This happened last week when they all considered Gonzi’s idea of setting up a parliamentary committee to probe the black dust issue to be nonsensical, because this is not a matter for politicians but for scientists and forensic analysts to tackle.
Although some are trying to drop the hint that we are being disingenuous in making it government’s problem and that we are well placed as the government to find out what the dust is and where it is coming from, this is a pure case of missing the wood for the trees.
It does not take a rocket scientist or a truly professional political analyst to decode Gonzi through his handling of the black dust issue.
After 11 years of virtual political impotence, where not only the PM ended up with egg all over his face, and both Mepa and Enemalta lost public confidence with their handling of the situation, people have come to realise even more that in trying to shift the onus onto our Parliament and its representatives, Gonzi’s sole interest was that of asking Parliament to shoulder the responsibility that government and the Executive should have carried – and in fact continue to carry all along.
But what in my opinion irked Gonzi most was a point many local media deliberately played down.
That Gonzi feels inevitably in the dock not only as a Prime Minister who has also come a cropper as he did on ARMS LTD but that he also happens to be the minister accountable to one and all, Parliament included, directly responsible for the environment and Mepa.
This is something no amount of control from his media gurus will make us succeed in forgetting. On its part, the PL will definitely go out of its way to keep hammering this point home, particularly since the environment was placed so much centre stage during the last general election campaign.
People who contacted me, phoned me or even emailed me, who I all happen to know as people without any political commitment of any sort, were left speechless on two occasions last week:
• When the PM claimed that there was nothing to investigate more on this issue,
• When the PM insisted for the third time round that a parliamentary committee is meant to overcome an obstacle that Mepa seemed politically impotent to do anything about.
The PM surely knows as well as I do that a parliament’s duty is to legislate and scrutinise and not to carry out the work of the government of the day.
Take the PAC. No matter what issue it might probe or tackle at no stage would one expect it to assume the role of the Finance Ministry.
But then as I said, if anything, the government’s childish handling of the black dust issue last week helped us make one thing clearer than usual. It helped us decode Gonzi with far more relative ease than is normally the case although he is by now becoming highly predictable in his behaviour.
The PM would have loved to resort to his stock in trade cliché that he was misquoted but this time round he cannot do so since his replies were both given in Parliament in writing. Irrespective of the damage limitation and knee-jerk reactions that triggered them on.
ARMS’ charm offensive fizzles out
The recent article in another section of the local media by a senior ARMS LTD official that tried to make us believe that his agency is committed to providing better service was nothing but an insult to one’s intelligence, no matter how well meaning the Policy and Strategy Manager might have been.
Such words come too late in the day and offer little consolation to all the suffering consumers who surely deserve better than yet another apology that comes hot on the heels of Lawrence Gonzi’s apology of some few days ago.
In this day and age one would have expected:
• The regulator and not just the Ombudsman to have shown some clout by rapping ARMS LTD and the people behind it publicly
• Lawrence Gonzi should have put his money where his mouth is and asked all the key people involved to step down
• The people at the helm – not the employees – of ARMS LTD should have spared themselves further embarrassment by stepping down of their own free will
• Those responsible for drawing up the business plan that paved the way for the establishment of this entity should have publicly highlighted the resultant discrepancies from the ‘original’ plans and mission statement.
Who is responsible for ID cards?
After submitting some seven PQs on the introduction of the new ID Card system to Minister Gatt, which he tried to reply to in his customarily elusive and evasive manner, the question was put by none other than the Opposition Leader again to the same Minister. Wonder of wonders we were told that ID cards are not his responsibility! Can the Hon. Prime Minister please enlighten us on the subject?
From imposition to inquisition
One issue that had strengthened my pro-PL resolve in the past was the heavy handed manner in which Lawrence Gonzi’s uncle, Archbishop Gonzi had capriciously imposed mortal sin on Labour supporters for fighting for civil rights – rights which nowadays we tend to take for granted.
I have a gut feeling that the threat of medieval imposition of mortal sin, in a manner that smacked of the inquisition, that emanated from the church’s Judicial Vicar vis-a-vis members of the judiciary who might preside over divorce issues, will only serve to strengthen public support for this civil rights issue too.
Retiring Judge Philip Sciberras
The same way that I recently paid tribute to former Judge Galea Debono, I feel duty bound to offer a few words of praise to retiring Judge Philip Sciberras.
That I happened to know Philip and that we both militated at one point in the same party is purely coincidental.
Not only does his integrity bear testimony to all that, but even his productivity and fairness of judgment.
Two qualities that do not always come easy when assessing the quality and quantity of the performance of retiring members of the judiciary as well as those still in Office.
Always known as a work horse it comes to me as no surprise that in a matter of days Philip will be back practising the legal profession.
I would be amazed if he opted not to do so.