Tag: Joseph Muscat

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Constitutional Development Mediawatch

The Blame Game & Simon

blame_akkuzaOpposition leader Busuttil was lambasted from some quarters for having dared suggest that the whole Enemalta procurement scandal was actually abused of as electoral fodder by Muscat and his men. What Busuttil suggested was really not too hard to understand – if the information was available long before the election loomed ominously, why was it withheld until a time when it would pay Labour in opposition as an extra baton to imply government corruption?

Busuttil was not implying that the information should have been kept quiet until after the election (who would think such a thing anyway?) but rather that it should have surfaced when it was discovered and not much later. While the PAC continues on its fishing expedition trying to pin the whole scandal onto Lawrence Gonzi Busuttil’s kind of assertion will fall on deaf ears or attract the playground type of response that the Labour machine has been honed to give.

The HSBC Swissleaks now adds to the intrigue of the Farrugia Brothers discoveries in that it provides an easier target with the cliches straight out of conspiracy theory books – which is not to say that there is nothing underhand going on in the world of procurement, government permits and the like. The problem lies elsewhere. In Malta there is no such thing as investigation beyond politically motivated with-hunts. The politically motivated is also limited in its extent since oftentimes the investigators have a huge interest in making sure that they do not in turn become investigated.

We just have to look at what happened in Italy in the early nineties to understand what I am getting at. Our political parties have developed a system of self-preservation that became ever more evident during the last election. Rules and laws of the overall system have gradually been adapted to ensure the survival of the two political parties – not just politically but also financially. Hidden behind these rules is a system of favoritisms and expectations that link the political aspect to the economy in general on the one hand (from employment to contracts to tenders to permits) and to the social on the other (medical rights, entertainment “elites” and circles).

It would not just be limited to the parties. Institutional flaws would also surface – authorities controlling pieces of the market suddenly hold strong cards for bargaining: which is where I suspect the whole Enemalta picture fits in. From the most expensive multi-million euro tender to the smallest warden with fine giving powers there is an alternate currency of favoritism and favour. Of course if you are the party in government you and your men have a stronger bargaining power. Everybody gets their unjust desserts.

Mani pulite in Italy uncovered a clear system where bungs were paid to the pentapartito (five main parties from DC to PC) whenever anybody anywhere wanted to merely conduct business. No bung (tangente), no party (tender). Does this happen in Malta? The evidence seems to be pointing to it having happened on a regular basis – not necessarily with the blessing of politicians – and that it can still be occurring to this day.

Labour seems hell-bent on institutionalizing the system further. There is no longer a need to hide the “debts” owed to supporting lobbies. It is translated immediately to enabling laws or worse still – as the forthcoming threat of an amnesty for all MEPA violations shows – an actual conspiracy to render the illegal legal. Illegal constructions will enjoy a bonifico of huge proportions and consequences – all so as to appease the debts that got Labour into power. The network between social and business interests intertwining with government is becoming more and more dangerous. We do not have a pool of inquiring magistrates as the Italians did and in some way we can consider that a blessing of sorts given how some people here tend to interpret the laws.

Simon Busuttil was right though in turning up the heat on Muscat. The whole Enemalta investigation is misguided if it turns into a fishing expedition on Lawrence Gonzi. If, rather than speculating in the style of our tabloids, proper questions were asked as to how our whole system is beginning to stink of favoritism, cronyism and party-instigated corruption then, maybe, we could be getting somewhere.

 

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Mediawatch

Governing Idiots to a Degree of Perception

governing_akkuzaThe Google Translate app (for both Android and iOS) is a thing of beauty. It works just like some instrument out of Star Trek. You can point your camera at any sign and it will instantly translate it into your language of choice. The guys at Google will be hard pressed though to work on something similar that could translate Government-Speak. The Taghna Lkoll government has done it again. After Joe Mizzi’s unfortunate statement with regards to the traffic congestion situation in Malta (It’s not traffic, just perception) we now have Muscat’s government telling us that the fact that people are buying more cars means that everyone is happy with the current fuel prices.

