Minister Chris Bonett was asked a few simple questions.  How much money was budgeted for the airport ring road and how much did it actually cost? How long should the work have taken and how long did it actually take? Bonett’s reply was “Infrastructure Malta will continue executing one project after another to prepare Malta for the present and the future, projects that the government pre-2013 neither had the will nor the vision to implement”.

Bonett gave that same stock reply to questions about several other road infrastructure projects in Dingli, Birzebbugia, Cospicua, Birkirkara, Hamrun, Gzira. He repeatedly and arrogantly refused to answer.  Those PQs are key to enabling the public to assess the minister’s competence and effectiveness.  They are our questions, asked on our behalf. We have a right to know the answers and the minister has a duty to reply, to give account of his actions and to show that he’s administering our money responsibly.

Instead of answering, Bonett rudely and repeatedly trotted out Labour’s propaganda: “It’s part of the government’s plan to carry out an unprecedented investment of 700 million euro in 7 years to improve the quality and safety of the road infrastructure”. 

It wasn’t enough for the minister to insult the nation with his pathetic nonsense.  He descended into partisan pettiness with his moronic attacks on “pre-2013 governments” who “neither had the will nor the vision to implement” those projects.  The sheer brass neck of Labour’s ministers is staggering. The level of arrogance is unbelievable.

Just days earlier the nation delivered Labour a devastating blow in the European parliament elections.  Out of 370,184 eligible voters a mere 117,805 voted Labour.  That’s just 31.8%. Using Alfred Sant’s 2004 logic, Labour only enjoys the support of a small minority - less than one third. Amongst those casting their vote, just 43.6% voted Labour.  The vast majority of eligible voters and the absolute majority of those who turned up did not vote Labour.

As the scale of the swing against Labour hit Robert Abela, he commented: “The result sent a message the government will need to heed…..my party will be replying with humility”.  At Labour’s victory celebrations in front of its Mile-end headquarters, Abela told his subdued supporters: “I am here not to celebrate a victory, but to tell you that I hear your message with great humility”.

Bonett’s insolent and contemptuous replies are Labour’s idea of ‘great humility’. The man hasn’t realised the days of Labour’s dominance of the electorate are over.  Bonett is as detached from the public’s fury as Tsar Nicolas was on the eve of the Bolshevik revolution. This isn’t humility. This is brazen, barefaced disdain.  It is sheer abuse of the public’s patience, a mockery of democratic accountability finished off with partisan insolence.

Bonett’s swaggering scorn hides the reality of his incompetence.  He can’t afford to answer those questions.  If he did we’d know for a fact what an inept useless amateur he is.  We’d realise he’s completely out of his depth.

The man responsible for Bonett’s insolence is Robert Abela. He put Bonett in his post, and he keeps him there.  Any decent leader would sack Bonett on the spot.  Faced with the biggest backlash in recent history, Labour cannot afford more contempt towards the public. Losing tens of thousands of votes, its absolute majority and its majority of seats in the European parliament should have rattled even the most clueless Minister in Labour’s cabinet. It seems Bonett is too thick to read the public mood. Instead of trying to placate the electorate he keeps prodding it.

“People want a better version of Labour, of myself first and foremost,” Abela declared at his muted election victory celebrations. Instead he’s about to nominate Edward Zammit Lewis as EU court judge.

“As of tomorrow,” Abela announced, “my team will be rolling up its sleeves and work better towards your interests”.  His idea of working in our interest is to nominate his disgraced backbencher who insulted his own party’s supporters as EU court judge.

Zammit Lewis is a byword for grovelling sycophancy. He’s a national joke.  He’s famous for his “I miss you so much” message to Yorgen Fenech, the man accused of being a mastermind behind Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination. “Speak to me because I’m getting worried, just tell me and I’ll be there…you were in my heart during all this,” he messaged Fenech.

Zammit Lewis enjoyed a lavish holiday at Yorgen Fenech’s Hilton in the French Alps with his family.  He claimed he paid for that holiday but never provided evidence to back his claims.  While Tourism Minister, Zammit Lewis would ask Yorgen Fenech to find jobs for his supporters.  When challenged about this, Zammit Lewis replied “This is normal practice among politicians, particularly members of parliament”.

The man who Abela plans to nominate as EU court judge thinks it’s normal for a cabinet minister to suck up to the man who owned a secret company in Dubai. 

Zammit Lewis continued to communicate on Whatsapp with Fenech even after he was exposed as owner of 17 Black.  Their last communication was on October 5 2019, just weeks before Fenech’s arrest. Zammit Lewis continued to dine with Fenech when the world knew he owned 17 Black.

Edward Zammit Lewis lied.  He claimed “there is no relationship” between him and Yorgen Fenech. Those Whatsapp messages proved otherwise. They depict a desperately sad figure sucking up to Yorgen Fenech, calling him “caro”, “my friend”, “missing you” , “how I miss you” begging him to meet and telling him “for me you are important”. When Fenech shared photos of his holiday with Zammit Lewis, the latter begged him “take me with you” and “you never take me”, “how I wish I was with you”.

And Robert Abela is nominating him for EU court judge. That’s not humility, it’s national humiliation. It’s not our interest he seeks, it’s his own.