In 1873 Mark Twain published “The Gilded Age: a tale of today”, a biting satire about an age of corruption where crooked land speculators and dishonest politicians voraciously took advantage of their fellow countrymen. America was going through a time of unprecedented growth and prosperity. But only powerful businessmen and their friends in office benefitted. The rest paid a heavy price.
Twain’s novel could easily apply to Labour’s Malta. A decade of boasts about rising GDP, surplus and economic miracles were just a gloss over the monumental corruption Labour engineered - at the nation’s expense. Labour’s prime ministers and their respective cabinets pandered to the interests of their wealthy financial contributors who helped them gain and retain office.
Now we know what an oligarchy truly looks like - Labour governments led by a “kitchen cabinet” which exercises power for their own benefit and that of their close friends - Yorgen Fenech, Chris Borg, the Bonnici Brothers, Zammit Tabonas, DB, Construct furniture, Paul Attard, Joseph Portelli. A change in leadership hasn’t changed anything - except the people at the top, members of that inner circle, beneficiaries of their decisions and the man calling the shots - Robert Abela. The business model is intact - rob the nation to enrich yourself.
Labour’s government continues to create and exploit monopolies to reward their friends. Direct orders are no longer the exception. They’re the rule. Labour brazenly hands out lucrative contracts to its chosen few. It doesn’t even bother pretending to hold any competitive process. Labour simply hands out our money to its friendly backers in direct contracts, denying everybody else a mere shot at it. Nobody can submit a bid. There are no bids. It’s all fixed.
The same applies for government posts. They’re created for MPs or the friends, wives and girlfriends of ministers. Chris Bonett and Roderick Galdes have both had their wives comfortably installed. Zammit Lewis’ sister was appointed too. Clayton Bartolo employed his girlfriend in his private secretariat before swiftly shifting her on to the Gozo Ministry.
The real jobs that need filling aren’t advertised in an open call. They’re just stuffed with political appointees. Pierre Fenech, who gave Rosianne Cutajar her consultancy post, has two CEO posts. Brigadier Jeffrey Curmi has just been turfed out of his lucrative Transport Malta post. Ramona Attard, Labour party president, has been on the government’s gravy train since 2013. Labour just cancelled a Lands Authority tender, ensuring that Ramona Attard, Robert Musumeci and former parliamentary secretary Deborah Schembri continue to benefit. Justyne Caruana has been well taken care of.
Honest citizens stand no chance - literally. No matter how qualified and experienced, they simply cannot apply - because there are no applications. There are just appointments usually at the behest of the Prime minister. Those appointments are becoming sleazier and sleazier. Even Labour stalwarts are disgusted.
Alfred Mifsud, the only man who gave Joseph Muscat a job, has been appointed the new arbiter for financial services. Mifsud was found guilty of 66 breaches by preceding financial arbiters. Despite Mifsud’s unfitness for the role, Muscat appointed him Central Bank Deputy Governor. He was then made non-executive director at Bank of Valletta. He’s just resigned to take up his latest role given to him by Robert Abela, one he is even more glaringly unfit for. But Mifsud was chairman of ONE Productions, he was Muscat’s boss at Crystal Finance. Robert Abela doesn’t care about the country’s reputation. He’s interested only in rewarding Mifsud.
Robert Abela also appointed Joseph Cuschieri President of the Eco-Contribution Appeals Board, a semi-judicial entity. Cuschieri was also kept on the board of Malta Strategic Partnership Projects Ltd, formerly the notorious Projects Malta. Cuschieri was forced out of MFSA after his trip to Las Vegas with Yorgen Fenech was exposed. In chats with Rosianne Cutajar, Fenech mocked him for his sycophancy and his “photo-shoot” on Fenech’s yacht. Robert Abela’s appointment of a man like Cuschieri reveals more about Abela than about Cuschieri.
Yet Abela couldn’t care less. He has no shame. His warped decisions keep coming thick and fast. Chris Borg, who paid Robert Abela and his wife 75,000 euro, kept getting lucrative contracts despite his dodgy history. Transport Malta awarded him 247,908 euro and LESA another 108,405 euro. He was awarded another 2.5 million to provide cars for the judiciary before that contract was withdrawn.
Bonnici Brothers, Robert Abela’s business partners on the Iklin development, keep getting more and more direct orders and contracts running into the millions. Moviment Graffitti declared that Bonnici Brothers received over 7.7 million euro in government contracts and direct orders between 2020 and 2021, the first two years of Abela’s premiership. They’ve even been given undisclosed amounts of taxpayers’ money by Malta Enterprise for their new plant at Ta’ Zuta quarry. Outrageously Robert Abela even inaugurated the new plant himself.
Meanwhile Labour keeps giving away our land for peanuts to their wealthy friends, the property developers. Silvio Schembri doggedly refused to publish information about the 12 million euro sale of public land at Mellieha to Paul Attard, the owner of offices which Schembri uses. Schembri gave away more public land at St George’s Bay to another developer, Anton Camilleri who built Schembri’s constituency office in Siggiewi. Meanwhile Six Senses are already promoting Comino as a “Mediterranean island escape resort and themed spa”. They know Labour will let them destroy Comino.
Mark Twain was right. “We have the best government that money can buy”.