This comes at a time when the Nationalist Party has upped the ante on the issue. In fact the PN has just launched a new site www.dieselupetrol.com  that purportedly calculates how much more expensive the Taghna Lkoll fuel is than on the continent. Progressive and liberal Muscat went into counter-measure mode. First of all anybody trying to access the dieselupetrol.com from within any of the MITA government network would find a blocked page – the government censors having decided that it qualifies as spam. Just days after Muscat flew to gay Paris to march chin first among the #JeSuisCharlie and to remind the world that his government stands shoulder to shoulder with the champions of freedom of expression, his own government engages in a bit of Chinese Sourcery… shutting down access to a website that criticises it.

That is not enough though. Muscat still does not control the whole interwebs so he has to send out other feelers to the ever grateful minions wallowing in his paradise world of promises and taghnalkollisms. So now Muscat has told everyone that if they really were not happy with fuel prices then they would not be buying cars. It’s not Marie Antoinette’s fabled “let them eat cake” but a twist on that theme. If they really did not like paying for fuel then they could walk. What idiots they are. Why are they buying cars if they cannot afford to pay the fuel? they must like the price of fuel then, no?

Why indeed Joseph. They should be catching the bus now shouldn’t they? At least in that case they would be oblivious to the fact that, even though the new scheme claims to be cheaper for the commuter, in the long run it is actually the taxpayer’s pockets that are needed to fork out the multi-million increase in subsidy that will be swallowed by the Autobus de Leon.

Joseph Muscat is safe in the knowledge that the polls show that he still has the minions in thrall. They will thank him for the bills with which he is burdening the nation. Some will naively say that the economy is still doing good and that is why the minions like him. Fools that they are they swoon supportingly at every word of GovernmentSpeak.

“There is no truth. There is only perception” – Gustave Flaubert.

 

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Mediawatch

Ched’s no billboard material

Evans_akkuzaThe fuss about Hibernians’ non-attempt to not sign disgraced footballer (is he a footballer?) Ched Evans was a mighty boon for Muscat’s government. Any distraction is welcome in a time of gaffes and defaulted promises. As it turns out, it was the player who was offered to the Paolite team and not Hibs who went to the UK on the look out for a cheap option (he must be, given how he is not really wanted in most respectable clubs).

The issue itself – as to whether or not a convicted rapist should be given a second chance at a footballing career once he has served time (avec or sans remorse) – is definitely one that merits much debate. I tend to reason that the character of a footballer is just as important to the team as his skills and that this, on its own, would make Evans unemployable by any serious team wanting to avoid disruption and bad influence. Cynical, I know, but Evans should not be playing anything more than Sunday football with his village XI. The professional career was shot long ago.

And that is where we get the link back to Muscat. The story was, as we said, distracting. The Times obliged with a full Timestalk program on what was by then a non-news locally speaking : Hibs never asked for the player, he was simply offered to them by a common sponsor. It was welcome chit chat away from the “OK Siehbi” business for Muscat though. Or was it?

Muscat tweeted about Hibs needing to do the right thing. He clearly implied that deciding to employ a convicted felon might not always be a good move – particularly for Malta’s “image” abroad. Ah yes,  image – obsessed as we are that the consequences of our actions are not measured by right or wrong but by perception. Suddenly Ched Evans came back to explode in Muscat’s face like the proverbial pie. Here was the Prime Minister who has openly embraced convicted criminal Engerer (for a lesser crime but nonetheless a heinous one) suddenly preaching from the pulpit as how to deal with convicted felons.

We could not help but be reminded that following Malliagate, the Prime Minister was quick to point out that it would be sad to completely lose the services of Manuel Mallia. There are many other examples of disgraced politicians being quietly reinstated in the fold of Taghna Lkoll after a period of “penitence”. In the “OK siehbi” world of Muscat everyone deserves a second chance, and a third and a fourth. If your face was on a billboard or if you backed the “moviment” in any way then – subject to the right conditions of “perception” – you are afforded the Taghna Lkoll equivalent of a “Get Out of Jail Free”.

Ched Evans’ mistake was not that he raped a drunk girl in a hotel room and subsequently failed to show remorse for his actions. Ched Evans’ mistake was simply that he did not appear on a Taghna Lkoll billboard when he had the chance.

