Ajma x'biza, an earthquake warning, hej
Joseph Muscat gave another ‘earthquake warning’ in his usual column in The Times, yesterday. He’s unhappy with the party system that elects clowns, idiots and incompetents to key roles – except where he is concerned, of course. The people who elected Toni Abela, Anglu Farrugia and Jason Micallef also elected him, but he obviously fails to see the connection and that he’s part of the joke. In his own way, he is as crassly incompetent as the rest of them.
Part of this incompetence was maintaining a personal friendship with Jason Micallef, being seen out and about with him, and being closely associated with him in his own leadership campaign. The net result was that delegates thought Jason was Joseph’s man. If Muscat really did not want him, he should have signalled this fact as strongly as possible. It wouldn’t have been a matter of ‘imposing’ on others, as he wrote in his piece. It would have been sound political strategy, and that sort of thing is necessary when you are the leader of one of the two main parties. If you’re a wimp, go and play games with children.
So now Muscat has told us that he has a cunning plan. He is going to give the Labour Party a chief executive officer, once the summer holidays are over and they’ve all removed their swimming-trunks and got back into their hideous baggy suits that are too long in the arm and leg. (And by then, too, they might have realised that very wide ties with big chunky knots in them are right out of style, especially when worn with those dreadful French collars that make them look as though their heads are sitting directly on their shoulders without the benefit of a neck.) That way, he will circumvent the rules and regulations of the party hierarchy, kick Jason Micallef sideways, hopefully without damaging his teeth, his hairstyle, or his white trousers, and Labour will have a boss.
I bet you’ve already noticed the hole in this plan. The CEO of an organisation is the real, actual executive boss. So where does that leave Joseph Muscat – as non-executive chairman? It was bound to happen, of course. Joseph Muscat, like his pale, bearded mentor Mario Vella and his other mentor Alfred Sant, is obsessed with corporate structures and Biznizzz-speak. The fact that of all three, not one of them has ever lived the corporate life or knows how to run a business, seems not to matter. L-aqwa li nitkellmu bhal tal-biznizz.
The more I see of the goings-on at Labour, the more it looks like a dark comedy. I’m off to the beach now, laughing all the way at the thought of Labour and its SEE-EEE-OH. All those cooks and no broth to spoil: a party leader, a separate leader of the opposition, two deputy leaders, a secretary-general, an executive committee, an international secretary pulled out of the archives and dusted down….and now, a SEE-EEE-OH. Oh, brother.
Is all of this a way of getting round having to actually lead, take decisions and take on responsibility for those decisions? Is Joseph Muscat too scared to stand up and be counted? Look at the Nationalisty Party: its leadership had just two faces in the last election, Lawrence Gonzi and Joe Saliba, and that made for clarity. When pseudo-leaders insist on surrounding themselves with committees and deputies and now even a CEO onto whom blame and responsibility can be dumped, it’s because they are incapable of leading. They are in the wrong job.
My main point before Joseph Muscat’s election was that he is the wrong person because he does not have the psychological make-up or personality of a leader. He is a natural follower, yes-man and people-pleaser, and this kind of person is mentally incapable of leading. You can’t makie a leader. Leaders are born, not bred. You can see in the school playground which children are leaders and which are followers. Anyone who wants everyone to love and like him all the time, and who is too scared to take decisions that might upset others, is a follower.
Look at what Muscat is doing now. He is presenting his decision to have a SEE-EE-OH as an act of decisive bravery. “The time for change has come. If anything, last week’s elections hastened it,” he wrote. But really, it is precisely the opposite. An act of decisive bravery would have been to eliminate Jason Micallef from the race, even if it meant putting up with his catty insults and drama-queen behaviour for the next five years. Appointing a CEO to carry the bulk of what should be your decision-making responsibilities is, however, the act of a coward and of a person who is wholly unqualified to lead.
Joseph Muscat has no leadership qualities. I stand by what I wrote repeatedly before he was elected to the post. With every passing week, there is more proof of this. His personality is absolutely not that of a leader. In a business organisation, he would never have made it beyond middle management.
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With all due respect to daphne, this article is the joke of the year! hehehe ….look at these quotations:
“In his own way, he is as crassly incompetent as the rest of them.”
joseph muscat incompetent? are you serious?
“Part of this incompetence was maintaining a personal friendship with Jason Micallef, being seen out and about with him, and being closely associated with him in his own leadership campaign. ”
From where did you get this? Where is its source??
