Although the scenarios and cases are totally unrelated, what applied to CIA Head Petraeus undoubtedly applies to Lawrence Gonzi too.
In the sense that this week they both faltered badly on what can best be described as a case of extremely poor judgment.
In Lawrence Gonzi’s case his mishandling of the Brazilian company saga had nothing to do with direct foreign investment or job creation. But it had much to do with his own political credibility that has long been in tatters.
Even if he had tried to pull a fast one on Joseph Muscat during Xarabank he must have known and realized that within a few hours he would have been caught red handed that he was taking the whole electorate for a ride.
Things have taken such a bad turn within PN ranks that some insiders within the Nationalist Party have been sharing the view that the beleaguered Prime Minister could have been deliberately misinformed by elements within his own party who are after his blood and who are eager to set booby traps afoot to get him out of the way at the earliest, given his ever increasing reluctance to cling on to the party’s and government’s leadership.
If on the other hand Gonzi was not misled than there is only one over simplistic conclusion that we may be allowed to reach.
That he himself deliberately set out to mislead the electorate. In the hope of scoring a few brownie points for just a few hours or days.
Had he tried to do an EFA/Sant trick as had been perpetrated on election eve, one would have understood the deviousness of it all even if still finding it totally unacceptable but in this case Gonzi had everything to lose, by resorting to such a shallow gimmick that could only have had – as it actually did – a boomerang effect on him, his standing and his political integrity.
Although Gonzi has long been known to be very reluctant to take much heed of Transparency International findings, a mere Google search would have instantly made him realize that no matter how big this company’s clout might have been elsewhere, and how negligible was its presence on the island (contrary to the spin that he chose to spin) its name has long been tarnished by association with allegations of perceived corruption by Transparency International as evidenced on Page 14 of their latest global update for 2012.
In its report which ran under the full title of Exporting Corruption? Country enforcement of the OECD anti-bribery convention progress report 2012 Transparency International states that here are two investigations underway concerning the largest construction company in Latin America – Norberto Odebrecht SA which allegedly made payments in Argentine via a shell company Infiniti Group to sub contractors Skanska SA, Contrara Hermanos and Techint SA in connection with the construction of a public building. The second investigation also concerns Odebrecht, reportedly involving allegations that the company paid $120m to Angolan politicians in connection with public works contracts.
The same report continues to declare that “There are further allegations against Odebrecht relating to its activities in Ecuador and to an oil pipeline in Argentina.’
When I quoted all this on Net TV both the Nationalist panelists and the Net TV Chair were taken completely by surprise. So much I can understand.
What puzzled me is that both the state television company and the Nationalist Party station which only minutes before the show went on air had disclosed the name of the company, at a time when the PM was still stubbornly resisting to mention it by name – did not even have the decency to say anything about these serious claims of alleged corruption made by what is arguably the most eminently body in the political transparency and good governance sector: Transparency International.
Match all this with government’s reluctance to legislate fully regarding whistleblowing and its even stronger reluctance to ensure that people are fully briefed as to how to access and benefit from the FOI – Freedom of Information ACT one can easily understand why this government does not give a damn about the mere notion of good governance.
This might also explain why in spite of S&P’s various warnings that date back to January 2011 Enemalta has still not decided to get its act together and actually ensure that all recommendations regarding good governance and transparency are firmly in place. It is only this week that they are advertising to fill the post of an Internal Auditor.
I still await with interest the findings of the National Audit Office’s investigations that I had triggered when I had called for a full blown probe of the way Oil purchasing had and is being conducted by this government as well as its erratic recourse to oil hedging.
This week I was also equally shocked by two issues linked and related to the uppermost civil servant within government’s ranks.
The way he ran counter to normal custom and almost shouldered full administrative (not to also say) political responsibility for the delays incurred in introducing the highly controversial and long overdue new ID card system and renewal.
As well as – without going into the merits of the case itself – the zeal and fervor with which he chose to stick his neck out for a top civil servant whose name has somehow been linked with the Dalligate saga, an issue I will refrain from pronouncing myself on, until the whole matter is resolved. Even though the former EU Commissioner has been repeatedly claiming that the whole story still has to begin unfolding rather than drawing as many suspect or would hope – to a predictable end!
GonziPN’s feeble claims that the PL is against foreign investment and relishes the prospect of job losses is as preposterous as Mario de Marco’s ridiculous claim in an otherwise lacklustre edition of Xarabank in which he made the damning statement that the Labour Party is engaged in class warfare simply because we so happen to be championing the middle class segment of society.
Our track record speaks for itself. We have been promising continuity so much in whichever areas may be performing well that a new PN candidate even had the cheek to ask: Why bother to change governments if the PL agrees so much with what we are doing?
If GonziPN are interested in an objective reality check they should first of all keep their own people in check to ensure that some of their major foot soldiers will not continue sowing doubts that a future PL administration could be a threat to the financial services sector, to e-gaming as well as to the dubious jobs that have been created through intermediary companies in such parastatal companies like WasteServ. State funded companies that merit a full blown investigation.
In the final analysis, GonziPN deserves to be politically rubbished over such statements as his claim on the Brazilian company for the simple reason that he gave the impression that:
they had a mega company and head office in Malta when they were operating in a pokey office
that they were thriving on the Libyan market when they then blamed their failure – 48 hours later – on the political uncertainty and instability that is admittedly still prevailing in Libya
that they would account for chunks of sizeable new investment and jobs when they were on the verge of closing shop on the island.
But then we might tend to overestimate Gonzi and his campaign gurus.
This is the only reason why we might ‘understand’ why regardless of having his own credibility at stake, he continues to be so politically irresponsible, reckless and even politically dishonest too.
With this in mind one can easier understand why he had held back from giving details of the company’s name or else replying to the relevant parliamentary questions by a colleague of mine – when originally submitted.
This sad saga at day’s end says more about GonziPN than about the Brazilian company itself.