Missed out information, purposely or because of lack of knowledge, gave the impression that I interfere in somebody else’s work. Utter nonsense to a person with common sense. Anybody reading it can see through the apparent bias and the slant given to portray
me in a bad light”
Allow me to start off by saying that I hope I am not pressuring anybody today to read my article.
The summer season is now definitely over. The trips that the Maltese people do to Sicily, into the small and not so small Sicilian ports, are over. One has to wait a few more months till next summer before indulging in that restaurant in Ibla, besides the many waterfront restaurants in Marina di Ragusa.
The Ragusa area was of high interest. That high quality porto has given them a very different and high profile dimension. Property buying has never failed, both locally and abroad. Land and stone have always been a prime investment for us Maltese. We, the Maltese, have a funny and strange way of saving all our declared earnings to buy property.
A new Opposition Leader in England has also been appointed. It was a friendly, if not a family, contest for the hot seat. An article caught my eye this week, wherein it was asked: now that Ed Milliband has become leader of the Labour party, in whose hands will he now be? Any contestant has to rely on support, not from one person, but from a very broad base. It is not ethical to say that there was a kingmaker.
Avoiding the subject of my recent hitting headlines in certain quarters would not be fair on the readers. Malta is so small that one would notice a rain cloud coming from the horizon, well knowing that it will rain in a few hours, where it will rain, and who will get wet. Plots and frame-ups are so easily detected; hidden agendas are no longer secret. When the storm struck, albeit in a teacup, I was indoors. We all can assume who was the source of such an attack.
Missed out information, purposely or because of lack of knowledge, gave the impression – because it could only have given a very faded impression – that I interfere in somebody else’s work. Utter nonsense to a person with commonsense. Anybody reading it can see through the apparent bias and the slant given to portray me in a bad light.
We Maltese tend to like character assassination attempts. Some are not new to the job, and thus have the expertise in this subject. To me, it is a truly immoral practice that, I believe, should be included in the newly proposed law called the Whistleblowers Act. This would eliminate, or at least try to curtail, those persons, paid or unpaid, professional or non-professional whose aim is to put others under the microscope. Their written or spoken words, often published in newspapers or made publicly in other media, could then come under the scrutiny of this new Act.
This Act is an electoral promise by the Nationalist government, which is fulfilling its promises to the electorate in an orderly fashion. But it can be a double-edged sword. It should protect and cover each bona fide person. An interesting debate will surely ensue in the coming months. Hopefully the proposed law is embraced by both sides of the house, and is not used as a political ball of convenience.
Once again it’s the Nationalist government that has proposed a very ambitious law, which will be there for usage by the private and public enterprises. I make it clear that is should be there to be used properly, and not for character assassination purposes.
Robert Arrigo is a parliamentary assistant in the Finance Ministry