Another week, another record-breaking Labour low. According to this lot’s greatly watered down code of ministerial ethics, the Speaker’s office is supposed to be informed when a minister needs to be absent from a session of Parliament (article 9.1). But the Labour government has managed to break even its own low standards – within a week of publishing them.

But the Labour government has managed to break even its own low standards – within a week of publishing them.

In another heated discussion on Wednesday night, Question Time got to a very embarrassing moment. Once again, Konrad Mizzi was absent. His junior, Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne, had to take the flak on his behalf. He had to reply to questions about the reasons and details behind Mizzi’s shady visits to Azerbaijan last year. I honestly felt sorry for Fearne.

We went round in circles. Then we got to the absurd point where members of the Government side could not (or would not) justify Mizzi’s absence from Parliament. It turned into a joke. First, Beppe Fenech Adami quipped, Mizzi lost his wife (who is on the tax-payers payroll at a hefty €13,000 monthly); now, his Government has lost him!

Nobody could tell us where Mizzi was. Even worse, nobody even tried. They simply could not be bothered. Not his junior. Not the parliamentary group’s coordinator, the whip. Nobody. So much for Article 9.1 in Labour’s own ministerial code of ethics.

As Charlo Bonnici put it, Konrad went mizzing. All thanks to Bonnici for helping the English language keep up with reality under Labour. But Maltese deserves a contribution too.

We already have the word mizata to mean payment or monthly subscription fee. But we need a special word to cover that special salary of €13,000 monthly and any other millions that Konrad’s modest ministerial interventions will cost the taxpayer over this legislature. Mizzata, anyone?

Smoke and stench fatigue

Now it is amply clear: This country is run by a bunch of people who engage in games of smoke and mirrors while others get rich quick.

For the first time ever, a Maltese government gives a bank guarantee of €88 million to help a group of private investors. But does the public need to know?

Governments let private investors do the work in order to avoid having to make such guarantees. If only the other businessmen (you know, those who had fondly imagined they had a chance to win the contract) had known the government would step in with its own guarantee. They would have improved on their offer.

Muscat’s decision to give this bank guarantee is to assure himself that the power station will truly be built and so he can save face. He is using public funds for non-public gain. Remind me, what is that called?

Nor is this an exceptional case. Do we know how many passports have been sold to date? Do we know who these people are? They are Maltese citizens and we should know. Do we know what backdoor deals have been taking place, with whom and to what financial gain?

We got to know about the Café Premier and Old Mint Street deals thanks to the independent media but I must say that the meticulous details of the real deals have surfaced thanks to the relentless, hard work of the MP Jason Azzopardi. He saw the smoke, tracked it and found the fires.

Keeping up with the smoke is so tiring. Muscat used to say he was concerned with voter fatigue. If only he shows just a fraction of the concern for our smoke fatigue.

There is smoke everywhere. It is so hard to keep up with the details of so many shady deals, some hidden while others are given the veneer of an official memorandum of understanding. 

The health system is a case in point. Konrad Mizzi has appointed a consultant (to the Minister but not the Ministry). This consultant just happened (it is all a coincidence, mind you) to register his consultation company shortly after Mizzi was appointed Minister. Now he seems to be the kingpin in all the wheeling and dealing related to the privatisation of the system.

I am told he is in Gozo talking about privatisation of the hospital. He seems to be in Karin Grech telling them very much the same thing. I say “it seems” because all my PQs related to this consultant, who goes by the name of Alan Comerford, are left unanswered. 

One particular question, among those which Konrad Mizzi left unanswered, is very telling: “Did Alan Comerford earn €250,000 in 2014?” I’m afraid the Minister’s silence leaves me to believe that this is true. The guy has earned a quarter of a million and we are left with unanswered questions.