From head of roundabouts to a Eur600 million power station project – who let the boy scouts loose?

Published: January 15, 2013 at 6:57pm

The only way I’m going to be able to get through observing the Labour Party in this election campaign is by treating it like a script for The Fast Show.

The gap between what a political party should be and what that political party actually is is far too great for comfort.

I sometimes feel sorry for fairly intelligent supporters of the Labour Party. They must have to make the most incredibly strenuous effort, at times like these, to override the cognitive dissonance between their emotional investment in the Labour Party, and their decision to support it, and what their logical mind and powers of observation and analysis tell them.

At Labour’s press conference this afternoon, a journalist – probably sick of hearing about Konrad Mizzi’s important degrees and magical skills – asked him what he has actually done in his working life. He gave a list.

“I worked for the Office of the Prime Minister between 1997 and 2002,” he said, “as a management consultant.”

There was a bit of a pause as the assembled media digested this important, bewildering information. “Wow, he worked in the Office of the Prime Minister when Eddie Fenech Adami was PM. Then he must be excellent.”

Then Konrad Mizzi ruined it all by saying: “Yes, I was in charge of the public-private partnership project on roundabouts.”

Oh. My. God.

And yes, perhaps somebody should point out that if he started at the Office of the Prime Minister in 1997, then this means he was one of Prime Minister Alfred Sant’s personal recruits, and that the incoming Nationalist government a year later got saddled with him.

But ah well, he did sort out the roundabouts. Good on him.




25 Comments Comment

  1. Not Sandy :P says:

    Konrad Mizzi says he believes in Karmenu Vella’s vision:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt2LEY53F0w&feature=youtu.be

  2. Jonathan says:

    The power station chimney is round and the gas tanks will also be round. With his experience he is perfect for the job.

  3. canon says:

    As far as I know the landscaping of the roundabouts is the baby of Peter Calamata. Konrad Mizzi perhaps was just the link between Peter Calamata and the Office of the Prime Minister. Do you remember the cry “Waslet ir-Rebbiegha”?

  4. M. says:

    Public-partnership project on roundabouts? ELC?

  5. Ghoxrin Punt says:

    Finally someone asked the question, I just asked it on a previous post.

    So we know that he worked in the IT department of Enemalta. We know that he worked on roundabouts. We know that he is a management consultant.

    So what the fuck is he doing leading the most expensive project in Malta dealing with energy, engineering and numbers when he clearly hasn’t the foggiest on these three subjects.

  6. Harry Purdie says:

    As the English say: ‘You couldn’t make it up’.

  7. Pot of Gold says:

    It’s ironic that it took him 5 years to award the contract to ELC (1997 to 2002).

    This also explains Konrad Mizzi’s misplaced confidence that a PPP agreement can be awarded through an Expression of Interest.

    In October 2001 when the Call for Expression of Interest was published, Malta was not yet part of the European Union. Consequently, the European Directive on Public Procurement did not apply to Malta. (The call was awarded to ELC exactly a year later, in October 2002).

    The European Directive has since been transposed to Maltese legislation. EOIs for PPPs must lead to tenders according to the Directive. There’s no escaping it.

    Konrad Mizzi needs to brush up on his supposed expertise in the area. He’s clearly not up to date.

  8. ciccio says:

    Could it be that Konrad Mizzi believes that building a power station in Marsaxlokk is like erecting a Mediterranean column on a roundabout in Luqa?

    • Redneck Rabti says:

      OMG. If this were Facebook, I would “like” and “share”.

      [Daphne – There’s a Facebook button right there. Use it.]

  9. William Micallef says:

    Bollocks.

    Konrad Mizzi read for a B.Sc in Business & Computing between 1995 and 1998. He may have had a summer job in the OPM in 1997 but in that year he was doing sweet FA at University.

    Everyone who was in the Faculty of IT remembers him at the time – he was the one who was very liberal with racist jokes and racist put-downs and yet used to mimic the “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” which was showing on Italia 1 at the time.

    [Daphne – Racist jokes? His wife is Chinese.]

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      Chinese? Say no more. Now we know where Labour’s sourcing its gas. Algeria, imported through China.

    • William Micallef says:

      Which was quite surprising, to say the least.

      To be honest, his jokes were usually aimed at Arabs and coloured people (if memory serves, there was an Arab mature student in his course) so perhaps he’s okay with Asians.

    • A, Charles says:

      According to many racists, the Chinese are honorary whites.

  10. observer says:

    Round and round the garden ….. like a teddy-bear?

    • Gordon says:

      Thanks for the clarification on the Chinese wife. Now it all makes sense. He’s been speaking Chinese all along. Nothing this guy says makes sense.

  11. Viva lejber says:

    Isn’t the roundabout private partnership agreement just about flower planting?

  12. bystander says:

    I am going to vote PL just to see these moofos in action.

  13. Jozef says:

    Tista’ tghid li baghtuh jsaqqi l-hass tal-Marsa. Hemm kull roundabout.

  14. bystander says:

    When PL lose the election, they will need fall guys. He is one of them.

  15. Wilson says:

    Round-a-round the roundabout like a teddy bear…….

  16. Gladio says:

    The link between Konrad Mizzi and MEA President Joshua Zammit is the Management Efficiency Unit at the Office of the Prime Minister. Both of them worked there, at the same time.

  17. Lord Lucan says:

    Talking about Konrad Mizzi’s Chinese wife, lets hope this power station plan has a happy ending.

  18. Madame M says:

    This is great! But last night in Bondi+ all he could say was: Imma Ann Fenech avvukata (biss). Let’s put everything into perspective.

    This guy is unbelievable. I’ll say it again, that I truly believe he’s been indoctrinated. Brainwashed. Or worse, someone has performed that shock treatment out of A Clockwork Orange on him.

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