“My main point before Joseph Muscat’s election was that he is the wrong person because he does not have the psychological make-up or personality of a leader. He is a natural follower, yes-man and people-pleaser, and this kind of person is mentally incapable of leading.”
LOOOL …no comment!!!! can’t say more about this part!
“An act of decisive bravery would have been to eliminate Jason Micallef from the race,”
What is the meaning of democracy daph???? Jason competed, won the race but now it’s up to the leader to control him. He must correct what the ‘qabda tigeg’ labour delegates had done. Obviously for the sake of democracy, joseph couldn’t eliminate jason from the race. That was jason’s own role!
‘Joseph Muscat has no leadership qualities. I stand by what I wrote repeatedly before he was elected to the post. With every passing week, there is more proof of this. His personality is absolutely not that of a leader. In a business organisation, he would never have made it beyond middle management.’
hahahaha….no comment!! :)
[Daphne – how childish you sound. No wonder you can’t see anything wrong with Joseph Muscat.]
I canot believe what I just read. http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2008/08/10/interview.html
[Moderator – I couldn’t believe that Joe/Peppi Azzopardi rang Jason Micallef to wish him luck on the eve of voting. And I can’t believe that Jason was naive enough to think his gesture genuine. Joe Azzopardi considers Jason Micallef to be beneath contempt. If he rang him to wish him luck, it’s probably because he wants to curry favour in anticipation of what the next general election might bring. This is like when Joe Azzopardi rang round all his high-profile PN-supporting friends in the 1996 general election, and advised them to go into hiding lest their homes be attacked. Then they found out that he had voted Labour.]
Just catching up on things Maltese – a bit of nostalgia on a boring Tuesday in work – were you once Daphne Vella by any chance ? :)
[Daphne – oh my god, I can’t believe this. I’ll email you.]
You’re preaching only to the converted… a comment in The Times by a David Gatt reads as follows:
“Once again Dr Muscat is showing that he really is a natural born leader. He’s got guts to make changes for the good, something which Dr. Gonzi clearly lacks by not taking any action against JPO.”
The mind boggles!
Maybe he just likes playing house.
Mahduma biziella din JM has been saying from the begining that he has important roles for some people. I wonder who the CEO will be.
[Moderator – Probably his little bearded friend Mario Vella, formerly of the MDC.]
It seems that disaster is written all over the MLP. They can’t exactly go back to the drawing board, and erase five months of nonsense, and non-direction. Does anybody have a clue where the ship is sailing?
One solution would be to dissolve the party, and reconstitute themselves as another political entity. That won’t happen now. In five years, after another election debaucle; the musical chairs can be re-shuffled under whatever rules will have been established between now and then. If they don’t get it right then, well, anything is possible, but political viability will be at stake.
Meanwhile, Malta has no alternative to government. We can only hope that it will be benign and progressive, and that the world we live in will not be too severe with all of us. Afterall, contrary to popular misperception, Malta is not an island–at least not in a globalized world reality. I wish the MLP didn’t operate as if it were some local-village MLP club, replete with bar and sandwiches.
@ Moderator – “This is like when Joe Azzopardi rang round all his high-profile PN-supporting friends in the 1996 general election, and advised them to go into hiding lest their homes be attacked. Then they found out that he had voted Labour”
I find this hard to believe – I remember him, after the 96 election, openly arguing with one of the students in his course for having voted Labour.
Dunno, if he were such a brown-noser, would he have made such a scene?
[Moderator – Joe/Peppi Azzopardi definitely voted Labour in 1996. He has said so himself, in public, most recently on Xarabank after the last election.]
joseph might choose alfred sant as CEO. that would be the circle of life.
[Moderator – He’s incompetent, but surely not that incompetent.]
On the one part we have Joseph Muscat, Toni Abela, Anglu Farrugia, Jason Micallef, plus CEO-2-B , still unable to figure out whether the Labour Party is coming or going. On the other part we have a core group of Lawrence Gonzi, Austin Gatt, John Dalli and Tonio Fenech just forging ahead with Dockyard privatisation, Transport liberalisation, Rent reform, Mepa reform, Healthcare reform, SmartCity, and perhaps divorce too.
Thank God Labour are not governing this country – can you imagine the chaos, they cant even manage their own party !