 

Categories
Mediawatch Politics

By Appointment

appointment_akkuzaI was asked recently to give my two cents’ worth for an article being prepared by a MaltaToday journalist. He was looking into the recent history of KSU and more particularly the trend of ex-KSU council members becoming politicians (even more particularly Nationalist politicians). Was the university student council simply a machine geared to churn out potential nationalist MPs? Why only nationalist? Was (is) the university a nationalist party enclave? Is there a reason SDM still win a majority of votes at the elections? And of course… what is wrong with the “first past the post” system?

I will not delve into the answers that I gave here but what intrigues me is the perspective that is taken on the question of what we can call political careerism. Let me just say (I admit rather idealistically) that the whole KSU structure as conceived in the mid-90s only becomes counterproductive when allegiance to representing political party interests takes precedence over the aim of student representation. Back to careerism. The question is, is it only the nationalist side of our great divide that operates a school of aspiring careerists? A place in SDM, eventually a seat on the KSU council, a bit of coverage, maybe a spot of Local Council sparring and then a place in the party mechanism only to be nominated on a board or two once your party is in government. Who knows?

Would it take an anthropologist to really uncover the liens that intertwine in our very local and islandish form of networking that uses certain DNA traits such as “better the devil you know”? Take one step back. Look at the Aaron Farrugia’s of the Labour constellation. Sure they may not have made it to the coveted KSU executive post (though, had they done their representation homework properly they would have discovered that they had quite a role to play in the Social Policy Commission through Pulse). Still, you will find that the current administration is peppered with young, green, inexperienced hopefuls that are projected (many would add undeservedly) onto various committees, boards, and whatnot. All By TaghnaLkoll Appointment you would say. And you would be right.

It’s two sides of the same coin though. 25 years of nationalist administration, plus a petri dish of cliches as is the university population might have meant that SDM had the upper hand and were more prone to scrutiny when it came to careerism in the public eye (particularly after the idealist non-affiliated SDM petered out following its three year stint battling the impossible). This does not mean that what was true for the nationalist greasy pole is not true of the labourite one. People are so obsessed with this idea that there is some kind of nationalist infiltration of the university that they tend to forget that the two “schools” of partisan interference have sown (and reaped) their seeds in the university campus.Whether it is intentional or just an adaptation of the campus to the realities of political careerism is anyone’s guess.

It’s not just university you know. The ivory tower is only one field of recruitment. The networking system upon which our political parties have relied means that in every sector – from business to health to entertainment – there are massive interests that very often verge on the economic. We have seen how in the last few months the Labour government has scarcely been able to hide the web of interests that lie behind every supposed “policy” move. The brazen approach of discovery taken by Caruana Galizia’s Running Commentary is expediting the discovery of a web of interests that is being accommodated. From advertising brochures to insurance contracts to appointments on public boards. As Benigni would say “Qui è un mangia mangia generale”.

Surprised? Surely not. Also today former PN activist Frank Psaila “blogs” on MaltaToday about “The untouchables“. His is a particular slant about “people of trust” being necessarily appointed in particular strategic posts. Strategic to the government of course. Psaila can say a thing or two about what happened during the time of the PN administration because he was part of it. Caruana Galizia will have multiple willing “leakers” eager to disclose the secret entanglings of labour.

The real question is whether had there been an equally popular system of discovery during the previous administrations – one that lends itself to subtle contributions by “international networks” – whether it would have also uncovered a similar web of intertwined interests and favours. We had a former PN secretary general refer to a system of barter to explain how the party works. Combined with the aforementioned “better the devil you know” approach, you get the nagging feeling that just as a series of not too serendipitous connections would link the PM to a newly formed advertising agency or insurance company nowadays,  you could have done very much the same exercise a while back.

True. The Labour system is much more outrageous and ostentatious with its careerist appointments. Competence and relevance (of qualification) are thrown out of the window. Within 21 months we have been able to witness arrogant dog-headedness and a multitude of forms of brazen nepotism. A dark shadow looms on most government tenders and nowadays when you hear the prime minister say that “he respects the court decision” (as in the case of the prohibitory injunction on the transport issue) you get the feeling that the tone is more “I will tolerate for now” than “I will humbly prostrate myself before the decision of the courts of law”.

