Konrad Mizzi is NOT an energy consultant. Get it right.

Published: January 12, 2013 at 1:56pm

Konrad Mizzi’s Phd has absolutely nothing at all to do with energy. The only time he worked in energy was when he was head of INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY at Enemalta – again, nothing to do with energy. He might as well have been head of IT at Burmarrad Commercials.

No, his doctoral thesis is about – wait for it – organisational change in the Maltese public service. And he wrapped it up in 2011, just over a year ago and when he was well into middle age.

At 40MB, I can’t upload it as a PDF here, but you’ll find the link to it on the comments-board below.

Shades of Alfred Sant and his certifikat minn Harvard. ‘Hey, I went to Harvard! I can run the country!’

I don’t think so.

The Labour Party is a laughing-stock because of these things and doesn’t know it. PhDs in your 40s and 50s as proof of competence in politics?

They’re all queuing up to become lawyers now. And anyone with an MBA or PhD is shoved to the front row, even if the consequences are disastrous, as with Konrad Mizzi.




60 Comments Comment

  1. Tonio Bone says:

    He certainly seems very passionate about this whole energy revolution Labour is proposing, but somehow it seems that the whole scenario is decidedly outlandish.

    I would not go as far as calling him incompetent because passion is at times what drives the person.

    He was given this remit by Labour so that they can have a spokesman on it.

    Gimmick or no gimmick, Konrad Mizzi has taken centre stage and has stolen the spotlight from everyone, possibly even from Joseph ‘Barack’ Muscat (the nick given for the evident Americanesque manner in which he is running PLs electoral campaign).

    Putting aside the pounds, shillings and pence that will lead to the promised 25% reduction in utility bills, I am more concerned that the logistics and practically may not make much sense at the end of the day.

  2. The chemist says:

    Someone or something must have been ‘cutting his flow’. That’s why he only finished his thesis now.

  3. Natalie Mallett says:

    Kemm qed johorgu rjus kbar minn naha ta’ Hal GHaxaq.

    • Nutcracker says:

      Dear nathalie,

      You re jelous of the ghaxaq people, in what field have you graduated by the way you come from high ridge?

      Stupid comment

  4. Jozef says:

    All three Labour speakers got snared in their own trap yesterday – flippant and determined to sell dates and numbers, but when it came to government’s work, read fact, they don’t have a clue.

    Konrad Mizzi gets his details, regulations and technicalities upside down. He was pitiful, but then again, dangerous.

    Marlene Farrugia goes one better, ignoring minor details such as the interconnector and Alfred Sant’s administration to push her arguments. We know who’s the wheeler-dealer this morning – so thanks Marlene.

    Leo Brincat, supoposedly an old fox, preempted Norman Vella only to get himself embroiled in George Pullicino’s policy, esposing himself for the twat he is. He’s been trying this ‘setting the agenda’ for ages now.

  5. Name supplied says:

    Of course Konrad Mizzi is not an energy consultant, Daphne.

    I am a certified public accountant and this buzz on all things gas has encouraged me to start researching on how the gas industry works.

    Konrad’s shallowness is evident on two grounds in the argument he is making with regards to “ensuring a fixed price” via entering into a long term price agreement.

    1. The price is normally fixed to an industry index, such as the Japanese Crude Cocktail, and not to an absolute fixed price. This will allow you to achieve what are known as “transactional cost” and “relationship cost” savings (I will elaborate if you so wish), but not necessarily on “price movement” savings.

    2. Industry experts (real ones, I mean) believe that long term price agreements make sense only if they form an (ideally) SMALL part of an overall gas purchasing strategy. There have been cases where over-dependence on long term price agreements resulted in extensive litigation and abrogation.

    Konrad Mizzi may be right that one should have an energy mix, such that one would not have all energy production eggs in the same basket.

    However, his “gas price” strategy involves a straitjacket solution – the long term price agreement – when industry experts believe that LTPAs should only form a small part of a diversified purchasing strategy. He is putting all his energy purchase price eggs in the same basket.

  6. Stingray says:

    How pathetic. Just let us know when you, or one of your sons get your Phd.

