I was going to say that it was surprising that the Prime Minister’s initial reaction to the story carried in The Malta Independent on Sunday on Swiss Leaks was to defend Michael Falzon and Ninu Zammit – and try to shift the attention on Austin Gatt.
But, on second thoughts, it was not surprising at all. Anything can be expected from a Prime Minister who built his election victory on a pledge to have a new power station completed within the first 24 months in office, but who will not be doing so next week when the deadline expires.
Austin Gatt has been public enemy number two – closely behind Lawrence Gonzi – for the Labour Party since Joseph Muscat took over the leadership. Accusations against him during his time as minister were almost an everyday occurrence. The adjective “arrogant” has been used countless times in his regard by Labour, which conveniently forgets that it has so many people who can compete and probably beat Dr Gatt on this playing field. Justyne Caruana, who is an MP only because of a mistake in the counting of votes which has been determined in a court judgment, is the latest to be added to this particular list.
Of course, there are reasons why Joseph Muscat is defending Michael Falzon and Ninu Zammit.
The first contributed to his 2013 victory with his anti-Lawrence Gonzi administration comments he wrote and said in pro-Labour media, so much so that he received his reward by being appointed as an observer on the Oil Procurement Committee, a position he suspended himself from even before The Malta Independent published the results of its investigation.
The second benefited from an amnesty granted by the Labour government to regularise, he says, his position.
Soon after the news of their having held a secret Swiss bank account was published, while the Nationalist Party leader immediately suspended Mr Falzon and Mr Zammit from PN activities, Dr Muscat and pro-Labour media tried to deflect the issue onto Austin Gatt.
Two years ago, on the eve of the election, Dr Gatt admitted that he had inherited a Swiss bank account from his parents. At the time, under a different leadership, he was not suspended from the party.
Dr Busuttil is being accused of adopting a two-weights-and-two-measures approach but, frankly, the circumstances are not the same. He was not PN leader before the election, and so he could not take the decision he took last Sunday. And he cannot now suspend Dr Gatt for something he admitted two years ago and on which his predecessor chose not to take action.
That was then and this is now. Although some may argue that Dr Busuttil was deputy leader at the time of Dr Gatt’s confession, it must be admitted that there is a huge chasm between a deputy and a leader in any given political party. If anything, Dr Busuttil should be commended for taking such a decision immediately after the news broke.
That Dr Gatt is still on Labour’s collective mind is an admission that they have little to say on the new PN these days. Maybe, when the PN will shortly be mounting a campaign on the power station failure, Labour will blame it on Austin too, saying that his failed public transport reform prevented workers from arriving at Delimara.
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On another matter, I humbly take note that after my article last Friday – Fifty shades of PBS – my colleagues at the selected printed media who have programmes on the national television station took up my suggestion and dedicated their air-time to the Libya crisis and the presence of the Islamic State there. Peppi Azzopardi said that Xarabank will be taking up the issue, while the MaltaToday and Times of Malta TV programmes have already done so.
It’s a good feeling to see that those who criticised The Malta Independent for simply reporting what was happening - like other media of international repute – ended up following us.