Jose Herrera in parliament yesterday: 'F'ghoxx Gonzi. F'ghoxx dak il-Gonzi taghkom.'
Oh, is this my brother? I thought it was Michael Cassar.
At around 6.30pm yesterday, while the prime minister was speaking in parliament, Jose Herrera began talking angrily into his mobile telephone, at the top of his voice.
The Nationalist Party’s whip walked over to him and asked him politely to speak more quietly if it was really necessary to take or make that call while the prime minister was speaking.
That civilised request flipped an already tense Jose Herrera’s switch, and he exploded, shouting ‘F’ghoxx Gonzi! F’ghoxx dak Gonzi taghkom! Ara llum tkellmunix, f’ghoxx Gonzi.’
The MPs who witnessed this scene were unaware that the Department of Information had just issued a press statement made by the Commission for the Administration of Justice, giving the lie to what Jose Herrera’s sister had said in court.
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As the young’uns say these days……. OMG!! WTF!?
Literally unbelievable and absolutely inexcusable.
I’m simply flabbergasted at all this corruption!
That same evening, Jose Herrera was overheard talking to one of his disciples something on the lines of: ‘Dik Daphne qed iddejjaqna issa. 24/7 imqabbda mal-familja tieghi. Dan too much.’
Needless to point out he was very very furious.
His disciple looked like a 1970s thug with five gold necklaces, four rings and three bracelets. He was complaining about his electricity bill of 500 euros which he will not be paying as “Gonzi jista’ jmur jitnejjek, ala bieb ***** “
Dik il-magistrata qeda iddejjaq lil hafna nies issa, specjalment dawk in-nisa li l-irgiel taghhom sabu ruhhom f’nassa 24/7. Dan too much.
U jien m’ghandiex ktajjen u crieket tad-deheb.
Saqsi l-mara ta’ certu avukat Galea u certu pulizija Micallef. M’hemmx ghalfejn nistaqsu l-mara ta’ Musumeci ghax diga nafu. U smajt li l-mara ta’ John Charles Ellul ghamlet mhux xenata imma xenatun meta hareg in-news li John Charles telgha Singapore mhux tant ma’ magistrat imma ma’ mara ohra li ghanda reputazzjoni daqxejn imtektka.
Sounds like a scene straight out of The Godfather.
U kwazi nahlef li hemm irgiel ohrajn li bhal issa qedin denbhom taht il-blata, jistennew inkwetati, ma’ jmurx tinkxfilhom xi borma.
Nahseb li l-ahjar haga li tista taghmel Scerri Herrera hi li tirrezenja, qabel ma’ tgharrraq hafna nies maghha, nies li forsi llum rrnexxielhom jibnu hajja differenti u rispettabbli.
Exactly, La Redoute.
In fact, we are not interested at all in Dr. Herrera’s family. What we are interested in is our democracy, our freedom of expression, our system of justice, our governance, consistency between words and acts. This is our life. As progressive moderates, we want no corruption in the system, wherever it comes from.
Besides, this 24/7 coverage is called real-time – we are in the internet age.
You could try writing that on a postcard and sending to the shadow minister of justice of the party of progressives and moderates.
Eavesdropper,
Dak dejjem hekk sejjer ….. but he is not one of the 1970s thugs.
This man is a disgrace – his sister is a disgrace – Labour always show their true colours.
They are a disgrace to the nation. Shame on Jose’ for his vulgar language.
What goes around comes around…….
Now, what was it that would have given rise to such a reaction? The lid coming off something? Somebody’s carefully constructed world falling apart, perhaps?
Pity there was no Super One camera.
Or L-orizzont, to report how ‘vulgari’ Jose Herrera is.
Or Charlon Gouder, to ask him whether that was an qahba at the other end of the line, asking for her money.
But seriously, can you blame Jose for losing his rag? He and his sister are working towards what they have so far seen as absolute certainty: that in three years’ time he will be minister of justice and she will be a judge. If the government doesn’t find anyone to replace Giovanni Bonello at the ECHR within the next three years, she will be Malta’s nominee.