In essence Labour are much more expert at exposing the ugly warts of the way our democratic system functions. What is sure is that 25 years of nationalist administration failed to strengthen the appropriate watchdogs that would be barking madly at this point. “Authorities” of all sorts are feebler and weaker. Labour fast-forwarded this weakness in the system by exploiting it further and further. The decline and fall of the police and army system under the able (not for good reasons) hands of Minister who has long lost the plot is the most obvious example. Weakened institutions – the ombudsman, the attorney general’s office, MEPA come to mind – abound. Elsewhere ministers disband independent committees with a simple phone call, MPs are suspected of toying around with tender documents… need I go on?

So the tune has not changed. The need for new politics remains greater than ever. The tragedy is that the system is ever so desperately ingrained in its methods that it becomes harder to see a way out. In such a small democracy as ours it it difficult (or impossible) to imagine the ultimate watchdog turning out to be the catalyst for such a change. Who is the ultimate watchdog? Oh that would be “the average voter”. But he might be too busy trying to expectantly get his foot into the gravy train (by appointment) to bother with the complicated nuances of the absolute reform that is ever so urgent and necessary for this country.

That is the sad truth of it all. A truth that Joseph Muscat turned into the secret underpinning of his strategy: That within the vast majority of the electorate lies an illusion of a legitimate expectation to get a piece of the pie by appointment and for free. So long as that illusion lasts the nation will continue to resemble a suicide of lemmings running towards a cliff’s edge*.

 

* Actually this is an urban myth. Lemmings do not really commit suicide** by collectively jumping off cliffs (see here for example). Voters on the other hand….

 

** The collective term for lemmings, though, is actually a “suicide” of lemmings. As we say in Maltese … Ħu il-fama…

Categories
Politics

Labour’s Bullshit Factory

bullshit_akkuzaThere’s no two ways about it. The only quirk in the Grand Theory of Labour’s Bullshit Factory is that Muscat seems to be resiliently surviving in the popularity stakes. The people still hang on to whatever fairy dust he can throw at them – and from the looks of it there is not much left. Labour supposedly had a well-oiled machine in the run up to the election. I say supposedly since no matter how many plaudits can be wasted on their “achievement” it still boils down to a PR stunt so big that one can only blame the gullible for having fallen for it hook, line and sinker. It did rely muchly on the idea that twenty-five years of nationalist government had given rise to much corruption and fit in nicely with the average Maltese voters penchant for martyrdom and self-pity that puts the Secret Policeman’s Ball to shame.

Two years into Labour government and when the words and charades fell apart we have a government that is mired in its own bullshit. We may have a 58c COLA increase but there are innumerable cheques that cannot be cashed (and I am not talking about the salaries given to the friends and friends of friends of taghnalkoll meritocracy dudes but about promises unfulfilled): Take Minister Joe Mizzi and his latest revelation that the public transport subsidy will have to rise to 23 million euros. It makes Manuel Delia’s fiasco suddenly look like a Nobel Prize Achievement. Not just that. This particular purveyor of champagne socialist bull has the gall to refuse to explain what effect this will have on the tariffs for the normal gentry who rely on such transport. Those who don’t (rely on such transport) have just been told that many of the roads they patronise (as in patrons) daily will be shut for works – presumably to be inaugurated in a couple of years’ time by a beaming Minister.

So Arriva was not THAT bad after all was it? Bar a few questionable choices regarding the use of bendy buses it seemed to work quite well. Turns out that Labour’s only interest was finding something else to urge the people to feel uncomfortable about – then they would mumble something about 51 proposals from another planet and everyone would think all would be hunky dory under Joseph. J’accuse never fell for that sales pitch (see That Bohemian Planet 51) because anybody with a head on their shoulders and a brain between their ears could smell the Labour party’s particular brand of bull a mile away.

Now what do we have? We have ministers toying with public safety, others playing around with our code of laws as though it were a restaurant menu that needs bringing up to date, we have obscure dealings with not so democratic and open nations, we have a refusal to be accountable in parliament, we have a mess of an energy program complete with a faffing minister who does all he can to divert attention, we have a transport fiasco about to blow up again and we have a never ending system of nepotistic and taghnalkoll appointments that is about as barefaced a raspberry to the all that bullshit about meritocracy and transparency.