    [Daphne – I won’t be getting a PhD, Stingray. At my age that would be ridiculous. But I do have a son who will be graduating with a doctorate at 24 – from the London School of Economics, not Nottingham. He’ll probably slate me for saying it, but boy, do you people ask for it.]

    I have two bottles of fine champagne waiting to be popped. One is slotted for the 10th March and I am keeping the second for the day when one of your sons, or yourself for that matter, get your Phd.

    • Min Jaf says:

      So that is your second slotted bottle popped, Stingray. The bottle you slotted for 10th March is destined to remain unpopped.

    • Luigi says:

      With a doctorate at 24. Millennium gimmick. So, it takes 4 years for an undergraduate in geography takes or minimum 3 years. So at 18 you enter university. That is already 22. Now you have to add a year for the Master so he’s 23. Unless you go to the route directly for M.Phil which takes at least 2 years and I have donuts how LSE will enroll a student in this way. So that’s already 23. Then you have at least another 2 years more so that’s 25/26. So you son is a prodigy. To finish at 24. Well done, we can say Daphne produces prodigies.
      Ah and if he’s the one who resembles you in everything most probably he got your recessive genes of migranes. If you factor that in he might finish at 28. I bet you won’t upload this comment. By the way LSE is not the top. Cambridge and
      Oxford are.

      [Daphne – Actually, he’s the one the Labour Party put on a roll on Super One in the 2008 election campaign, after Kurt Farrugia and Byon Jo Zammit filmed him at a university meeting. Meanwhile, five years later, the one is still bridesmaid to Muscat, the other is still wielding a Super One camera. These are the numbers, to satisfy your curiosity: entered University of Malta at 17, left at 20 with a first-class honours degree, joined the Masters programme at the LSE at 20, graduated with an MSc at 21, joined the PhD programme at the LSE at 21, will finish at 24. And while doing that, he also kept body and soul together by working at Facebook and for two fund management companies. Oxford and Cambridge are not ‘the top’, as you put it, in that particular field. The LSE is. Oh, and incidentally, round my neck of the woods, we don’t think or speak in terms of prodigies. That sort of talk is for Labour chavs. Now run along and finish your law essay, but do be sure to use spell-check.]

      • Luigi says:

        Even the most stupid non academic knows that the age is 18 when we enter university, unless he did only a year for his A levels, studying privately.

        [Daphne – No, Luigi, you can join university at any age. There is no age requirement, only an examinations requirement. If you have already sat for your A-levels at 17, then you’re sorted. If you get them at 16, or for that matter 15, you can join a university programme.]

        So that is 17. Geography course is 4 years, so leaving at 21.

        [Daphne – No, it is actually three years. And it is fascinating to see that you’ve been stalking. Sort of creepy, actually. I don’t even know who politicians’ offspring are and I couldn’t be bothered, yet here you are, stalking the sons of a newspaper columnist and blogger. Brrrrr.]

        Now going straight to LSE for a Master at the age of 21, by then he is 22. Then he had at least 3 years for the Phd, there’s is no research degrees in a UK university less than let alone LSE. The only way he could do it is by the M.Phil route, which I seriously doubt how they could enrolled him with an undergraduate in Geography doing Economic History. So at least he has to be 25/26. Working with two fund companies eh doing what? Pricing call options with a history and greogrsphy degree?

        [Daphne – Give up, Luigi. You are totally out of your depth. These are matters of public record. I can’t lie about them even if I wanted to (which I don’t), and you needn’t speculate.]

      • Jozef says:

        Luigi,

        Konrad can have a Nobel prize for all I know, do you really think the jetty, tanks and infrastrucure can be designed and built in 24 months?

        I don’t think you remember the Bush-Gorbachev summit. The meetings had to be held on the two ships anchored outside the bay, the sea was so rough.

        Tower cranes have a limit, cannot be used as soon as the wind picks up.

        Certification has to be carried out in stages in the name of standards, safety and good practice. The tanks are pressure vessels, the plinths will have to be extra reinforced beyond normal standards.

        All these will depend on the weather, the plinth and the jetty in marine conditions.

        Sites aren’t planned, they’re managed.

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      Why are you people so impressed by PhDs? We’ve at least half a dozen among us contributors.

      May we have that bottle, please?

