Toni Abela and Labour delegation in China: the Labour Party needs some cash to pay its electricity bill
Forsi mar igib xi blokka silg ghas-supermarket tal-Labour
Clearly, selling Australia Hall – which actually belongs to the state – for development has not brought in sufficient cash to pay for all its outgoings and its outstanding electricity bill.
So now the Labour Party has dispatched its deputy leader Toni Abela to China with a begging-bowl and a delegazzjoni tal-partit.
Times of Malta informs us this morning in one of the bulletin-board-type statements for which it is renowned (for all the wrong reasons) that Toni Abela will tomorrow lead a Labour PARTY (not government) delegation to China.
There, these PARTY representatives will meet Chinese GOVERNMENT representatives.
The distinction between party and government is enshrined in our Constitution, but the Labour Party has never quite understood this. China doesn’t give a fig for such niceties of democracy, which suits Labour just fine.
Who is going with Toni Abela in that delegation, and what is the real purpose of their visit? Why now? Why at all? And more pertinently still, who is paying – China or the Labour Party?
Perhaps Times of Malta would care to ring him and ask, or must we wait for David Thake to do it on his voluntary show on Radio 101.
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And what’s a Labour delegation doing discussing “the country’s role in European Institutions” and “Malta’s 2017 European Presidency” with a Communist country? Shame on them.
Why is a political party usurping the role of government?
A government delegation is accountable to the electorate, but a Labour delegation discussing national issues thinks it isn’t.
Probably to sell Australia Hall to the Chinese as part of the land deal for their new “super embassy”
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2013/10/bloomberg-report-china-planning-massive-new-embassy-in-malta-larger-than-that-of-the-united-states/
It’s either the embassy, or Toni Abela’s supermarket.
Oh, and if Abela needs money for his supermarket, China is the right place. Alternatively, he can have a word with il-Kugin ta’ Ryan the next time they sit next to each other in the cabinet meeting – who knows, maybe he can provide Ryan’s phone number.
Or is it us, the tax payers, who have funded this trip?
Another MOU in the making.
Back to the charity tour.
May they will try Uganda, Nigeria and Pakistan while they are at it.
To your question on who is paying for this visit, whether the Labour party or the Chinese government, I would add a further consideration.
Is this Labour party visit being financed through public funds? It’s Labour, there’s a growing tendency to internalise the abnormal.
With the prime minister’s wife speaking in the name of the government, I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that the government is funding this Labour Party jolly.
“Perhaps Times of Malta would care to ring him and ask…”
Times of Malta did not bother to ask any questions in 2010 when Muscat was still in Opposition and visited China where he signed an agreement with the Chinese government – the contents of which he never revealed, although he publicly signed it.
Can you imagine Times of Malta being bothered now? I, for one, can’t.
This is a dark period for Malta.
It’s more likely that Ahna Lkoll will be paying for it.
This reminds me of an episode of Don Camillo when the mayor visits Russia and Don Camillo is part of the party. Would Abela’s visit to China be as hilarious?