Do you actually know what you’re doing and saying, Mr Prime Minister?
Joseph Muscat faces down his opponent in a duel at dawn. Notary Joe Cilia holds the spare handbag.
The prime minister, being the bitchy sort that he is – ask me again why he doesn’t rub along with Jason – retaliated in his usual spiteful but indirect tit-for-tat manner this morning to Antonio Ghio’s release of a statement late last night.
Ghio is the man who Muscat forced to resign as chairman of the Malta Communications Authority, on the grounds that the government had changed so he must go. Ghio last night described the manner in which this occurred and also pointed out that it is against EU rules to remove or try to remove the chairman of an EU-regulated authority like the Malta Communications Authority.
So this morning the prime minister said that among measures to bring down the deficit will be the lowering of the MCA chairman’s salary, who will “not be paid 100,000 euros a year like his predecessor”.
MIAOW.
I’m just thinking that life in the Labour Party and Super One must have been handbags at dawn every day of the week.
But in his rush to bitch at Antonio Ghio, the prime minister picked one of the worst possible examples. Chopping the MCA chairman’s salary will not bring down the deficit, just as increasing it will not cause the deficit to grow.
The MCA chairman’s salary is not financed by the taxpayer/the state, but by telecommunications operators, which throughout the European Union pay a percentage of their revenue – in Malta, it’s 1.25% – to the Malta Communications Authority, in conformity with the EU Telecoms Directive.
Worse still, Antonio Ghio was not paid Eur100,000 a year, but Eur3,000 a year. This means that the new chairman will have to be paid Eur2,999 and no more to beat that.
If our prime minister is so ill-informed and badly briefed, it doesn’t inspire much confidence in any decisions he will be taking.
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Dan minghalih se jhammar wicc in-nies bil-flus li jaghmlu?
Tajba Guz, urina l-ghira x’taghmel.
Ghandu ghalfejn jghir ukoll. Qed jerda’ 7,000 euro fis-sena tal-karozza personali tieghu!
Qarrieqi, bniedem qarrieqi. Tela’ hemm bil-qerq tal-weghdi li ghamel lil kulmin mar quddiemu u gie jaqa’ w iqum minn tmexxija tajba (good governance).
Appunta n-nies tieghu, u lil dawk li ghenuh jitla’, bla ebda konsiderazzjoni jekk humiex l-aktar nies kapaci u/jew adattati ghal post li tahom.
Imn’alla ghandna ‘l Daphne tkompli tikxef il-maskra ta’ dan il-pruzuntuz qarrieqi (u issa wkoll giddieb – jikkwota cifri u spejjez biex ibellaghhielna li jrid inaqqas l-ispiza tal-Gvern).
Kieku ma kienitx sitwazzjoni tal-biki (ghax hemm pajjizna u l-poplu taghna fin-nofs) kont niehu pjacir narhom jaghzqu u jaqghu ghaz-zufjett bil-pulcinellati li qed jaghmlu.
Fl-ahhar mill-ahhar iktar ma jkun hemm minn dan it-tbazwir u tahwid iktar hemm cans il-poplu jinduna bl-izball li ghamel meta rega’ fdhom bil-poter – poter li ma jafux juzaw hlief biex jiehdu rikba b’xejn minn fuq dahar il-poplu.
“… issa wkol giddieb”? Mela diga nsejt kemm gideb qabel l-elezzjoni.
Tant gideb li l-PN hareg il-famuz billboard ta’ Pinocchio u josephmuscatdotcom ma setax jissuhom tieghu ghax kien jitlifha hands down.
We should all weep. This is really worrying.
Or laugh perhaps? Il-kbir ghadu gej.
My humour has become so dark that I can’t even see it, even in broad daylight.
JJ, I empathise with you. Unfortunately, your situation has just been made worse, because the new government has switched off the eternal flame during daytime.
Speaking of the eternal flame, The Telegraph had this report when Kyrgyzgas turned off the flame in Kyrgyzstan.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/kyrgyzstan/9227102/Kyrgyzstans-Eternal-Flame-dies.html
It’s time The Telegraph is informed about the situation in Malta. But it’s good to know that we are now in the company of Kyrgyzstan to turn off the eternal flame for financial reasons. Shame on our government.