    • Qeghdin Sew says:

      “At my age that would be ridiculous.”

      Why is getting a PhD at your age ridiculous? I seem to remember you mentioning that you did your undergrad degree as a mature student.

      [Daphne – Yes, Qeghdin sew: a mature student of 29.]

      Some capable people may face circumstances which prevent them from dedicating the first 22 years of their life entirely to academia. What’s wrong with that? Same goes for a PhD.

      Besides, getting your PhD in physics or any other theoretical subject at 23/24 is quite normal. But getting a PhD in business at 23/24 is only considered a sign of superficial analysis on the doctorate student’s part.

      Some top MBA programmes require students to have 7 years of managerial experience before they’re even admitted, precisely because the whole point of business studies is to focus on case studies. Now you can imagine how equipped a 21 year old can be to contribute to the field…

      BTW, Nottingham’s business school is one of the better ones.

      [Daphne – Not interested. I am not even remotely academically-inclined. I never was. My motivation for reading for a doctoral thesis would be roughly zero. In my 20s and early 30s I had the energy and inclination to sit down and read less than thrilling books and write papers and research after a long day of work, children and housekeeping, but like hell am I going to do it now, even if the children have dropped out of the equation. As for an MBA, I would rather be pegged out and eaten alive by driver ants than do anything so mind-numbingly dull.]

  7. ciccio says:

    From a quick look at his thesis, I think I would be correct to conclude that Konrad Mizzi got his doctorate thanks to his analysis of a CHANGE programme implemented by Nationalist governments in the past 25 years with the help of consultants.

    Why does Joseph Muscat keep harping on consultancy services paid for by the government?

    • Qeghdin Sew says:

      Did you skip Chapter 6?

      • ciccio says:

        No. Chapter 6 is about 1996-1998.
        Why, what happened then, other than the VAT debacle which we are just about to re-experience under the slogan “inrahhsu l-kontijiet”?

        Even Joseph Muscat and his party do not remember that the period 1996-1998 ever existed.

      • Qeghdin Sew says:

        I’ve yet to read his thesis (I don’t like the guy, but it looks like a very interesting subject), but I don’t think his supervisor and the viva board would have allowed him to keep a whole chapter dedicated to 1996-1998 if it contributed nothing to the discussion.

        So please keep your partisan opinions to yourself when discussing the academic merits of something.

  8. J Farrugia says:

    MLP is pushing Konrad instead of Silvio Parnis. Fejn irid hu ha jasal il-leader.

  9. Illiterate says:

    I now know why Konrad is getting all his calculations wrong – All he managed to get in finance is a diploma! See his qualifications below:

    Qualifications
    As an FCO Chevening Scholar he read for a Masters Degree (M.A.) in Strategic Management from the University of Nottingham and graduated with Distinction. He also holds a B.Sc. in Business and Computing and a Diploma in Finance (from the ACCA, UK). Konrad has submitted his Ph.D. thesis at the University of Nottingham and will graduate in December 2010.

    http://www.zoominfo.com/#!search/profile/person?personId=842523558&targetid=profile

    • Qeghdin Sew says:

      Why do you expect him to have anything more than a diploma in finance? He’s not an economist or a finance guru or however people like to style themselves as these days.

  10. Qeghdin Sew says:

    But isn’t he a partner at an energy consultancy?

  11. Aunt Hetty says:

    Dr. Mizzi seems like an extremely intelligent, bright, well meaning young man who researched his subject very thoroughly.

    Unfortunately, he has digested the results of his research with the same panache of a hyperactive chicken. His thought processes make him clearly unable to see the wood for the trees.

    If Joseph Muscat’s other experts are of the same ilk, then God help us all in two months’ time.

  12. Illiterate says:

    Unbelievable. Konrad Mizzi, with his diploma in finance, was introduced with much pomp by Zrinzo at the 2012 General Conference as a Financial Consultant.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shafMepzCFo

    As soon as he opens his mouth, he starts boasting about himself. Did anyone at the Labour Party bother to check his credentials?

  13. wigi says:

    http://www.pcubed.com/industries/energy/

    Konrad Mizzi is a partner in this company. What are his personal interests in the PL proposals?