They are now seeing all of this coming apart at the seams. The Labour Party may have abysmally low standards but it remains answerable to the public, and having this duo in two of the highest positions in the land, after this debacle, is a fast-receding possibility. Electors might not remember what Anglu Farrugia – Jose’s rival for the justice portfolio – did 25 years ago when he was a police inspector in Lorry Pullicino’s force, but they will certainly remember in 2013 what happened in 2010.
The Super One camera would have picked up on the heinous ‘crime’ of the governing party whip asking Jose’ Herrera to turn off his phone.
I can picture their headline:
“Il-Gvern jipprova jaghmel sarima ma’ halq il-partit laburista”
Note the “subtle” difference:
STATEMENT by the Commission for the Administration of Justice:
“With reference to reports which have appeared in the press and electronic media, the Commission clarifies that to date it has taken no decision in any proceedings before it involving Magistrate Dr Consuelo Scerri Herrera.”
REPORT by maltastar.com:
“No action has been taken against the Magistate Scerri Herrera by the Commissioner for Admin of Justice and with reference to reports which have appeared in the press and electronic media, the Commission clarifies that to date it has taken no decision in any proceedings before it involving Magistrate Dr Consuelo Scerri Herrera.
…
This statement was issued this evening.”
It’ll take a while for the lemmings to realise that the reason for the statement is that their protege’ was caught lying in court.
Don’t insult lemmings!
Same Labour, same danger!
What was he doing taking calls in parliament, anyway?
Like his sister, he was brought up by Judge Herrera. Are you surprised neither of them knows how to behave and both have appalling standards?
No.
@ La Redoute,
If you have time, ask some lawyers who are still young and still trying to find their way in the Law Courts, how Dr. Herrera behaves during court sittings.
I assume you know. How about telling us what happens?
I imagine you mean young *male* lawyers.
Dear Daphne, I think you have reached the end of the line now. It’s better if you calm down a little. Don’t listen to everything from these so called friends on this blog. I really wish you well.
[Daphne – I frame people’s comments in the context of the party for which they vote, and the resentments they bear. But thank you for your concern, all the same. Reaching the end of the line is what I call a situation in which Jose Herrera is justice minister and his sister is a judge. But perhaps that wouldn’t be the end of the line – rather the thin end of the proverbial wedge of five years of utter abuse and further collapsing standards.]
I disagree with you carmel. When a few raw nerves are finally hit, it is the start of the line, not the end of it.
Many have things bottled-up inside. They may be particular ones, or totally unrelated to the specific matters Daphne’s current blogs are bringing into the light.
Whichever the case, these blogs symbolise the start of the public saying “We’re tired of all this, and we’re going to do something about it”.
We won’t storm into our Castille a-la-Robespierre, simply because we don’t have the time, or the guts. We have taken too many things lying down for far too long u sirna qisna xeba mghoz.
Then along comes Daphne and champions the feelings of so many people, like manna from heaven.
Consuelogate and Scerri-Herrera herself are merely a representation of these overall public feelings. They are what Daphne has started to write about, and therefore, comments are directed accordingly.
I too wish you very well Daphne, but for god’s sake, don’t stop now that cracks are starting to show in the walls.
Mur saqqi l-hass, Carmel.
X’kien jghid Danton, Carmel?
“Il nous faut de l’audace, encore de l’audace, toujours de l’audace! ”
(Misattributed to Frederick the Great in ‘Patton’, but whatever)
End of the line? Kif ihobb jghid Freddie Portelli, “Il-kbir ghadu gej!”
http://www.charlescrawford.biz/blog/democracy-in-malta
It would take an outsider – apart from you, of course, Daphne – to see things for what they are and to put such thoughts down in words.
Pitiful: he is clearly devastated by the thought that his dream of becoming Minister of Justice is now looking less than likely, and so he takes it out on our Prime Minister. A prime example of old Labour.
Int bis-serjeta ? If Labour win the next election, he will be Justice Minister, irrespective of anything.
The question is the “If” and the probability is receding quite fast.
Tal-Labour mhux ha’ jahsbuha darbejn li jqieghdu wiehed bhal dak bhala ministru (u tal-gustizzja, ghal-giehna!).
