Well, maybe it’s another Francis

Published: April 23, 2013 at 8:26pm

The new chairman of the Malta Resources Authority has the same name (Francis Cassar) as KASCO’s group financial controller – KASCO being the group of companies owned by the prime minister’s chief of staff and best friend, Keith Schembri.

And one of the directors has the same name as Wistin Abela’s son, Marjohn Abela.

I can’t be fagged to explain to my younger readers who Wistin Abela is, but perhaps some of you might like to do so, and post the odd picture.




31 Comments Comment

  1. David Buttigieg says:

    Wasn’t he one of Lorry Sant’s stooges who as an ex Drydocks worker was considered qualified to be finance minister and who’s idea of a budget was to boast on tv and in parliament how the price of a tin of (alleged) tuna would go down by 1 mill?

  2. ciccio says:

    Ok, I’ll start. Wistin Abela was from Zejtun.

    • Gahan says:

      …and the people of Zejtun affectionatly used to refer to him as “iz-zijju Wistin” uncle Wistin.

      He employed a lot of Zwieten with Air Malta as loaders and his daughter as a pilot.

      You may also wonder why there were a lot of Zwieten ‘working’ with Telemalta , yes he was minister for telecommunications.

      • Joe Farrugia says:

        His daughter was not a pilot but an Ground Engineer same as Marjohn. Whatever one’s opinion of Wistin Abela is, in all fairness his son and daughter were both qualified for their job and worked hard under both governments. I know them both personally and they always respected my opinion even though it was diametrically opposed to theirs.

  3. Last Post says:

    Wistin? Dak li bhala ministru Laburista/Mintoffjan (fis-70-ijiet) responsabbli mit-telekomunikazzjoni kien qal li xoghol ix-xandir publiku hu/kien li jrawwem ‘generazzjoni socjalista’.

  4. bob-a-job says:

    If anyone’s interested – Wistin is the short podgy guy who crosses the parliament floor with Lorry Sant on his tail in this clip.

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

  5. H. Prynne says:

    http://www.allmalta.com/folklore/p_044.html

    Here you go, the ‘great’ Wistin, a local hero around my neck of the woods. He gave so many Laburisti Żwieten jobs at the airport, people used to joke that ‘Santa Katarina kien jonqosha tidħol taħdem l-airport bis-saħħa ta’ Wistin.’

  6. Helen says:

    With pleasure, well not really pleasure seeing these pictures, pleasure to oblige the best journalist in town.
    THis is the chap from the golden eighties.
    http://www.allmalta.com/folklore/images/WistinAbela.jpg

    There he is in the middle between Mintoff and Moira
    http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4099/4862669797_b0bba62d15_z.jpg

  7. bob-a-job says:

    Konrad Mizzi on Bondi + is making a fool of himself and striking me as though he hasn’t got a clue of how he’s going to build that power station.

    Meanwhile it’s 686 days to the inauguration of the new power station.

    • maryanne says:

      Before the election he said that he everything costed and now he is being ‘advised’.

      And they have already gone back on the ten year time-frame for a fixed price for gas. The minimum is for five years now. He was really taken aback and stammered when Tonio Fenech confronted him with this five year minimum.

    • Min Jaf says:

      Konrad also kept referring to Tonio Fenech as Ministru, when the Ministru now is Konrad himself.

    • ciccio says:

      Konrad Mizzi was absolute shambles. It was clear that he has no idea what he is doing. I said it before: he will hit the wall running.

    • Victor says:

      Why, does any one from the new government strike you as though they do have a clue of what they should do?

      Konrad is simply no exception.

      They’re a bunch of greedy amateurs.

    • Gahan says:

      Barcellona-Bayern …Champions league.

  8. Helen says:

    This is even a more interesting picture of Wistin Abela.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbPhNePqKGQ

  9. Helen says:

    This would be even more interesting for the young readers. Wistin Abela was a Minister during the times in this video….and not so long ahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZv_WnKmzGY
    go, thirty odd years!

  10. Village says:

    Taht Wistin, l-Airmalta xtrat il-Boeings u jghidu li ghaddew commissions.

  11. Il widna says:

    Francis Cassar was financial controller at ADT, UNDER MUGLIETT.

  12. anthony says:

    To younger readers.

    When you are on an AirMalta flight and the stewardess just manages to squeeze past Seats C and D then THINK :

    Wistin Abela.

    • H. Prynne says:

      Another tip to young people:

      If you go to the large duty free shop upstairs at the departures or arrivals lounge, and you find a semi-literate sales lady over 40 counting on her fingers, THINK:

      Iż-żiju Wistin.

  13. brimba says:

    Why must we be constantly reminded of the horrible past? even THEY, want to smehow forget their shameful past. It seems that today’;s youth chose to give theim their vote and let us hope that they will soon learn what a terrific mistake they made.

  14. Paul Borg says:

    Wistin was the garden gnome that made it into politics.

  15. Francis Saliba says:

    That Wistin Abela is the “Wistin” part in the epithet “Ta’ Sant(u) Wistin” that in the glory days of the MLP identified the violent thugs who were eulogised as the “aristocracy of the workers movement by the then leader of the MLP and Minister responsible for a police force that was euphemistically supposed to maintain law and order without fear or favour.

  16. Riya says:

    L-iskandli tal- Airmalta biss fejn kien isir serq sfrenat u bla kontroll ta’ xejn?

    Wistin Abela kien il bniedem li fi zmien il-Labour kien jiddefendi lill- Edwin Bartolo il-Qahbu, li- Toni Carbonaro it-Toto, lill- Fredu l-Indjan, lil Psaila il-Pupa, l-ahwa tal-Qattus, u hafna ohrajn f’kull tip ta’ vjolenza li l-Qahbu u shabu kienu jwettqu kontra in-Nazzjinalisti fosthom anke spara fuq in-nies.

    Wistin Abela kien il-protagonista li rewwem nies miz-Zejtun biex johloq skwadra ta’ kriminalita’ politika u meta meta dawn in-nies gieli gew arrestati dwar kazi kriminali serjissimi kien imur hu personali l-Ghassa tal-Pulizija biex jordna lill-Pulizija tirrilaxxom jew ma’ tarrestahomx jew biex jinhargu mill-arrest.

    Wistin Abela lil dawn it-tip ta’ nies kien anke idahhalhom fil-gallarija tal-Parlament u min kien jikkritika lil-Labour kien jaqla xeba’ tajba minn ghand dawn in-nies.

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