  14. Illiterate says:

    This is the ACCA course content for a Diploma in financial management:

    Each module covers two subject areas:

    Module A

    1. Interpretation of Financial Statements
    2. Performance Management

    Module B

    3. Financial Strategy
    4. Risk Management

    See: http://www.bmi.ie/courses/dipfinmgt.html

    Surely by doing these 4 modules you cannot call yourself a financial consultant can you?

    • Jozef says:

      Whatever it is he’s definitely alien to project management.

      One can’t propose a timeframe ignoring site coordination where one has to work around existing plant required for Malta’s electricity supply.

      Phasing implicates a sequential process, otherwise it’s either chaos and rampant variations or no electricity.

      The minister issued a realistic progress chart. It’s 4 to 5 years for execution alone. Louis Grech can bluff until blue in the face.

  15. Thoughtful says:

    The MLP have been considering and planning their energy policy for months, possibly years.

    They have been going on about this sector for ages.

    If they have got this so badly wrong after this much assessment, one can only wonder what is going to happen in respect of their other policies, if they actually have any.

  16. Makjavel says:

    It looks like a copy-paste affair with pages full of references.

    No wonder he can only manage to make a Powerpoint presentation and then refuses to back it up with facts.

    No real research, only reading other people’s books and chewing them enough not to be accused of plagiarism.

    He can never carry out an energy study based on scientific and financial models.

    A journalistic presentation suitable for it-Torca.

  17. Nighthawk says:

    If Konrad Mizzi was Head of IT at Enemalta, not to mention a ‘progamme director’ at BT, he knows exactly how long it takes to get an IT project up and running, from conception, through tendering and award, up to go-live.

    And there are no permits from outside entities there either.

    So when he says this can be done in two years, he is not making a mistake. He is lying, and knows he is lying.

  18. Illiterate says:

    Oh look! A retired US navy admiral endorses Konrad. Wow.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmV-H_hpDt8

  19. Wilson says:

    My grandma has a driving licence but it doesn’t mean she can cope with a Formula One car.

  20. Luigi says:

    Stalking? You’ve said this on you blog when you wrote the story on Glenville the one who has beaten an academic and which I condemn. I know you can go to Univetsity at any age but you have to be 16 at least in the year to sit for O levels, let alone A levels. How can you get A level without doing O levels. But anyhow, you want to win the argument. LSE is top in Economics, and adding to that also Finance and Politics. I am not out of depth. I am curious about the reply.

    [Daphne – Luigi, please. I, too, sat for my O-levels at 15 (I actually sat for some of them the previous year, at 14) and for my A-levels at 17. It all depends on when in the year you were born, at the end of the year or at the beginning, and when you started school. You sit for Os and As when you like and when you are ready, not when you are 16 or 18. Now just stop it. You’re doing yourself no favours.]

    • M. Bormann says:

      Luigi, I was born in December. I started university when I was 17. It’s pretty simple. Not that I’m saying you’re “out of depth”, maybe just out of Twistees.

    • Neil Dent says:

      Jeez Luigi GIVE UP!

      In normal situations it depends on your scholastic year with regards to your birth date. My daughter, a November baby, sat her O-Levels at 15, with her 15/16 year old form 5 peers.

      It follows that she started her A-levels at 15, sat them at 17, and so entered university at 17 too. She’ll now graduate at 20.

      ARE YOU GETTING THE GIST, LUIGI?

  21. Luigi says:

    They changed the requirements from your times. You are right, in your times you could sit for O levels at any age from form3 onwards. They changed it then. It was quite illiberal to do so. Check it out. I am right.

    [Daphne – For the last effing time, Luigi, you are NOT right. If somebody is born at the end of the year, he leaves school – OBVIOUSLY – at 15, not 16, because the school year ends in May, when O-levels begin. Anyone born between July and December therefore EQUALLY OBVIOUSLY sits for Os at 15 and As at 17. I don’t know what they do in state schools, but in independent schools, everyone born in the same year is put in the same year: this means that all children born in, say 1990, are in the same school year. It also means that in the same class, you can have children who are a whole year older than others (born in January 1990 and born in December 1990). I know that Labour voters tend to struggle in the IQ department, and that IQ is largely inherited, which is why a tendency to vote Labour is inherited too, but please, even you should be able to work this out.]