Ahjar imur jindaga ftit fl-attivitajiet ta’ gh*xx ohtu. Sorry, Daphne, but it really has to be said.
Miskin ipprova, imma ma setax ilahhaq, u qata’ qalbu.
carmel ,
It is true that that not what everyone writes in this blog is 100 % true but there were interesting facts and information too.
[Daphne – I can assure you that everything published on this blog is 100% true.]
Daphne zgur mhux ser tigdeb u thalli on black and white il-gideb taghha. Mela hsibtha Consuelo tigdeb anke taht gurament?
I prefer someone like Debono Grech who is a blunt what-you-see-is-what-you-get, than someone who keeps up appearances which are flushed away exposing his true self when slightly altered.
Was he the one who animated the pack during that Monday union farce!
Instead of blaming themselves for their lack of tact and intelligence, they blame others. When something this big happens to a family, the right thing to do is to stop digging and cut your losses. You don’t go and add perjury to the lot. You resign, bow out of public life and try to start anew with the support of family and friends, who after all, share in the suffering.
Jose – nothing compares to what we had to endure 24/7 in the 70s and 80s and through no fault of our own. What your family is suffering is not a journalist’s or the prime minister’s fault but the direct result of the improper behaviour of your sister. She should have known better.
Well said Maryanne. I agree more than 100%.
Daphne I’ve been an addict to your blog for ages. Keep up the good work.
Maltese as she is written- jilaghbu mhux jilghabu.
If what I have just read is the truth, then I feel sorry for Malta and the Maltese. Parliamentarians are supposed to be there to set an example be they PN or PL.
[Daphne – Of course it’s the truth. There are several witnesses.]
I feel disgusted!
What a mess we are living in
Now let’s see the Labour nedia putting the news on a loop, and have their newspaper headlines quoting “Jose Herrera jikellem b’mod vulgari jsemmi l-Prim Ministru”. That would be the day, wouldn’t it? Maybe some other rag would care to oblige instead.
And this man is The Hon……!What is so honourable about his language?
New headline: ‘Blog Brings Down Bitch!’
Sub title: ‘Brother Loses His Rag,’
Make that a ”number of bitches”.
kemm ghandek informaturi def hiii qed tinqabad li ghandek hidden agenda
What hidden agenda? Hidden agenda ghandhom dawn it-tradituri li ghandna fil-qrati, fil-pulizija, fin-negozji, u anke fil-parlament.
Somebody is feeling hot under the collar. The fire is spreading.
I hope the Honorable gentleman in the story stands up in Parliament and makes a formal apology to Malta’s Prime Minister.
Am I correct in my assumption that with his “f’ghoxx Gonzi” statement, Herrera is implying that Gonzi interferes in what the Commission for Administration of Justice does?
If that is the case, then he is measuring our very respectable prime minister with the Labour yardstick. Mela qieghed jahseb li ghadna fiz-zminijet ta’ Mintoff u Lorry Sant?
Mur gibhom fil-gvern!
…and to think that this is the highest `institution´ (read circus) of the `country´ (read pajjiz tal-Mickey Mouse).
It does make his sister look slightly (just) more civilised than her sibling.
Tal-haxix meta jkun qed jahdem jilbes ahjar minn dan l-MP f´dan ir-ritratt t´hawn fuq.
Unsubstantiated allegations and innuendos. I am sure that there may be many instances where people utter similar expletives in the Parliament building and these may not necessarily hail from one side of the House. Is it right? Nope… but one has to be bloody foolish in reproducing similar allegations on a blog!
[Daphne – No, sir. One has to be bloody foolish to shout ‘F’ghoxx Gonzi taghkom’ at the government party whip, while the prime minister is speaking, with half the house listening, because he has asked you to stop shouting into your mobile phone as you are disturbing proceedings. Quite frankly, the Speaker should have shut him up, but perhaps he’s inured to the terrible manners of the sort of people we dispatch to represent us in parliament. The fact that others have been similarly rude does not make this ‘all right’, no more than it makes it all right for Magistrate Herrera to accept drinks from policemen in restaurants if she thinks they are the head of the vice squad rather than the sleazy variety. I’ll say it again: no wonder you vote Labour if you can’t see this.]
