Helena Dalli is evidently upset

Helena Dalli, who will soon terminate her term of office as European equality commissioner, was upset that ministers in Joseph Muscat’s era were left out of a possible presidency because the Nationalist Party openly declared voting against them.

Was she referring to former star Konrad Mizzi, who had the cheek to give away three hospitals to someone completely unknown in the medical field, giving Vitals and, later, Steward more than €400 million and, up to the time of writing, the Maltese still do not know how this huge sum of money is going to be recovered?

I am also sure that Dalli knows about the fiasco Labour did to our national airline, Air Malta just 50 years after its inauguration by the same Labour government.

Helena Dalli speaking on TVM during the inauguration of the new president.

Maybe, Dalli had in mind Edward Scicluna, former finance minister in Muscat’s era, who planned an increase to his future salary as governor of the central bank while still heading a ministry. We all remember his declaration of me no know, me no see, me no hear when confronted with the hospitals’ scandal.

Oh, what about Anton Refalo, another minister in Muscat’s era? He is the one found  in possession of a historical stone dating back to Queen Victoria and is still showcasing it by his pool. 

There is the former prime minister himself who has been declared the most corrupt person of the year 2019. Was his name somewhere in Dalli’s mind for a possible presidency?

Or, ultimately, was Dalli upset simply because she herself was not considered? She might have thought that the people forgot her open declaration to erase Christian names in greeting cards; or that she tried to take people for a ride when, prior to general elections, she and her ilk deceived the electorate in the Labour’s manifesto. 

The esteemed position of a president of Malta is deserving to a person who enjoys honesty and integrity. 

Oh my, oh my, someone in her position should think 10 times before uttering such talk.   

Emily Barbaro-Sant – Mosta

Underground transport

The letter by Chris Agius (April 10) about the need for an underground transport system requires elucidation.

In the early/mid-1990s, I used to have very good relations with a huge international company that, among other jobs, is an expert in underground trains. They offered to lay, free of charge, the first prototype metro from Pembroke to Valletta and on to the Three Cities.  

I presented the offer to the Nationalist prime minister of the day and his reaction could not have been more negative, including the excuse: “What would the buses do?”

It seems that, with that suggestion, I had trodden on some toes and suffered the consequences.

Perhaps, it was a case that one should not look a gift horse in the mouth.

Frans Said – St Paul’s Bay