We have one minister who built an illegal swimming pool and cannot have it sanctioned. Another one who was found in possession of national heritage objects and cannot speak about it. Another one who thinks the Blue Lagoon belongs to his family members.
Yet another one who refuses to answer questions on why 120 senior citizens who have been residing in a Cospicua care home for years have been given a two-week eviction notice for no proper reason. He simply runs away telling all to tune into his monologue address in the evening adjournment.
Their shared sense of entitlement cannot be justified. But it can be understood.
Facing corruption allegations, a former prime minister is annoyed at the ever-increasing exposure of the secret details of his serial failings as a once custodian of the country’s affairs and his subsequent acquired wealth as a ‘consultant’ at the hands of cross border investigative journalists and NGOs. He finds no problem attacking and describing them, among other things, as “a conspiracy of freemasons”.
He even tried to bully an inquiry magistrate by pointing his finger at her father and brother’s one-time social media comments about an unrelated political issue. It stank of desperation because it is common knowledge she and members of her immediate family have never engaged in any form of political party activism. His desperation cannot be justified. But it can clearly be understood.
The present prime minister is exposed as having a history of property deals with alleged criminals, deals in which planning permits came his way while he was the top legal advisor to the Planning Authority.
He encouraged his supporter base not to bother with what is being written in the newspapers and the blogs and to “look only to what we have achieved for you”. Fifty Shades of Sai Mizzi, you might say.
His attacks on those who exposed his hypocrisy cannot be justified. But they can be understood.
We have seen the husband of a former Labour minister yelling insults at a judge in open court because he did not agree with the latter’s decision.
The majority of members on the bench, regardless of their date of appointment, live up to their oath of independence and impartiality- Eddie Aquilina
Why do see these things happen nearly every day?
It’s because the Muscat/Abela establishment thinks it has power over everyone and everything. And what or whom they cannot buy or control, like NAO damning reports, they misquote and then ignore.
Others who get in their way are targeted, demonised and ridiculed. It’s their modus operandi. And they think it’s fool proof.
So, when things don’t go their own way, they are shocked and then angry that the Tagħna Lkoll special treatment regime has failed them.
Rosianne Cutajar herself, in private and in public, proudly admits that “as Labourites we watch each other’s backs”. Nothing new. We learnt this from the way Labour handled the scandals of the Panama Papers, Montenegro and all the other mucky deals too long to list.
In all this, however, there is still some hope.
The majority of members on the bench, regardless of their date of appointment, live up to their oath of independence and impartiality. Their work is hampered by lack of staff and resources, unexplained mistakes in charge sheets, plea deals and concerted delays caused by a series of incompetent and weak attorney generals and police commissioners.
Within the corridors of power, there are still police officers and civil servants who have remained loyal to their oath of service to the country. The NAO’s hospital report itself explains how Robert Abela’s attempt to give Steward an even more fraudulent deal was blocked by those who refused to be accomplices in the continuing scams of their political masters.
It was one of these officials who unwittingly dashed the hopes of a complete Castille cover-up in the wake of the
October 16, 2017 assassination of an investigative journalist, by calling the FBI before calling Castille.