More holes than a colander
They won't give us jobs because we vote Labour
Here’s some more inconsistent reasoning from Marlene Mizzi, talking about people who can’t get jobs because they’re Laburisti, in an interview in Malta Today.
“The first time I heard someone complain about not getting a job, I privately thought to myself: yes, but what if it had nothing to do with politics? What if there were other, better-qualified applicants, and the job was rightly given to someone else? The same thought occurred to me the second time. And the third. But when I started hearing the same complaint over and over again, I thought: is it really possible that they are all cases of sour grapes?”
Unbelievable. This from a self-declared Laburista who was appointed chairman of Sea Malta by Sant’s short-lived government, and who retained the chairmanship for years under not one but two successive Nationalist governments. She would have stayed on until the end, had she not failed to understand, MBAs, DBAs and all, that the decision to sell a company is the prerogative of its owner and not of its chairman.
Here is one ringing example of political discrimination against Laburisti, in her own words, and this after she had challenged her employer’s decision to sell the company, if you please:
“I was not asked to resign. Nor was I dismissed. I handed in my resignation when and how I wanted to, and Lawrence Gonzi himself did not want to accept it. He even persuaded me that I enjoyed the full backing of cabinet.”
When her interviewer suggested that maybe, just maybe, she is standing for election with the Labour Party out of pique at Austin Gatt, who told her exactly where to get off, though I suspect even this notoriously outspoken person didn’t remind her that she was only there in the first place because Sant appointed her and not because she went through a competitive selection process,Mrs Mizzi said:
“Me? A grudge? Hardly. If I had a chip on my shoulder, I would have contested in March 2008, not now. But it would have been silly to do something like that merely out of spite or because of a grudge.”
Agreed – but March 2008 was only a year ago, so I fail to see how a grudge would have made her stand for election then, but it’s not a grudge that’s making her stand for election now. Maybe the real reason is that she would much rather be an MEP in Brussels and Strasbourg, with the attendant perks, than an MP in Valletta, even if it is in a parliament house designed by one of the world’s greatest architects ever.
She says she has no problem with Austin Gatt, but meanwhile practically every time I go to court she’s there, monitoring her civil suit against him for libel, and the criminal action which the police are undertaking against him – at her request, as these things go – for criminal libel.
And here she is, talking about the Nationalist Party billboard with that ugly tree:
“Apply the same general concept to the Nationalist Party instead. For the tree-trunk, I personally would put Malta’s three prime ministers: Eddie Fenech Adami, Lawrence Gonzi and Austin Gatt. And what would the branches be? There is a whole list to choose from: broken promises….arrogance…mismanagement of public funds….taxes….political discrimination….mishandling of the economy.”
Yes, Marlene – and EU membership, which has allowed you to contest in this election in the first place. As for mismanagement of the economy, we joined the eurozone last year. Political discrimination? Would that be why Eddie Fenech Adami and Lawrence Gonzi both kept you on as chairman of Sea Malta, despite your being a Sant appointee and Sant supporter?
Your fellow Labour EP candidate Louis Grech at least has the dignity, good grace and commonsense – to say nothing of the brains – not to descend to your level of bassezzi. He was kept on in the top position at Air Malta for a good 15 years under successive Nationalist governments, despite much pressure from all quarters for his removal and replacement with somebody from the ‘right’ side of the political fence.
Another choice quote:
“The PN won the last national election on the strength of a constant demonisation of Alfred Sant.”
Really. And the fact that he was tried, tested and found wanting had nothing to do with it. The fact that he was and still is rabidly against EU membership and joining the eurozone – and still, even VAT – had nothing to do with it. The fact that he couldn’t even inspire confidence in lukewarm Labour supporters had nothing to do with it.
You’re not going to have a long life in politics, Marlene, if you can’t see the obvious.
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Marlene Mizzi won’t enter politics at the local national level. I had commented once how she stood out like a sore thumb in that rally or whatever it was at Birgu. As you say, she’d rather be travelling to Brussels with all the perks u mela mal-hamalli.
If Mrs Mizzi wishes we can draw a long list of Labour sympathisers who kept their jobs/posts under the PN.
There is nothing more to comment. You are really knocking Mrs Mizzi down with your excellent arguments. It’s a knock-out every time.
[Daphne – It is not my wish to knock her down. But it makes me see red when somebody who was a political appointee of the Labour government, and who retained her chairmanship under two Nationalist governments, has the bloody nerve to rant on about political discrimination. So maybe she wasn’t made chairman of Sea Malta because she was Labour and a token woman. Maybe it was her credentials. If so, then why weren’t all the other Valletta shopkeepers in the running? Unbelievable.]
As my friend and hers, N, would say, she needed someone to sit on her, and you did it good and proper D, as always in your inimitable style.
[Daphne – I hope this N isn’t the one I think it is, or he might have done some sitting himself.]
It is …..and he did! Now, as with everything else, with a lot of regret.
Is it pick on Marlene week?
[Daphne – You know how it is with politics: you raise your profile, give interviews, and wait for the fall-out. What did she expect? To go into politics and get no flak?]
Yes Daphne, exactly that. All they expect is a gentle ride with all the ‘gravy’ which goes with it. (And Marlene Pullicino is another one to add to the list of champagne socialists.)
I know where am I going to apply for a job this summer: OneTV and Maltastar, so I can talk about political discrimination and not the fact that I haven’t studied communications.
But, ironically enough, the friends I know who work or have worked with OneTV are all Labour or come from Labour families.
Political discrimination: even under Sant’s administration hundreds of Nationalists were given a political transfer. And under the present Labour pack it will be like the Mintoff era.
MM’s contradictions in bringing up political discrimination in government job awards, when she is herself the living proof of how two Nationalist governments kept her as chairman of Sea Malta, in spite of her clear Labour leanings, are to be expected from a person who claims to have voted for Malta to join the EU and, a few weeks later, voted for a Labour Party which had sworn to withdraw Malta’s application. The mind boggles indeed!
Up to a few months ago you had written that you didn’t give a hoot about EP elections.
But of course now that the heat is on you just can’t resist. Very typical.
Nevertheless, very entertaining blog! Thanks.
[Daphne – Yes, it’s impossible to resist when I see the bare-assed cheek of those opportunists.]