Robert Abela is trying to fool the entire nation again.  After trying to rush his shameless planning legislation through parliament just before the summer recess, intent on catching everybody off-guard,  he was forced into a swift retreat by a national wave of disgust at his cynicism. He told us that there had been no consultation to avoid speculation.  Now he's telling us that "from day one" he was going to call for a public consultation. 

Robert Abela thinks we're all goldfish who forget what he's just said just days ago. Abela thinks we're all idiots and fools.

In a frantic rush he gathered a handful of his most servile slaves and tasked them with setting up a "subcommittee" to lead a one-month public consultation on the obscene planning legislation he had already presented. On that committee, he's put Clint Camilleri, Jonathan Attard, Owen Bonnici and Miriam Dalli.  He put his own head of secretariat, Mark Mallia, as its chair. Robert Abela is trying to hoodwink the whole country.  He's not really interested in any consultation.  Otherwise why would he also appoint Mark Mallia, almost on the same day, as President of the St John's co-Cathedral foundation?

Mark Mallia was aide-de-camp to Robert's father, George Abela during his time as President. He's now the head of secretariat at the Office of the Prime Minister, chairman of the planning consultation committee and president of the St John's Co-Cathedral foundation. He's now responsible for sorting out the utter mess at the cathedral.  A 13 million euro extension to the cathedral's museum should have been completed in 2018.  It's still nowhere near finished, seven years later, and the latest deadline will inevitably be missed.  It's clear to everybody that Abela is just trying to pull the wool over our eyes. Somebody with as much on his plate as Mallia cannot possibly lead any serious public consultation. 

Look at that line-up of sycophants and yes-men.  Abela cannot be serious.  Everybody knows that.  Even Edward Zammit Lewis.  If Abela genuinely wanted to consult the public he wouldn't have presented his bills before parliament without any consultation and then justified his actions by claiming he wanted to avoid speculation - only to make another classical U-turn and decide to hold "public consultation" after all. It takes some brass neck or serious thickness to imagine you could fool anybody with that entourage of puppets on your consultation committee.  That's not a consultation committee; it's a facade so farcical that even Abela's own MPs are up in arms.

Edward Zammit Lewis was so incensed by Abela's choice of committee members that he didn't hold back.  "There is no doubt that I do not agree with its (the committee's) composition".  He obviously expected to be on that committee himself.  He added "those who had the political character to speak up and those who approach the issue with care and detail and consistently act in the interest of the common good were left out".  It's clear what Zammit Lewis means - those on the committee don't act in the interest of the common good. They just do Abela's bidding.

He openly threatened Robert Abela.  "Once again I will be on the people's side and I will be scrutinising what this 'working group' will be doing and I will speak up where necessary".

That's not a working group.  It's just a joke.  Abela never wanted any consultation. Labour's whip Naomi Cachia approached the Opposition "to request that the debate begin" on 29 July.  On 8 July Minister Clint Camilleri declared during Parliamentary Question Time that the government was finalising the bills and intended to bring them before Cabinet and then before parliament for debate before the summer recess.  It is evident Labour wanted that legislation passed while everybody was busy enjoying the summer holidays.

Now that Labour's been caught in a despicable attempt to reward Labour's funders - the developers - it's frantically trying to backtrack. The problem is Abela is tripping in his own lies.

For such consequential reforms that will change the face of the entire country, one month of consultation in the height of summer is ridiculously insolent. Abela has decided that apart from some minor changes he won't be making any substantial changes to his legislation.  That one-month "consultation" is just for show. It's just a token olive-branch to silence the uproar he's created. 

The only thing Robert Abela has managed to achieve with his theatrics is to unite the Opposition, NGOs and even his own MPs and Party president in calling him out for his brazen arrogance and his shameless disregard for the national interest.

The NGOs aren't swallowing any of Abela's bait.  They categorically declared that Abela must withdraw his two "disgusting" planning bills. They've seen through his sham "committee" and called for "a genuine consultation process through the publication of a White Paper".  "The current bills, particularly the Bill amending the Development Planning Act, are beyond repair," the NGOs told Abela.  

Abela's bills, according to the NGOs, "would grant unchecked powers to the Planning Authority and pave the way for a wave of destructive development that would devastate our environment and quality of life".

Like Edward Zammit Lewis, those same NGOs threatened Abela.  "If these dangerous bills are not withdrawn, the organisations will escalate their campaign to stop what is effectively a developers' coup".  They're right.  This is no longer about policy.  This is a battle between, on one side, the people, the NGOs, the Opposition, genuine Labour MPs and the Labour President and, on the other, Robert Abela and his bosom friends the developers. It is a fight to preserve what is left of our land and heritage from the greedy gang of developers led by the chief developer himself - Robert Abela, his planning Minister Clint Camilleri, and the developers' poodle Johan Buttigieg.

The NGOs realise this is a battle for the survival of our country as we know it.  No wonder they're calling on the people "to prepare for the fight ahead".