Rumblings coming out of our sister island, Gozo, have increased significantly.  For a small island with its own Ministry and its own budget, it has lately been in the news for rather the wrong reasons and is receiving a disproportionate amount of attention.

There is a kind of sub-culture though not in a strictly negative sense, that belongs to Gozo and the Gozitans.  They tend to interpret main stream practices in their own unique way, giving them a twist all of their own. 

The scene of a sizable crowd of people, present outside the Ministry for Gozo practically before dawn was something quite bizarre.  Where in Europe would you ever find such a thing?  I would say, not even in Sicily or Naples is there a similar need for people to present themselves outside the gates and make their laments in this way.  Maybe they are used to waking up early to get their work done before noon or need to have that meeting before leaving Gozo to get to Malta for work.  So, there may be a practical reason for this phenomenon.  Were it not, then something is really not quite normal in St. Francis Square.

Is there some Chinese whisper going around, where each client knows that it is necessary for them to appear personally before the Minister or other official concerned and pay their respects?  We also may wonder what the issues are which require this kind of intervention.

We can recall that Gozo was treated with particular importance by Joseph Muscat during the 2013 election campaign.  He himself even got up rather early in the morning to sit on the bench on the ferry with commuters.  Much was promised.  Expectations soared.  Reality is something else.  The wide gap between fact and fantasy will have hit the Gozitans hard but their secretive and independent spirit probably urges them not to give up and to bring their tailor- made demands directly to the Minister so that their entrepreneurial skills can bear the right fruit.

On another level is the adventure taking place at the Gozo General hospital.  There the scenes involve colleagues Dr Chris Fearne and Konrad Mizzi, in the Cabinet of Joseph Muscat.  Only under a labour government can a critical and essential facility such as the only hospital in Gozo, become a turf war.  Not only, but the future of this hospital is being put through risk and uncertainty for sake of someone's ego and possibly not only that.

Sitting above all this, in stately fashion, is Minister Refalo who may be just a figurehead assuming more power for himself than he actually enjoys, or who quietly rules the clan whilst allowing the big-wigs from Valletta to do their thing as long as he is kept happy.

As if to prove the point, into the fray comes the purchase by the Ministry for Gozo of a €371,233 painting by Mattia Preti.  This work of art is intended to be displayed at the still to be created Gozo Museum. 

It would appear that becoming a Minister in the government of Joseph Muscat means that you automatically have a right to indulge your deepest desires.  One may really fancy their own car and so they pay themselves to drive it.  Another loves art and collects antiques and is given access to unlimited funds to grace the auction rooms at Sotheby's.  Excitement on a level never seen before.  Then we have the more exotic flavour of having your wife be paid €13,000 a month just so you can be reminded of how high your power reaches. 

For others it is building big blocks of apartments that gives them a tickle or having a super journalist friend to relax with after a long day's work.

Those of the business sort, some amateurs and others not so much, in Malta and Gozo are quick to sniff the scent of desire and easily find the weak spot of each and every master.  Maybe that is what Joseph Muscat meant, during his campaign when he said that we may not agree with "them" but we can still work with "them".  To each his own.  For some its land, for others its construction, art, power, secret accounts, cars, women, photographs, cooking, blaring sirens announcing your arrival, judicial appointments, EU appointments and so on.  Your ego is my ego.

The only commodity that is off limits is political discourse and political preferences.  In this case the door is very much closed and off bounds to anyone who does not come from the right source.  Earlier on it was made clear when the stakes went out for Giovanna Debono, Nationalist shadow minister for Gozo at the time, and for her husband.  Claims of fraud were levelled against them and unfolding events show that these are likely to have been politically or opportunistically motivated. 

The Gozo ferry itself is also quite controversial.  As for the tunnel and the bridge, these remain like carrots dangling in front of the Gozitan electorate.  It is a pity that this issue has become an opportunistic topic.  Not even a simple and straight forward project like a fast-ferry has been implemented.  Could it be that the right accommodating "partner" has not yet been identified? 

 

The comedy of errors reaches its climax at the Police station.  Previously we had the case of the footballer who was released from his cell so that he could help his team win a match, forgetting the small matter of alleged battery.  Questions were asked only to be followed by the usual silence from those whose job it would be to immediately query and clarify the farce.  Now we have a repeat show with the night time rendevouz, again in St. Francis Square - such a hub of activity it has become! - so that the persons implicated in a case of drug trafficking could be allowed out of the back door.  Toto' himself would be proud of this arrangement. 

Joseph Muscat said that he would make Malta the best in Europe.  If he meant the best in sub-verting the law and in running an amateur show, then we should give him credit.  Unfortunately many people take the cue from him and think that the more they resemble his style and conform with his manners, the more likely they will be to succeed. 

This attitude has brought our country to ridicule and Gozo is itself at the mercy of unscrupulous interests that should never be a part of the life of this lovely island.  Much work will need to be done to change the mentality that has come about.  Not everything in life is about who you know and how you can obtain what you want.  There is need to cultivate a new sense of responsibility and fairness.  The panic of an oncoming election is also pouring fuel on an already volatile hotbed of canvassers and desperate constituents. 

How can this labour government have failed so miserably to bring dignity and honour to their office?  It is indeed a sad and pitiful place they have led us to.  Let us hope there is a way back and that people will take it.