Laghqi

Gozo Channel chairman resigns.

Joseph Grech, chairman of Gozo Channel, resigned this afternoon, bowing to the inevitable after an outcry which followed a report in The Sunday Times yesterday that he had ordered a ferry to return to pick him up at Mgarr Harbour.

[Daphne – No, not unless there was risk to life, limb and the vessel itself. Captains are subject to superior orders, except in those circumstances.]

[Daphne – You don’t know much yourself if you don’t even know what they’re called in English. Gejja bil-poppa u pruwa. PROW (OR BOW) AND STERN.]

So by analogy you are saying that Mr Hitler was not responsible for the millions that died in Europe some 70 years ago, or that was Mao Tse Tung was not responsible for the deaths of millions of Chinese? Most people would not agree with you.

[Daphne – God, how exhausting. I am saying nothing of the sort. Mao’s policies were Mao’s policies. The Gozo Channel chairman’s decisions are his decisions.]

Power comes with responsibility. Then, there are those who were given power on others, and therefore are as culpable for the actions of their subordinates, who may include Dr Grech or Ing Piscopo (Dr Grech is even more culpable, if, as I hear, he is a lawyer and should know what is permissible or not in society).

Although each one of us is responsible for his/her actions, there is also a person who was given responsibility to oversee and rule the country, who is ultimately accountable.

[Daphne – I see that you are not yet accustomed to life in a democracy, hence the comparison between Mao’s responsibility and the responsibility of a government minister/chairman in a democratic society. Prime ministers do not ‘rule the country’. ]

If not, for what do they get such inflated salaries, privileges and free creature comforts? Or have they truly become deities, who by nature are immortal and beyond reproach no matter how many blunders or suffering they inflict on others? Austin Gatt springs to mind.

[Daphne – What childish reasoning. Inflated salaries? And you say this just after talking about levels of responsibility? Why do you think a surgeon is paid 20,000 euros for a complicated operation when it takes ‘just six hours’. Using your reasoning, he’s paid 20,000 euros for six hours work.]

Gozo Channel Co is not his. It belongs to the state. Tonio Fenech must make this clear to him. This sort of stupidity is associated with Labour politicians and the Nationalists should never stand for it.

Grech is Gozitan. Fenech or anyone else has absolutely no say where Gozitans are concerned.

Make them walk the plank.