[Moderator – Yes, it’s amazing. And what’s more amazing is that half the population thinks that the lunatics in their asylum are a viable alternative to the present government.]
…and can some University Professor or even Harvard graduate please give us the New MLP organogram of the following :
Leader/EuroMP, Leader of the Oppostion, Deputy Leader for Party Affairs, Deputy leader for Parliamentary Affairs, General Secretary, CEO-2B.
This is the flattest management structure I have yet to come accross !
And for a good laugh, post in the names in the organogram. Perhaps they should also appoint a whip for party affairs :))))))
[Moderator – This brilliant management structure has been carefully designed so that nobody has to take responsibility for decisions, or blame for the consequences of those decisions. Hell, it’s been designed so that nobody has to take any decisions at all.]
The mind not only boggles, it goes into overdrive. Daphne, you are wrong on one point. The bleating mass of lambs will be led to any slaughter that the Lijder of the MLP will lead them, even to the very gates of Hades itself, without even having to bother the boatman in investing in a Gozo Type ferry…..they will swim behind il-lijderxipp tat-terremoti. And what terremoti. the Earth has shaken and the Heavens have been rent asunder this morning. An IDEA has ben born, a brainwave of truly epic proportions. We will have a Seesaw…ooops…A Seemeow ….oppps……a Cee Ey Oww ( ija ija ow) to take on the various sad, outdated, financially bankrupt parts of the Magna Tal-Partit. Oh Sorry, I meant all the the party, as it is dysfunctional from the Lijder down to the local club presidents. Its a party with no idea who it is, and an even dimmer idea where its going. Jowey lurches from issue to issue, riding bandwagons and jumping them faster than Clint Eastwood in some Sergio Leone film. Divorzju, tarzna, whatever issue raised its head in the last two months, there was Joe flitting from one issue to another, sticking his tuppence contribution here and there, uttering inane ideas and even more incredible solutions. The man has absolutely no idea how to lead from the front. He is a starting failure, and has showed us how politically immature and shallow his vision is. The only earthquake is the election of the Two Ronnies as deputati mexxejja, and the Gardener cum Drama Queen cum Pepsodent smile incumbent as SegGen. By openly showing his preference the Lijder has split the party asunder, becasue the few level heads who voted for G Abela et al have been well and truly sidelined. If that is the mark of a leader, then the Pope is actually Mata Hari in drag. Il-Veru m’ghandomx ideja kif imexxu. Issa ha nitkellmu bhal tal-Biznizz.
My guess is that George Abela will be CEO. That together with the election of AST to secretary for foreign affairs(or whatever) will help to unite the past and the present factions of the party.
@ david s re: On the other part we have a core group of Lawrence Gonzi, Austin Gatt, John Dalli and Tonio Fenech just forging ahead with Dockyard privatisation, Transport liberalisation, Rent reform, Mepa reform, Healthcare reform, SmartCity, and perhaps divorce too. Let’s hope Dockyard privatisation won’t be like the HSBC or the GO deal. where the interest of the customers have declined. HSBC have increased all charges and introduced more while Go are giving us very bad service, not to mention the large piece of land worth millions of Euro Austin Gatt gave them on a silver platter (wonder who the Maltese shareholders are). I wonder which nationalist shark has his eyes on the trasport service. Talk about Mepa reforms- it was the PN government who appointed all those corruptable officers, don’t hold your breath waiting for the reforms – don’t forget JPO’s scandal and then Lawrence Gonzi rewarded him by sending him to represent Malta in a seminar regarding corruption and whatever. This goes to show either that LG is not such a strong character or that is the way he wants things done (corruption). Health reforms it was the PN government which deteriorated the health service in Malta. Pre 1987 health care was better than it is now and so was government based education by the way.With regards to divorce we should have legalized divorce at least 15 years ago.
@ Moderator – Yes, it’s amazing. And what’s more amazing is that half the population thinks that the lunatics in their asylum are a viable alternative to the present government.]
Much more than half. PN only won the election by nearly everyone knows someone who has been living abroad (as an imigrant) for more than 2 years who came to vote or 3else someone who sold his vote. Yes JM should not have been reinstated as Secratery of the party he did not do his job right. He trusted the Nationalist party, and pratically encouraged people to sell their vote telling them that Labour had a majority of thousands of votes.
Mario Vella for CEO? They never stop amazing us do they? And everything is supposed to be new! Change….what change?
