From Mr F. Galea

One cannot just hide behind a sardonic and sarcastic look and a Cheshire-cat grin while endeavouring to pardon relapsing incompetence. Whoever they are, the top brass should be held accountable and pay for their incompetence independently of who they are, who put them there and why. I think accountability in the mouth of politicians of the past decade or so was only a word used as a diversional action aimed at legitimising otherwise inconceivable appointments very high up. In fact the word itself anaesthetised, as intended, the sensitivity and perception of the electorate.

I would like to point out, for the benefit of the tax-payer who eventually foots the bill, that these are the kind of people who receive a yearly Lm600 dress allowance, choose the make and model of the car they drive around in with free fuel, free telephone, and so on. By the way, they also have the privilege of buying the car, at a deprecatory price of course, from the government and probably tax-free too!

It seems they are probably unable to interpret their own statistics (providing they keep such) and trends and pro-act accordingly, even by pre-budgeting or by long-term advance budgeting if circumstances so require. But, on the other hand they could very well be very able to do it but they are not allowed to. Perhaps because the country’s credit overseas is long gone!

These persons ought not be up there running organisations. If they are incompetent they ought to be kicked out, if they are impotent they themselves ought to leave even though there is a lot they would lose.

But the defence lawyers, those who actually put them there, would retort that we cannot keep removing people from certain posts. The truth is that heads have never rolled because if just one head were to roll, it would amply prove their own incompetence.

What am I rambling on about? Have you not noticed? February 2005 has brought with it the artificial scarcity of that commodity called domestic gas cylinders as have all the months of February of the previous years, repeat years. That word is in the plural, years.

Frank Galea

ZEBBUG