Wasn’t his surname ‘Ghigo’?
We need to ask Chris Cardona, the Minister of Lap Dancing.
More Mintoffian-style politics from Joseph Muscat.
More division and more crusades. Only that this time it is about incitement against high income earners.
Do his KASCO advisors read The Times’ leading articles, after all?
Soon we will have the Labour Movement return to the “klassi tal-haddiema,” which later becomes the “aristocrazija tal-haddiema.”
Why is it looking so much like the 1970s and 1980s all over again? Ah, those Golden Years…
Gvern tal-qamel. Imbasta bl-aqwa fl-Ewropa u bil-high society…
Nissikkaw iċ-ċintorin … imma l-bqija biss. Aħna in charge allura nerdgħu lil pajjiżna kemm nifilħu. Veru lura għas-snin sebgħin/tmenin.
Actually, I was talking to my cat over this matter, and he asked me: “Didn’t you know that MCA’s chairman is not paid out of Govt coffers?”
Of course I answered “No I didn’t”, to which he replied “well even I knew”.
“But the PM said otherwise” I argued, to which he retorted, ” Ah but the PM is not a cat”
Moral: our PM is not smart as a pussy
There is nothing you can do about this guy. I still have to meet one guy from this year at the Jesuits’ who is normal.
It must have been very much an annus horribilis at St. Aloysius College. But, then again, what can you expect? This was one of the first results of KMB’s jew b’xejn jew xejn aftermath intake.
Which goes to display the fact that at secondary level you can educate only academically but can never really win back the basics.
What an idiot.
The Prime Minister is incompetent. That is the reason his decisions don’t inspire confidence. No amount of information and briefing can make a difference. The raw material just isn’t there.
Kemm hu mahmug.
Dan Joseph mhux ekonomista? Tghid 1-ewro inqas fis-sena ha jaghmel differenza tant li d-deficit ha jonqos b’ 0.7%?
Ghax ma jarax id-daqs tal-Kabinett u l=200 li mpjega u se jhallas mit-taxxi tal-poplu. Dan kollu biex ihallas lura lill dawk kollha li ghenu fil-kampanja elettorali?
Ibqa sejjer hekk Guz, u tkahhalna go hajt f’qasir zmien.
Super One viewers/listeners will get to hear only the Euro 100,000 sound-bite.
The rest of the reality of the matter will either never make to the PL media news reports, or else will be distorted beyond recognition and buried among inconsequential news items.
Same tactics used in the run up to the election: the salient points that stuck in the public mind were ‘il-hames mija zieda li ha GonziPN, l-arlogg ta’hames telef ta’ Tonio, u l-kontijiet tad-dawl u ilma’.
And then they blame the EU and/or IMF not having confidence in them on Tonio Fenech.
Imbaghad tisma’ xi mbecilli Laburist jghidlek “Taf kemm hu bravu Joseph? Mela, dak il-kink daqs kemm jaf xi jghid”.
Tghiduli xejn kemm hu bravu.
Daqs kemm intkom bravi intkom li ivvutajtulu. Capcipa ghall imbecilli kollha.
Li Prim Ministru jasal biex jigdeb (fuq kemm kellu paga Ghio) hija tassew tal-misthija.
Flok ma jikkonvinci li kienet decizjoni tajba, iktar jghaxxaqha.
Unbelievable but true – tal-biki.
I am deeply shocked.
A Maltese politician caught out telling lies.
Who do I turn to?
The rest of the political class
Unless it is actually the scarier possibility, i.e. that the Prime Minister is fully aware of the facts, but can go ahead and say what he likes, because he now knows for a fact that the great majority will look on in blissful ignorance.
This same majority seems to be interpreting the muzzled silence, from the previously vociferous, as approval.
Certain orchestrations are more typical of the Machiavellian than the ill informed.
It’s never been just a possibility. It’s always been of the snake-oil artist variety. Misinformation, confusion, promises to one and all that one is in no position to make, other people’s fault, other people’s neck in the guillotine. Never say more than you need to because that’s when the noose tightens.
And he thinks it stops at our shoreline. That Embassies don’t send detailed reports back of all that goes on in the press, but especially out of it.