@ Worker . Why dont you apply for post of CEO of Labour. You seem well suited for the job.
[Moderator – Because there probably isn’t going to be a public call for applications for the post.]
mario vella and alfred sant : brand new season
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2003/05/18/people.html
Will Joseph’s earthquake move decision-making from the middle of the pyramid to the top, or will it further democratise the party structure, ensuring that a wider and more pluralistic base is reflected in the party’s policies?
It’s either one or the other, unless he’s just changing the facade’s colour.
Joseph must be trying to re-invent the pillars of democracy in preparation for his ‘earthquake’.
Now Labour have muzzled the freedom of expression of their MEP’s.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080813/opinion/shut-up-or-pay-up
@ David S Worker . Why dont you apply for post of CEO of Labour. You seem well suited for the job.
I am not qualified you see my friends have big boats and they take me with them for holidays. My other friends would want me to get them a building permit on ODZ, for a disco, Others would want me to get them a presidential pardon because they traffic that white stuff. Others would want me to help them jump the queue at Mater Dejn. Others would want me to give them some road construction project, then after a few months I would have to support them when we find that the work was not done properly. Then I would have to privatize some Government entity and give them a large piece of land. I have too many friends of friends that would ruin my chances. And I don’t wear nice cloths, I am fat short and ugly and I’m afraid you would make fun of me.
[Moderator – Aaaah, we like short, fat and ugly people on this blog. It’s the pretty-boys with big white teeth and the ginger (bread) men who get on our nerves.]
@ modertor So Peppi Azzopardi voted Labour in 1996 did he? Would you believe me if I said I always vote PN. Show or Showy people tend to make statements to impress. As the Maltese saying goes “Isma bil-fors u ememn jekk trid”.
[Moderator – He really did vote Labour in 1996. And the way things are going, he is probably going to vote Labour in 2013.]
ah yes, but then Peppi was always a model of consistency was he? Business consistency, I mean. He is keenly sniffing the wind, and keeping pally with both sides, just in case…..tghallima il-lezzjoni is-sur Pepp,in-negozju immaturah. I wish I was that intelligent. Unfortunately I am a too passionate person.!!!!
@Worker
“Would you believe me if I said I always vote PN. ”
No, not really, your sheer gall and history revisionism not to mention your obvious low level of intelligence and chip on your shoulder indicate you as a typical labour supporter, probably from the moment of conception.
Pity that the chosen one (CEO) is not in yet. He would have made the lot at Paola today.
Can the GWU leadership explain to us why they always try to stir up some sort of trouble during August. They seem to like to disrupt the peace when thousands of tourists are on the island.
The drydocks workers should understand that their time is up and need to choose between alternative work or no work at all. Following the GWU they risk to end up empty handed.
@ David Buttigieg At my moment of conception I was bipolitical I was born in the 50’s my father was a great sinner, he voted labour. My mother on the other hand was a great saint she voted PN.
As for my level of intelligence – as a matter of fact I happen to have a very high IQ.
As to my history revisionism – the trouble with you low IQ lot is that you had a leader Fenech Adami who was the master of lies. You heard him and believed him. Even when his lies were proved to be lies. You were brainwashed into believing all his lies. I am still waiting for him to tell us who murdered Karen Grech and Raymond Caruana, maybe it was someone who later was granted a presidential pardon. Just like the police officers who murdered Nardu Debono, they were granted a presidential pardon to help put the police commissioner behind bars. Nobody says that Nardu Debono was caught red handed planting a bomb behind the commissioners door, a few yards from a petrol station. A bomb which could have killed a lot of innocent people. Then you have the nerve to say that there was violence during the 80s. You never say who was planting the bombs.
I pity you. I was just trying to make you use your brain cells, but I’m afraid you are so biased against Mintoff, you believe all your own lies and then you have the nerve to say that I lack intelligence.
You are trying to shut me up by insulting me, I think it’s you with a chip on your shoulder because I can take your comments with a pinch of salt, and I can tell when some are right, you see I know that nobody is perfect, so no Party did everything right or everything wrong. You sound like one of the supporters of a village band club. To show how good you are you have to insult your opponent.
Il-festa t-tajba David hi. U ara ma tmurx id-dar fis-sakra wara l-marc.
Worker: “At the moment of conception I was bipolitical”? Does that mean that political opinions are inherited by the brainless?
