Exactly WHAT is wrong with all these men? There must be a common factor, somewhere.

Published: September 18, 2012 at 10:12am

Joseph Grech, a lawyer whose resignation from the post of chairman of Gozo Channel Company was demanded (and received) last year after he ordered a ferry-boat back to port to pick him up, applied for the post of CEO of the same company when it was advertised.

Can you believe it? Yes, you can.

When his application was dismissed outright on the quite obvious grounds described above, he went to court to stop the situation being filled by anybody else because, he said, he has the most experience and is the most highly qualified candidate.

Can you believe it? Yes, you can.

The man who was asked to resign as chairman, for ordering a ferry loaded with passengers back to port because he got the time wrong and missed it, genuinely believes there is nothing wrong or abnormal in demanding that he be taken back as chief executive officer of the same company.

Just as he believed, and probably still does, that there is nothing wrong in instructing the ferry-boat to turn back because of him.

Can you believe it? Yes, you can.

There are so many of this sort of man parading about the public stage in Malta right now, to a greater or lesser degree, that it is time to wonder – I mean, seriously wonder – exactly what might have gone wrong not only in their formative years or in their genetic make-up, but more pointedly, how they always seem to manage to force their way past others to the top, only for some crisis to happen.

The Times, today:

Ex-Gozo Channel boss loses CEO job injunction

Gozo Channel’s former chairman Joseph Grech has failed to stall the appointment of a new chief executive officer after he was not selected for the job himself.

Dr Grech, who resigned last year after it was revealed that he directed a ferry to return to port and pick him up, filed an injunction to prevent Gozo Channel issuing another call for applications and give him the job.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Josette Demicoli, ruled Dr Grech could have used other avenues to make his case without the need to stop the recruitment process through an injunction.

She said the fact that Dr Grech had served as chairman did not mean he should be given the post of CEO.

Dr Grech filed the injunction after receiving a letter from Gozo Channel informing him his application was not being considered. His application was one of two the company had received.

He said he was excluded from the recruitment process despite being “the most qualified person for the job”.

The court noted that Gozo Channel had aborted the recruitment process and a fresh call was being issued.

According to the company, he was excluded because of the incident last November.

The Gozitan lawyer, who had been appointed by the Government as executive chairman, was forced to resign after ordering the ferry back to port because he arrived late.

Dr Grech was aiming to catch the ferry at 7.30pm, not realising the winter schedule of the company he was responsible for dictated that it left at 7.15pm.

Baffled commuters found themselves being taken back to Mġarr on the chairman’s orders.




28 Comments Comment

  1. Bubu says:

    I once read that the population of psychopaths among CEOs and high level leaders is much higher than it is in the population at large.

    Basically it turns out that the qualities required to lead a company are the very same traits possessed by psychopathic individuals. Traits including a hugely inflated opinion of oneself and a disregard for the feelings of others.

    • anthony says:

      That is exactly what it is Bubu. Add also ‘and opinions’ after ‘feelings’.

      Nothing to do with living with parents and the influence of mama.

      Look at the top banking institutions in the UK.

      All driven into the ground by psychopaths who thrive and get to the top in this highly competitive and arrogant world that we live in.

      Never mind piddly Gozo Channel.

      In the case of the British banks hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ money literally went up in smoke thanks to a handful of ‘brilliant’ CEOs aided and abetted by the politicians and the financial watchdogs.

      Psychpaths, the lot.

  2. uhuru says:

    Can we fix it? No we can’t! (apologies to Bob the Builder)

  3. SC says:

    I blame the Maltese mothers. Living with your parents for so long, and the sort of parents who make you think that you you can do no wrong, does not equip you for the real world.

  4. Joe S says:

    I blame the individuals who choose these “chairmen” in the first place.

  5. jack says:

    It’s hard to blend in with the lesser mortals when one day you’re chairman and the next day an unemployed and unemployable nobody.

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      Unemployed? Hardly. He’s a lawyer. Let him go back to that sordid profession.

    • Qeghdin Sew says:

      Seeing what kind of high life these ċjermenn live, I have to agree with you, jack. Did this little prince have a private bathroom, washing machine and kitchenette annexed to his office, too?

