyone.

It will not. It will only confirm Scicluna’s lack of self-respect and moreover his obsession with receiving a full salary as governor until December. 

It also proves beyond any doubt that if we are looking for standards we must look beyond the European institutions. One would imagine that the European Central Bank would have questioned the reinstatement of Scicluna in light of the criminal charges he faces. It did not.

And considering the way international political leaders led by Donald Trump and Roberta Metsola look the other way when genocide is being perpetrated in Gaza, we should not be too surp