Peppi is always very consistant – where Peppi’s interests are concerned.
@ David Buttigieg
Is it a must to put your ‘arguments’ forward by insulting others? …shame on you! Yes this is nationalists’ way……arrogance is the way!
low level of intelligence??? hahaha ….like the Gahan Malti that re-elected the pn in government?? like all those ‘imbecilli’ that swallow the nationalist propoganda before thinking twice?
With all due respect, get a life!
@hope
like the labour idiots who re elected Alfred Sant leader after 2 electoral defeats.
The dysfunctional Labour party is just going nowhere thanks to your brainless delegates. Just imagine you elected George Abela Leader, Gavin Gulia Deputy Leader, and Vella Bonnici SecGen 5 years ago, Labour would be in power today.
So Dont blame the people just blame those brainless chickens..
and please change your nick to hope(less)
@ David S
‘and please change your nick to hope(less)’
But do you always have to show your arrogance? You people will not change unfortunately! Just comment politely and that’s it. Your last statement would have been avoided if and only if, you are not a chicken like those labourite delegates! The chickens are on both sides and have bad but different characterististics.
No Joseph muscat as a leader is just perfect. He’s the man. However, yes, about sant and jason I must agree.
@hope.
yes and maybe the secretary general would employ illegal immigrants without a permit so that he will reduce the Party’s deficit. But then again what do expect from a person with a BA General degree in economics and Maltese and a masters in public policy who claims to be an economist?
[Moderator – Doesn’t Alfred Sant sell himself as an economist when he is nothing of the sort? Joseph Muscat has a fine example to follow.]
Sorry, my comment should have been for ‘David S’ not ‘hope’. It is the former who is promoting Joe Vella Bonnici of employing-illegal-immigrants-without-permit fame and who calls himself an economist.
[Moderator – Joe Muscat and Alfred Sant call themselves economists, too, despite not having the required academic background. It must be an MLP disease.]
@Worker
“As for my level of intelligence – as a matter of fact I happen to have a very high IQ. ”
The fact that you mentioned it (not to mention your abysmal English) indicates the contrary:)
“You heard him and believed him”
I don’t have to believe anything dear worker, I lived through those times, when speaking out against the government would result in having a bunch of labour baboons, half of them in police uniform, beating the crap out of you.
I lived through the period when my mother was attacked by the aforementioned baboons for protesting about (lack of) water.
I lived through the times when the baboons in chief closed down my school ( a private school ) when I was 10, so I had to attend lessons underground.
I lived through the times when the archbishop’s kuria was ransacked by a huge mob of said baboons (in front of the police HQ) and they were described as the aristocracy of the baboon movement!
I lived throughout the eighties when one could not even buy a piece of chocolate in Malta, when we weren’t allowed computers, ore even cordless phones or remote controlled cars (my dad had to smuggle one in for me)
I lived throughout the times when Maltese doctors were kicked out of Malta.
I lived throughout the political violence including murders and torture in the police HQ.
You see dear worker, I don’t have to believe anything, you see, I was there!
By the way, I loathe Maltese festi with a passion so there isn’t a chance in hell you would catch me there!
[Moderator – Imma Joseph qal sorry. Skuzi, Joseph talab apologija. Sorry, Joseph talab skuza.]
@Hope(less)
“like the Gahan Malti that re-elected the pn in government??”
Sweetheart, the alternative was the wigged one as PM, which shows that even a Gahan Malti is more intelligent then your typical labour supporter!
@tony Borg oh didnt know this Joe Vella Bonnici story…please feed us more info.
There are so many MLP sympathisers with some shady background, especially those who were previously PN sympathisers and switched sides for some obscure reason, rather than out of conviction… this is another reason why labour is such a dysfunctional party, because there are so many of these devious charaters who are welcomed with open arms .
Mmmm so Daphne is moderator for a while.
[Moderator – Actually, she isn’t.]
@ moderator. Oh I’m so sorry, it’s just that I recall an article of hers where she discussed how many of us use ‘talab skuza’ instead of ‘talab apologija’. You’re just repeating her point then. Ahem.
@ David S. The story was on the front page of the Sunday newspaper ILLUM, you can find it in their archives; it was around September or October of last year. As for the qualifications you can find them on his election leaflet which was available on his website. google the name and you should find it. Fist degree: BA general in Maltese and economics; second degree: Masters in public policy. Does that make one an economist? Hardly.