  22. Luigi says:

    Ok you are right then, your son will finish at 24 + 10 months by the same argument, so it is still not 24. Right? And I am not stalking. I don’t care the month when he turns 25. So you backed my argent then then he can never be 24.

    [Daphne – 24 + 10 months is 24, Luigi. I gave birth to one of my sons nine days short of my 23rd birthday. His birth certificate says, Age of Mother: 22.]

    • Joseph Borg says:

      If I were to tell Luigi that a cousin of mine graduated a medical doctor and my nephew got his PhD and making a medical discovery in his early twenties, Luigi won’t believe me.

    • Clifford says:

      Imma dan x’jinteressah?

    • Karl says:

      In the U.K. it’s quite normal to attain your PhD by 24. In most of the other EU countries and the US it is not.

      • Qeghdin Sew says:

        In the UK it’s easier to get your PhD even by 23.

        Most undergraduate degrees are already compliant with the Bologna Process and are three years long (i.e. you submit your dissertation and can graduate with honours after three years, not after four, as is still the case with the majority of courses at UoM).

        You can then apply for a PhD with just a first class honours [undergraduate] degree. You don’t need to spend another year sitting for a Master’s if you have a first class honours degree.

        It’s only us stupid Maltese students who fall for this trap due to a lack of, or purposely misleading, information.

        [Daphne – It all depends on the university.]

    • Jozef says:

      He’ll correct you how many children you have next.

  23. Luigi says:

    Ok, that’s why this country is governed by mediocrity because it should say you were 24, taking the nearest month like we do with rounding up for decimal places. Since this is the last comment on this snject, then beong 24 or 25 doesn’t make a difference. You have to be very intelligent and analytical to get the Phd sa that age. Congratulations to your son.

  24. rjc says:

    “he was head of INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY at Enemalta”

    He wouldn’t have had anything to do with the setting up of ARMS by any chance? Just a curiosity, I don’t know.

  25. lino says:

    Luigi, some time ago there was news that a 14 year old boy had the necessary qualifications to start the law course but could not because of age restrictions.

    Also a friend of mine, following a first calls honours degree, did his masters and PhD in just 3 years, living in a 2-room apartment with his pregnant wife, and a toddler; and I can assure you he did all this in no easy discipline. So yes some people are special.

  26. thehobbit says:

    Ma….x’hela ta’ hin.

  27. Johanni says:

    We all complain about the cost of electricity and much of it is the result of expensive fuels.

    Unfortunately, Malta is an island without any fuel resources depending mainly on imported heavy fuel oil which is low cost and convenient energy source and a smart idea for preventative maintenance and safe.

    There are ideas to reduce C02 emissions by mixing water with fuel to creat emulsion. Natural gas is the best and most clean fuel and has the advantages of burning cleaner and more efficient than other forms of fossil fuels.

    However, natural-gas can be much costly than heavy fuel oil and to convert to natural gas is easy but gas to be imported is dangerous unless it reaches Malta via a pipe line and this is very expensive.

    In my opinion, Malta can only generate electricity using heavy fuel oil and simultaneously introduce as a stand-by the Interconnector hopefully, Malta can stike oil, this time, on one of the three blocks on offshore drilling.

  28. Foxxommok says:

    Daphne,

    Ja sahhara kerha!!! Idhol fuq l-internet, ja qahba stupida, u ikteb ‘Konrad Mizzi’ u studja sew l-esperjenzi li ghandu ma kumpaniji kbar barranin bhal Pcubed u Moorhouse, qabel ma tiftah dak il halq kbir l-ghandek! Filkas zommu mghaluq u ifthu biss meta jaqbadni l-bewl.

    Kemm niehu pjacir naqlalek ja mara kerha.

    U iva jien lejburist!! U tkaxkira ghandkom ja qatta ndannati!!

    Foxx kemm ghandek!

    Mwa

  29. Ursula says:

    Konrad Mizzi is not an IT expert he holds a degree offered by FEMA and the IT component is only of 25%.

    @Luigi

    With a first class honours degree most Universities allow you to enrol directly on a PhD programme thus skipping the masters. So yes, a person can complete his PhD by age 24.

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