This government continuously shows that it has got its priorities wrong. Very wrong. Either that or else it has some nasty plans for this country which it is obviously keeping under wraps.

We were told that the 2015 and 2017 local council elections have to be postponed to 2019 because the country needs to save the money spent on organising them. I, for one, do not buy such an excuse. This government has shown from the very beginning of this legislature that in its effort to pay back those who have or are still lending it their support, it is certainly not thrifty. Many contracts were dished out to ladies and gentlemen of sorts. Jobs were literally created to keep some people happy. I do not recall having heard any member of government lamenting the expenditure forked out by Muscat’s government. So how can they expect us to believe that they are being honest with us in their defence of their messing around with election dates.

People are no fools. By now they have realized what their true intentions are. They want avoid all electoral tests between now and 2018 so that they continue running the country seemingly unchallenged. Doing this would also mean removing the referendum on spring hunting, which the country may face early next year, from any other election, minimizing the chances of victory for those who lobbied hard for this referendum. After all, this government is a political ‘prisoner’ of many lobby groups, including the hunters’. It does not have any other choice but to play into the hands of those who helped it win the seat of power.

Libya

To the relief of the whole nation, Martin Galea, a Maltese citizen who was abducted in Libya, was released earlier this week and returned to Malta safe and sound. We came to know of this abduction through a report in The Times of Malta and not through an official statement by the government. We were later told in Parliament that the government felt in had to keep mum about the whole affair so as not to jeopardize Mr Galea’s chances of being released. While criticising the Prime Minister for at least not informing him in confidence about this event, Opposition leader Dr Simon Busuttil promised the Opposition’s backing in securing Galea’s early release. This was another proof, if proof was indeed needed, that the Opposition led by Dr Busuttil is both sensible and positive and puts the national and, in this case, an individual’s interest before its own.

This notwithstanding, one cannot but comment on the way the government seems to have manipulated the event of Mr Galea’s return to Malta. The Prime Minister and his entourage greeted Mr Galea on the apron before addressing the media. Interestingly, Prime Minister Muscat gave his back to the career diplomat, Dr Marisa Farrugia, who Galea himself singled out as the one who saved his life. It must be pointed out that the government was constrained to ask Dr Farrugia, who was suspended from her post due to allegations of some irregularities in the issuing of visas, to intervene. Evidently she did a good job, but once she had served their purposes they opted to push her aside and literally give her their backs. Of course, they did not want reporters to ask them about their decision to rope her in and consequently spoil their headlines. They could have been asked about the role of the current ambassador who only travelled back when the situation had become implosive. They could have asked them why they felt Dr Farrugia could do what the ambassador could not or was not able to do.

The manipulation of the whole affair became clearer, at least to me, when in one of the newspapers (not this one) a journalist who allegedly gets too cosy with the present administration did her very best to give all the credit to Ambassador Mannie Galea and play down the role of Dr Farrugia in the release of Martin Galea. This government knows no limits.

Beppe

Beppe Fenech Adami’s account of what he is going through shocked many. It was an honest and straight-to-the-point interview with a politician who has already left his mark in politics despite having been at the forefront for a relatively short time. Both Beppe and I made it to Parliament for the first time in 2008. I have to say that he is definitely the parliamentary colleague I have spent most time with in the past six years and four months, mostly because we have been or are members of the same parliamentary committees and have also travelled abroad together on a number of occasions. I would be divulging no secret when I say that Beppe’s heart belongs to the Nationalist Party apart from his family. He thinks all the time of how the party can once again become a people’s party and a popular party. His mind is an ideas-machine. His enthusiasm is unstoppable. His speeches, as well as in one-to-one conversations, are uplifting.

The ordeal he is going through may force him to take a step back but I am sure he will jump back as soon as, God willing, his health is regained. His party needs him. Malta needs him. I am sure God will be with him and his family in this difficult period in his life.

Charl? Bonnici is a Nationalist Member of Parliament.