Watch from 2.05 onwards. It says it all
http://www.sevenheaven.org/wordpress/2010/conferenza-stampa-berlusconi-contestato-da-rocco-carlomagno/
Ma nafx jekk muhiex moderat jew progressiv Jose Herrera, imma hamallu zgur.
It seems that even Sandro Chetcuti who was at that famous party tilef rasu at the GRTU headquarters today
Quote Times:
The GRTU said the incident happened after contractor Sandro Chetcuti, who is a council member, asked to speak with Mr Farrugia in private.
Such class! Maybe I should not use the word ‘rabble’ since a prominent lawyer has been criticised for using it in an article in The Times.
Daisy, if it is only now that you realised there is all this corruption in Malta then I don’t know where you have been the last 40 years. And let’s be frank, it’s not one party or the other, but both. Time to wake up and smell the coffee – we are a pajjiz tal pjaciri.
I have always heard an expression in Maltese from when I was young, which I have found very true: ‘Minn Hexa Mexa’. Lets face it The rules and the laws only count for certain people and the good people are always the ones who end up with egg on their face.
The twitching must have gone into overdrive …
Prosit Dr. Jose Herrera u grazzi hafna! Kellek bzonn ghandek integrita int u l-familja tieghek daqs dik ta’ Dr. Lawrence Gonzi. Jien ma naghtikx tort ghax biex tigbor il-voti mall-PL b’dik il-lingwa trid tindirizzhom lin nies.
Issa nissugerilek tiproponi lill-Dr. Joseph Muscat biex jerga jibdel l-ishem tal-partit u jsemmieh MSSP. Marmalja Salvagga Socjalista Progressiva.
Ma titghalmu qatt!
Just a taste of the sound values their father taught them.
Il diavolo fa le pentole ma non i coperchi.
Pruvaw iktbu xi haga suret in-nies bla gideb, ghax il-paroli fil-vojt m’hu tajjeb ghal hadd.
Fejn qed tara l-gideb? Sa fejn naf jien, il-qorti trid tmur ghal xi haga hekk.
I thought M.P.s weren’t allowed to cross the floor.
@Deo Catania. Qed nipprova niktiblek xi haga sura ta’ nies Deo. Il-pjan ta ghoxrin sena tal-PL. Imma skuzani ma sibtu imkien.
Daphne, are you surprised? Don’t you know Jose? He has always been terribly coarse and vulgar. Did you think a seat in Parliament could have possibly changed that? Cons with her pretend snobbery thinks she’s the queen’s first cousin, but her brother dejjem hamallu kbir kien.
I feel an odd sense of pride that someone uses the correct spelling for that fail-safe profanity.
I have to agree with Carmel. While it is true that what Daphne is doing wins our whole-hearted approval, and is absolutely necessary if corruption is to be brought to light, it is she and her family alone who are facing the real consequences and, God knows, not a little danger.
Thank you Daphne, and take care.
Filwaqt li napprezza l-istil Robin Hoodesk ta’ l-artikli ta’ dal-blog, ma nistax ma narax xebh bejnu u bejn dawk ta’ certu siti elettronici ohra, bhal nghidu ahna http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090701/local/il-qattusa-u-il-fenek
Hint: It-tnejn trivjali
[Daphne – Hemm daqxejn ta’ differenza, Jonathan. La l-qattusa u lanqas il-fenek ma huma qatt se jkunu Ministru tal-Gustizzja.]
Imma forsi ikollna serduq minn flok.
Jose Herrera insulted the PM within the precincts of the House while a parliamentary sitting was underway. Isn’t that a breach of privilege?
@ Jo. Ghid xi haga darba bis-sens. Niehu pjacir hafna li jikkumenta Laburist imma ghall-inqas bis-sens.
Can I refuse to be judged by a person who knows not how to handle her responsibilities, who cheats her loved ones and other people’s love, who lies under oath?
How does this country tolerate such situations. How is the judiciary going to distance itself from these obscene goings-on?
Spiccat il-misthija!
what is the fuss? he repeated what 200,000 maltese say over and over again every day! mhux easy taf, living gonzipn. but no, you daphnes would not know, would you?
Who’s the farmer next to tubby?