Robert Abela hired Neville Gafa, a man notorious for his toxic blog, a perennial spring of offence, insults and threats. Gafa even targeted ministers in Abela's own cabinet. Previously Gafa gained notoriety through his involvement in the Libyan medical visa scandal and for being kicked out of the Health Ministry by then Deputy Prime-minister Chris Fearne for his alleged misappropriation of public funds. Abela was warned against giving Gafa a position at OPM. But Abela ignored all the advice and the blaring warning signals.
As everybody predicted Abela's obstinacy blew up in his face. Within weeks of taking up his Castille post, Gafa had caused a minor diplomatic incident by destroying tributes placed by European ambassadors at Daphne Caruana Galizia's memorial, he precipitated the resignation of the long-serving executive secretary of the Labour Party women's section, and riled up the parents of LGBTQI persons by accusing them of lacking "common sense". If you play with fire you get burnt. If you hire Neville Gafa, you shoot yourself in the foot.
You don't have to be terribly bright to realise you don't install loose cannons in the Prime Minister's office. The havoc wreaked in just a few weeks by Neville Gafa came as no surprise to anybody. As expected Robert Abela was left with egg all over his face, forced to kick Gafa out of the very same office he'd appointed him to, just weeks earlier. Nobody is grieving over the dumping of Gafa. Amongst Labour's own top brass, the general feeling is one of relief. Owen Bonnici, who was badgered by Neville Gafa, must be rubbing his hands in glee. Gafa mounted a relentless campaign of harassment and intimidation of Bonnici, calling for his resignation. Bonnici didn't resign, but another senior member of the Labour Party did. Jennifer Tabone, the executive secretary of the Labour Party women's section quit. She too had been viciously targeted by Gafa.
Gafa turned on Tabone after the Labour's women section uploaded a social media post expressing the view that Trump did not deserve any peace awards. They commented that it was "useless to boast about peace when your actions leave behind a great divide fuelled by racism, classism, misogyny, xenophobia and homophobia." Gafa took that as a swipe at Labour's Deputy Leader Ian Borg who'd bragged that he had nominated Donald Trump for the Nobel peace prize. So Labour's enforcer, Gafa, retaliated. He called Tabone "a poisonous tongue" who always wanted to "look smart". He accused her of trying to ingratiate herself with Keith Schembri during her time at the Office of the Prime Minister during Joseph Muscat's time. Gafa accused her of leading a dead organisation that had only come to life to criticise Ian Borg instead of attacking the PN.
Nobody in the Labour Party came out in defence of Jennifer Tabone - not even her own Nisa Laburisti. Everybody was terrified of Gafa. Nobody wanted to stand up to him. They knew he would haunt them forever - and besides, he had the Prime Minister's backing. Even when Gafa so angered three different European embassies that they issued harsh statements criticising his actions, Abela leapt to his defence arguing that Gafa had every right to express himself - even by destroying other people's property. Jennifer Tabone knew she stood no chance against Gafa because she knew Robert Abela lacked the moral integrity to do what's right. So she resigned.
She commented publicly "I have always opposed personal attacks in politics...this position was well known to the party leadership, as I consistently voiced my concerns and upheld these values, irrespective whether such attacks were directed at colleagues or individuals from other political backgrounds". "Unfortunately, for standing by these convictions, I was sidelined and my role within the party was gradually reduced to almost nothing", she lamented.
Instead of rallying round her and protecting her from Gafa's vicious attack, the Labour Party leadership turned on her for raising her concerns about those personal attacks. Instead of expelling Gafa from Castille, the Labour "leadership" ostracised Jennifer Tabone. She finally realised what Labour's stategy was - attack, intimidate, harass and persecute anybody remotely perceived as not being slavishly subservient to the leader. "I can no longer, in good conscience, support a strategy that I fundamentally disagree with," she commented.
That's pretty brave. Jennifer Tabone faced down Neville Gafa - "I cannot support the party's decision to allow certain individuals to dictate the party's agenda". But she also faced down a morally corrupt Labour leadership which defends bullies and implements a strategy of intimidation and harassment against its own party officials by the Prime Minister's protege'.
Robert Abela didn't chastise Gafa for his vile posts against the Nisa Laburisti executive secretary. He remained silent, tacitly condoning Gafa's behaviour. Abela didn't lift a finger to protect Jennifer Tabone. She made that clear to everyone. Her only communication, she highlighted, was with party president Alex Sciberras and deputy leader Ian Borg. The implicit message was - Abela never communicated with her.
Neville Gafa thought he was untouchable - until he attacked the parents of LGBTI persons, accusing them of lacking "common sense". Within the party, a fury was bubbling against Gafa. But he didn't sense it, comfortably ensconced within Castille. But that was a step too far. Gafa orchestrated his own downfall and Robert Abela's humiliation.
Abela had no choice but to relent and change tack. Rid of Gafa, Abela moved swiftly to try and patch up with his former Nisa Laburisti executive secretary. Three days after Gafa had cleared his desk, Abela invited Jennifer Tabone to Gafa's former den - the Auberge de Castille. In a move worthy of Kim Jong-Un's Democratic People's Republic of North Korea, Tabone was photographed shaking hands with the Prime Minister with a forced smile. She uploaded that photo with a message of thanks to the great leader expressing her eternal gratitude for his invitation and her sincere appreciation for the Prime Minister's understanding.
Meanwhile Neville Gafa was still at it - "her tongue is poison, she just wants to look clever", he commented. In a direct message to Robert Abela, Gafa warned "I have no doubt that as she spat out Joseph Muscat, she will spit out others too".
Gafa's hubris isn't over. He turned on Labour party president Alex Sciberras, one of the very few voices of reason, moderation and decency within the party. Maybe Gafa is fulfilling his threats against the "hidden hand" that worked against him - "To that hidden hand that I suspect is behind these actions: be careful, because I will find out who you are".
After defending Gafa's right to destroy ambassadors' tributes to Daphne Caruana Galizia, now Robert Abela has revealed that he kicked Gafa out for his attacks on ambassadors and for writing articles that "breached the government's principles". "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others", describes Abela to a T. Gafa doesn't need to keep looking for that hidden hand - the hidden hand has revealed itself.