Once the diagnosis is out a charlatan is like a leper, except to those who want to profit from the rotten state of affairs and general low-life greed on which it is propped.
Perhaps more accurately, the PM may have said ” …not worth 100k like his predecessor” but then worth is not ability these days, it is colour.
Perhaps Muscat should tell us what HIS salary and benefits, and those of his wife add up to. I’m sure he could do some cost-cutting there, leading by example.
LILL MINN TRID IDDAHAQ, 3000 FIS-SENA. ARA VERA LANDA HARA. INTI MINTIX INFURMATAT TAJJEB GHALKEMM TOHLOM LI GHANDEK XI CIRKU TA’ SPJUNI. JEKK MA TOQODX ATTENTA DAN IL-BLOG JISPICCA. WE WILL HACK AND FULL STOP.
[Daphne – Hello Franco. You’re getting way too predictable, you know. Every time I mention you, I get a row of ballistic comments, either in basically normal grammar and with fairly civilised insults, or in capitals and replete with vulgarities (most of which I have deleted), depending on where on the polar spectrum you happen to be at the time.]
…Debono?
WHAT THE HACK? LIKE HACK YOU WILL HACK.
A criminal lawyer threatening to do something illegal. Interesting.
Do we know this Franco, Daphne?
Min hu dan?
Did the mid forehead furrow deepen when he said this?
Can the Opposition please bring this matter up and inform Joseph Muscat and all how the Chairman of the MCA’s salary is worked out.
Muscat is not telling the truth about how the chairman’s salalry is paid and by who and that way the PL acolytes think that his whole salary is being paid by the Maltese taxpayer.
He is also lying about the amount the chairman received. It was Eur3,000 a year and not Eur100,000.
We mere mortals cannot do anything but feel disgusted at the PM’s attitude. I am sure that whoever has been appointed as MCA Chairman will be getting a lot more than that but we will probably not be told.
If Dr. Ghio has been abusively removed as Chairman of the MCA against EU rules should he not remain at his job in defiance and see what the PM will do?
By the same argument I did not agree that David Felice retains his present job to be the lackey of Jason Azzopardi.
If I were him I would resign and let them work things out themselves if they are capable, but of course I have no right to tell David Felice what to do.
If Muscat is taking advantage of decent people who stay in their job, even though they are demoted, then things will go from bad to worse.
Tal-biza. Vera tal-biza.
A complete incompetent PM.
Eur 3000 a year?
[Daphne – Yes. He was non-executive.]
3,000 euro a year? Possibli, just that.
[Daphne – It’s a non-executive position.]
This is bad style of leadership. Who knows who is going to irritate Joseph next?
Or maybe it’s just a blatant lie as he knows the majority of the Maltese population will swallow it, and the ones who wouldn’t would vote PN anyway.
It would be just like his claims that the power station is causing high rates of cancer and that we have the most expensive electricity in Europe.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130531/local/cyrus-engerer.471989
The law is really an ass.
When you read the article you think that it was not Mr Engerer who sent the images and yet when you read further down you find that the only reasons he was aquitted were that he was not the only one to have access to the computer (doesn’t that also means that you are distributing the images if you leave them in a place where others can have access to them) and that the other people in the photos could have distributed them as well – yes of course…
And the cherry on the cake – last line.
On a different topic, this story reminds me of the MOC/Farrugia Sacco saga: http://m.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/may/31/patrick-mercer-resigns-conservative-party
I can’t believe we got rid of Gonzi for this amateur. What a prick.
Dan kollu qed issir biex insostnu l-ispiza KBIRA tal-ministeri. Tal-qalba jpappu u l-poplu jitewweb.
This is further proof, if any were needed, that Muscat is at his best when he is doing and saying nothing at all.
Hibernation is his forte.
It is a very serious thing when one lies but it is even much more grievous when a politician lies (especially if it is the prime minister).
Or, shall I say Joseph Muscat tried to mislead? That is still a very serious thing – unless he was misinformed, which is a problem too.
It is so disgraceful for the Prime Minister to make public statements which are either partly true (and obviously partly a lie or untrue) or which are damnedly false.