  6. David S says:

    Daphne …this is symptom of the times. Primadonna attiude of JPO and Franco Debono. Yes, it rubs off on other people.

    Just like the unfortunate situation of people commiting suicide, and how when publicised it gives a sudden urge for others to follow suit.

  7. Interested Bystander says:

    Everyone rises to the level of their incompetence.

  8. A. Charles says:

    I would not be the least surprised if Dr Grech becomes one of MLP star candidates in Gozo because he will feel victimised by this cruel GonziPN government

  9. Mic says:

    The common factor? I’d say it’s their mothers’ tendency to treat their sons as demi-gods.

  10. A Montebello says:

    It’s funny you mention this…. a couple of years ago the then chairman of the national theatre favoured one production company over the other in a clear case of nepotism and corruption. He was caught in a blatant lie that caused untold damages to a third party.

    Today he is back again on the same committee.

    Can you believe it? Yes, you can.

  11. Herbie says:

    Lawyers in general all tend to have have a very inflated opinion of themselves. This I know through experience.

  12. Noun says:

    All these self-centered bullies seem to have been schooled in the early eighties, when Mintoff, KMB and the looney band were causing havoc in Malta’s education system.

    These guys (and some gals) must have been seriously affected with what was going on around them.

  13. jackie says:

    I know you’re against this, (although I’m still not clear why), but this is another strong argument in favour of quotas for women in the parastatal board-rooms.

    [Daphne – Rubbish. Women can be just as bad. Look at Marlene Mizzi and the scenes she made when the government decided to sell ‘her’ Sea Malta. That’s what you get when you whisk a girl out of a toy shop and put her in charge of the national shipping line, all because Prime Minister Alfred Sant wanted to be progressive and get himself a token woman chairman. Tokenism sucks, and quotas suck even harder. I’m totally against them.]

    • jackie says:

      Hmmmmmm…. Your misanthropy is beginning to limit your choices; “What is wrong with all these men?” and “Women can be just as bad”. Maybe another species of primate might fit the bill?

      [Daphne – Misanthropy is hatred of mankind, not dislike of certain types of people.]

    • yor/malta says:

      Quotas are demeaning to those who reach a position on merit .

  14. Matt says:

    What arrogance!

    Instead of being embarrassed for exercising awful judgement he goes to court to tell the country that he is the best qualified man for the job. What a buffoon.

  15. Angus Black says:

    There goes another ‘indispensable’ one.

  16. Taks Fors says:

    Thank God he was not on PN’s ticket the last general election and got elected. I reckon he would have made an even worse MP backbencher than Franco. There’s one candidate to join Franco’s new party. They would make such an invincible pair.

  17. ciccio says:

    Dr. Grech’s case reminds me of another gentleman who delayed an Emirates flight by one hour because he and his family arrived late at the check-in.

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100523/local/flight-delayed-after-muscats-late-arrival.308567

    What’s worse, this gentleman has now applied for the post of Prime Minister.

  18. Silvio Farrugia says:

    How right you are, Daphne. I am many times flabbergasted in this country. I was flabbergasted when once the students wanted cost of living increases with their stipends.

    Recently the Union of Teachers said that they do not agree and will not let it happen that maltese teachers work as much as other european teachers BUT they had then the cheek to say that Maltese teachers’ salaries should be the same as their counterparts in Europe.

    What about when Leo Brincat was the shadow spokesman for IT? What a laugh when under his government one could not even have a ‘walkie-talkie’. Now he is for the environment …remember the change to coal at the Marsa power station?

    What about those who were against joining Europe (Ellul Bonici) and now they are on the gravy train.

    What about people who had left their husbands, had a baby by a married man, always went out with married men and then were against divorce?

    What about those who think everybody owes them a living (young men who refuse to work, unmarried mothers, widows and so on)?

    Yes, what a country full of spoilt inhabitants.

  19. Randon says:

    And who put these men in the positions they hold now? GonziPN it seems. That is why the PN has little hope of being re-elected.

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