Remember the first days of a Labour government back in 2013? Oh, my lord, it was full of glitz, full of let’s make the sun shine and show it to the world. All they did was full of pomp, glory and hype.
They were the new kids, the wonderkids, the ones who knew it all. They had an easy answer to everything. They quipped, they smiled, they seemed like the world’s answer to all that was needed.
They were swept to power by a majority no one had ever dreamt of. The PN, the party which had dominated Maltese politics for a quarter of a century – a generation long – were old, tired, boring, corrupt and out of touch with reality.
The people spoke and spoke loudly. The new era was hailed by Joseph Muscat and his team of non-fusty, modern, young go-getters. It was the first time the Labour Party was in power in the 21st century. The way the Labour leaders, especially the dulcet-toned Joseph Muscat, spoke, one would think Malta had been languishing in the 13th century.
And, magically, Muscat and Co were hurtling us into the 21st.
They made it seem as if the Labour Party had been sent by God the almighty himself to save us from our enslavement. Everything was doable, everything was to be done. Joseph Muscat had even intoned – seriously and sombrely – that Malta would be the best not just in Europe but in the world.
The world stood amazed at this new spectacle, at this new Messiah, which this barrage of propaganda made out Muscat to be. Beyond the wilderness, beyond the ravaged land, beyond the darkness, there was Joseph Muscat and his new-look Malta. The idiots of the world fell for this; but the lure of Labour and its hollow words were mere pie in the sky, whitewashing the sordid reality.
This was a veneer hiding all the wrongs, the mess-ups, the degeneration.
Yet Joseph Muscat and his brigade managed to keep duping the people. Even the horrific murder of a journalist – the one who saw through the charade and lifted the veil off the Labour façade – was treated in the worst of ways. Malta endured cover-ups, lies, and more horrors of people trying hard to keep the glitzy front shining forth.
Labour by some unexplainable logic is still in power. Joseph Muscat is gone but his goon, his consultant, his own lieutenant, heads the government.
Yet the glitz is totally gone now. The glory and pomp is still attempted but the new era is transformed. The glitz has turned sourly to sleaze. That boat called Malta – that strangely called unsinkable aircraft carrier – is now springing more leaks than ever before.
The leaks, the horrors uncovered, are turning into a deluge. The green horror that has turned Balluta Bay into what looks like a dystopian scene is but a small symbol of how bad things are in this country right now. It was indicative that the buffoons who make up ERA, the Environmental Resources Authority, have claimed that such a phenomenon is merely caused by the heat affecting the sea there.
It seems ERA had forgotten to check their facts: the bay has been condemned as not fit for swimming for at least two months. Yet this is what they are feeding us – pure tripe to try to save face. Never to say the truth, to find a solution, to truly grapple with the problems around. No one shoulders responsibility, no one knows what is really going on.
The deluge is here. Not just in sewage at Balluta and other places but in so many other aspects of our life.
The roads are a shambles, the traffic is overwhelming, corruption rife all over. International experts say how bad our air is yet no one does anything, no one even cares.
The electricity situation is atrocious. Power cuts have become the norm not the exception. And all we get is lies, excuses and plans for solutions in the future. In the meantime, we all boil; food goes bad; appliances get damaged; companies, shops, cafes and restaurants suffer interrupted service.
The glitz is gone, the veneer is gone. The new ERA – of shambles – is here. The boat – this little isle of ours which once really was enviable – is sinking. And our leaders are still there, ensconced in their power, in their comfort, in their arrogance.
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