There’s a post on TikTok that compares what people are saying now and what they said in other times.

This particular one quotes One News and what it had to say in recent weeks when cables kept burning out and people were deprived of electricity supply at times for many hours. Of course, the government and Enemalta were working hard to repair the supply, One said.

But this was not what One was saying some years back, under the Nationalists when roughly the same thing happened in mid-summer. Then MPs like Joe Mizzi and Charles Buhagiar were strident in their condemnation of the ‘heartless’ government. And the journalist who led the discussion was none other than Miriam Dalli. This time, both politicians remained silent.

Now Karma has struck and Dalli became the most vituperated politician as power failed across the country.

The heat wave we have suffered in the past week was a really ferocious one. It caused huge fires in Rhodes and Corfu but it also impacted places like Sicily and Greece with people dying from the heat.

In Malta the problem was exacerbated by repeated faults in the distribution system. It is no joke to be plunged into searing heat from living in the comfort of the AC and fans. And people endured nights of discomfort and sometimes even on successive nights. Somewhat mysteriously, some areas seemed to get the repeated power cuts and some never even had one. Some spent the nights in the open (until they were chased in by the mosquitoes).

While one minister, Julia Farrugia Portelli, told people to read a book during the power cuts, Miriam Dalli came out on the offensive attacking the Opposition for doing what its constitutional rights order it to do – i.e. oppose.

But then Minister Dalli has come to be known by the public at large as the minister strong on spin and sound-bites and weak on delivery.

A case in point has been the much-hyped Project Green which as one wit suggested should now be called Project Brown for the lack of watering and after-care.

The same seems to be been happening with regards to electricity supply. The problem now does not seem to be insufficient generation for this seems to have been tackled through, among others, the interconnector.

The problem now is distribution which has not caught up with the increase in the population. And also lack of maintenance – in an interview a top official at Enemalta admitted without prodding that some of the connections that have been damaged date from the times of the British.

That’s more than 60 years ago.

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