It is ironic that without in any way betraying his understandable sympathies for the party that he helped rebuild out of nothing, it had to be none other than former leader of the PN, and ex-Prime Minister – President Emeritus Eddie Fenech Adami to expose certain chinks in the armour of GonziPN. Particularly of those elements who over the past months have been busy trying to demonize the PL and anybody who in any way lent it their support or understanding. Even if they so happened to be back up vocalists, walk on part actors or serving and or retired experts in their fields of specialization who are not known to harbour any political agenda.
In a most intriguing and down to earth interview carried last Sunday in another section of the local media, Dr Fenech Adami made the following points that are worth pondering upon.
Primarily that:
When harping on the past, I don’t think people care about it.
The young don’t care about the ‘80s.
Today there are two parties gathering round the centre.
If it were up to him he would have called the general election earlier.
What I have to do, I do. I don’t put it off till tomorrow.
(Irrespective of his understandable political preferences) Does the PL scare me? No!
Having dissidents who actually left the party isn’t something one should be happy about…..
I don’t see why Hermann Schiavone has been excluded as a candidate. I know him very well …He’s been working very hard and can be trusted. He subscribes to the principles of the PN so frankly I can’t see why!
While this week we had various proposals unfolding, numerous manifesto analyses underway and even a bizarre tabloid war surfacing in the middle of the campaign, the country continues to be stunned by two important developments.
The unraveling scandals involving people in key government positions – particularly in the oil purchasing sector, substantiated by what seems to be on paper, smoking gun evidence and people’s quest to know the whole truth about certain developments and proposals that were received, studied and even abandoned under the most mysterious of circumstances in past years. This applies mainly to the gas pipeline project.
When one recalls that only days before the first salvos of the oil purchasing kick backs stories surfaced, an eminent former top Enemalta official claimed that administrative changes made by Minister Gatt in Enemalta resulted in the formation of a powerful lobby by the fuel importers who would stand to lose millions of Euros if the power stations converted to gas, certain questions gain in added relevance.
No wonder that key opinion makers claimed that not only should allegations about a substantial sum of money in commission that was paid to a member of the fuel procurement committee appointed by Dr Gatt should be investigated – but they went on to add – as a leading newspaper did editorially – that this is a most serious allegation that needs to be properly investigated quickly and resolved. Something that left the usual suspects and apologists mumbling and fumbling by asking the silly question as to why did such a story surface now – rather than insisting on an urgent probe for the fastest and speediest of resolutions of this worrying maze.
If the ENI offer was indeed made, why did Cabinet know about it and Enemalta claimed not to be aware of it?
Why was such an important project not discussed in Parliament at the time?
As a leading article asked – why was the public kept in the dark about it and only got to know about it ten years later in the midst of an election campaign?
why was the feasibility study prepared by the Enemalta commissioned energy economist never published?
Last week I represented my party in a discussion programme Realta` on state owned broadcasting. While I have every respect on a personal basis for the high ranking PN official taking part I am in total disagreement with her allegation that one should be discussing jobs rather than such scandals.
The general sentiment of all those who have welcomed me in their residences in the past few days – regardless of their political orientation – is perfectly echoed in the editorial that I have just quoted: Pipeline – deciding in country’s interest.
Mainly that:
It is not until these questions are answered, and the alleged corruption case is resolved in a transparent and satisfactory manner, that the matter can be resolved. people have a right to know the truth about this issue.
Until such matters are resolved election manifestos will most probably pale into insignificance. Particularly since their credibility has been long undermined in past years thanks to the endless series of unkept promises and unacceptable U-turns made in the process.
A quick look at the time-line the oil saga as it happened that appeared in various other newspapers should make it even clearer to understand why under such circumstances manifestos hardly matter at all, after all…….and are likely to have only marginal impact until the air is cleared on the Government side.
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