Now do you see how ironic the Dr BS moniker actually is?

 

Categories
Energy Politics

Kliem il-Fieragħ

fieragh_akkuza

“Mhux fjer. Korrotti. Ħbieb tal-Ħbieb. Issa jmiss lilna. Issa daqshekk. Roadmap. Tagħna lkoll. Gvern ta’ Kullħadd. Għal kullħadd. Tagħna lkoll. Neħilsu iċ-ċittadin mil-jasar u mit-tgħakkis tal-kontijiet. Tagħna lkoll. Tagħna lkoll.”

Xi krexxendo sabiħ. Ifjen mill-oħla kant tal-knejjes kattoliċi. Il-kant tal-emmna fejn il-kelma hija il-qofol ta’ kollox. Verbum Dei. Il-kelma issawret fl-imħażen tal-partit u twasslet ma’ l-erbat irjieħ mill-qaddejja tal-mexxej. Għax hekk isiru l-affarijiet. U sabet art għammiela fost ċittadini skuntenti u nibtet iż-żerriegħa tat-tama għax forsi xi darba jmiss lili wkoll. Għax għalhekk għammiela… għammiela bil-bżonnijiet ta’ l-individwi li x’iktarx jiġu ala bieb għajnhom mill-bżonn u ġid komuni.

Imma l-kelma tal-profeta mhix biżżejjed. Kelma torbot fid-dinja tal-irġiel, u l-irġulija tiswa mitqla deheb. Imma mhux dejjem. Jekk int kelmtek tiswa daqs l-arja li toħroġ minn fommok meta tlissinha u daqs dik l-istess arja togħsfor fl-eteru mingħajr ebda xkiel allura tibda titlef il-kredtu. U jekk kelmet il-profeta tal-abbundanza kienet li se jibni kastell fi żmien sentejn u li permezz ta’ dan il-kastell ser iraħħas u jtejjeb ħajjet kullħadd – allura jew tkun dik kelma soda u tajba, jewilla tkun kelma fiergħa.

U jekk biex jurina kemm hu tost u ċert (ċertissimu), il-profeta jaħlef pubblikament fuq it-televiżjoni illi jekk ma jsirux l-affarijiet skont kelmtu allura jwarrab, allura iktar u iktar nippretendu li jekk dak li ingħad li għandu jseħħ ma seħħx għandu iwarrab. Kwistjoni ta’ irġulija jekk xejn. Kwistjoni ta’ kelma li tiswa mitqla deheb. Kwistjoni li tibqa’ titqies ta’ bniedem serju u mhux ta’ bniedem tal-kelma fiergħa.

U x’jiġri jekk il-kastelli li bnejt ikunu biss kastelli fl-arja? X’tiswa iktar kelmtek meta tiċħad is-sewwa magħruf? X’tiswa int u x’jiswew ta’ madwarek jekk tibdew tagħżqu bi kliem iktar fieragħ u faċċjoliżmi minflok ma terfgħu responsabilta li tkunu irbatt ruħek biha?

Muscat kien qal li jirriżenja jekk ma jitlestiex il-power station sa’ Marzu tal-2015. Issa reġa bdielu. Jaf lil jekk lin-nies iwiegħdhom roħs fil-kontijiet – jiġri x’jiġri – jaf iżomm dik l-art għammiela bi kwieta ftit ieħor. Sadattant Mizzi intbagħat jagħżaq b’akkużi oħra dwar għemil il-gvern passat sabiex jiddevja ftit l-attenzjoni minn nuqqasijiet ta’ dak ta’ llum. Għax għadhom jaħsbu li n-nies ċwieċ. Għadhom jgħodduhom bħala boloħ, li basta twiegħdhom ftit ċejċa u jkunu lesti jaħfrulek li tkun gdibtilhom f’wiċċhom.

Għadu, Muscat, ixejrilna il-pipa ta’ Magritte f’wiċċna. Għadu jirkanta kelmtu għal dawk l-imzazen li lesti jixtru bl-irħis. U kull ma jmur dik il-kelma qed titlef il-valur.

Kull ma jmur il-votant qed jitgħallem dan Muscat fiex isarraf.