Typical oh how typical Maltese. If you want to get people on your side in this land of envy, just accuse your enemy of earning money or having something, and hey presto, ‘eh mhux sew dak jaqla daqshekk’.
But to also lie about it? That is totally dishonest.
Very socialist. As Margaret Thatcher so perfectly summed it up, they “would rather that the poor were poorer, provided that the rich were less rich”.
A point to ponder: If Joseph Muscat wanted to keep the Malta Drydocks open why didn’t he even consider getting back all the ex-drydock workers and revitalise the Malta Shipbuilding?
I wonder what Joseph Muscat learned about Europe during his term as MEP.
You mean during the time he wasn’t working on his thesis and refused to ad hoc into English instead of delivering the prepared speech in Maltese?
The more I read, the more I’m convinced that my gut feeling is correct.
Today we hear about the deficit, about high salaried ‘ex’ CEOs, what a disaster the PN left us in, and how PL ‘is saving us from it by paying board directors less.
This will be their tool to try to win the election in five years’ time.
Is one allowed to use the word ‘liar’ ?
Is there any other word?
No. Joey is only being economical with the truth.
An amateur directing a group of amateurs – direct into the wall – a kamikaze population, at least 53% or so of them.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/MEP-questions-legality-of-Malta-s-power-station-plans-20130531
Just go through the comments.
Mintoff, national interest, traitors, rightist faction, dishonest, faxxisti demonji-kristjani, our business; how times change.
The veneer won’t last, not at this rate.
MEPs are welcome to put questions about Dalligate but not about Muscat’s government.
What next? Another Foreign Interference Act? 100% Mintoffian tactics
The shoes of a prime minister are too big for Joseph Muscat.
Mamma mia, just looking at their faces makes you want to run miles away.
Hahaha.. Good one. I would have never imagined being in Opposition would be such fun.
Watching the prime minister ridicule himself over and over again – I look forward to the next 4 years 10 months of non-stop comedy.
Comedy it might be, but sad it still is for the country is literally being driven straight into a brick wall.
Yes true, putting a reality check into the equation, then you are right.
@Daphne
This is Audrey Harrison before the ‘iced bun’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihgiqToD8gg
So Frederick (cazzo di) Testa earns 9 times per annum more than Antonio Ghio just for giving his expert opinion on television dramaas. Some people must be so proud to have switched and placed this jerk in Castille.
To me it sounds better Fredrick Testa (di c**zo) …
It will be a tragi-comic piece and not funny at all.
How many prime ministers in the world don’t hold a portfolio?
Our PM struts here and there holding press conferences once in a blue moon and going to Brussels with his family in tow (how many other EU prime ministers do that?) but is he actually doing his job of prime minister?
As Jozef wrote, the veneer of democracy will wear thin very soon.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130531/local/pl-accuses-pn-leader.472021
“The work of Dr Busuttil and former ministers against the national interest reflected the Opposition’s negativity, the PL said.”
Here we go again…I followed One news and heard that word from the Mintoff years, again.
Is this government working in the national interest, by burdening with a power station costing more than €500,000,000? I think it is not, because the previous government thought it fit to connect Malta to the European Grid and this government intends to use 20% of its potential instead of the planned 70%.
The national interest is not always what the government’s intends to do, and no one holds some divine right to define to us what it is.
The way Joseph Muscat is acting is preparing himself for another 25 years in the opposition
Yes, exactly.
That only after bringing a formerly prosperous country down on its knees.
Very funny indeed.
I’m not sure how this works. If the MCA’s chairman is not paid by government, does government have any say in the salary scale?
A Labour government can have a say in anything.
I hate to admit it, but I think that when some PL bigwig said that Laburisti have different DNA he was right.
I must be missing something here. Have I misunderstood the article?
Joseph Muscat thought the position paid Eur100,000 a year, but it actually was Eur3,000 a year? That seems like too big of a discrepancy. I know it’s Joseph Muscat we’re talking about here, but still. How could he be THAT far off?
€3494 according to PQ 141
http://www.parlament.mt/paperslaiddetails?id=14771&legcat=13
Thank you Hon Chris Agius for providing us with proof that PM was misleading. Ibqgha sejjer hekk