Manuel Mallia would have us believe that the police forced themselves on him. And that’s hardly the point, anyway.
He should engage the police to starve him, not feed him.
When the news broke this morning – and to think that some of you didn’t believe me, tsk tsk – that police officers had been ordered to cook and serve the banquet for 250-300 European Broadcasting Union guests at Girgenti Palace last night – Manuel Mallia was obliged to explain himself in parliament.
Here is his explanation, quoted in Times of Malta:
He also thanked the police for taking over the catering of a meeting of the European Broadcasting Unit at their own request.
The police, he said, had taken care of the food and the waiting service.
Is the man INSANE? The police cannot/may not offer, still less provide, outside catering services to anyone or anything, still less to the National Security Minister, who as a member of the government represents a separate power to the police.
The police force and the government are two entirely separate powers in a democracy. That’s how it was under the Nationalists, which is how I wound up harassed by the police on a regular basis, right up until election eve (it does not follow that because they operate in democratic circumstances, the police will behave democratically and not abusively; there are far too many of them with a Labour mindset).
It is only with despotic, totalitarian and authoritarian regimes that the police force operates as an integral or extended part of the ruling force.
This is exactly how it was in 1970s and 1980s. The police were part of the Labour government, agents of the government used to harass citizens, and nobody trusted them an inch.
Manuel Mallia expects us to believe that his chum Peter Paul Zammit, who he hauled in from his job as a notary and appointed Police Commissioner, gave him a tinkle and said, “Hey, I’ve heard you have 300 people to feed on Friday. I’ll get my boys to do it. Just find the waiters’ outfits for us, will you? Give one of your hotel switchers a ring – he might oblige. Oh, and ask him for the plates and cutlery while you’re at it.”
Even if the Police Commissioner had done this – yes, right – the cabinet minister’s responsibility in this horrible position is to set the Police Commissioner straight, and to say in no uncertain terms that if he ever does anything similar again, offering the services of the police for outside catering, he will have no choice but to bring the matter up in parliament for the attention of his fellow parliamentarians and the public, and demand the Commissioner’s resignation.
This government is so very squalid that it doesn’t even begin to understand the basics of boundaries. They are letting down, and very badly, the people who were persuaded into voting for them on the understanding that they represented something better and more democratic.
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Now don’t tell me that the police served wine while on duty?
Probably helped themseves to it while in the kitchen.
Are there any photos? 250 guests? Or were all mobiles left at reception?
Must admit that even I thought it was a joke at first.
I had gone through too much in the past and was not surprised my much of what happened so far. That is not to say that I was not disgusted.
I was under the impression that it was illegal to work in catering without a food-handling course. But then who is going to complain and who would one complain to?
[Daphne – Oh please, that’s hardly what it’s about. Shall I spell it out in capital letters: THIS IS ABOUT THE POLICE AND THE POLICE COMMISSIONER BEING IN THE POCKET OF THE GOVERNMENT, TO THE EXTENT THEY ACT – QUITE LITERALLY – AS SERVANTS. Food-handling certificates be damned.]
It *would* have been interesting for the 300 guests to have been carted off to A&E with food poisoning, though.
Just imagine the international headlines.
If they really believe that there is nothing wrong with what they did, the Police Commissioner should have volunteered as a head waiter.
Do we know for sure that he didn’t?
True, Daphne. But M. Cassar has a point. There is some kind of certification – HACCP, I think – which ALL food handlers should hold. If not, it could be a case for the department of health to investigate. We CAN’T go back to the “m’hux xorta” way of doing things.
@M. Cassar
This is HORRIFYING essentially because if you train (or rather, re-train) the police to simply do your bidding no questions asked, no matter how much it degrades them in the process, you are one step away from sending them to innocent homes after dark simply because the residents there are the wrong colour, or didn’t say the right words to the right person, and so on.
Do any of them have the necessary food handler’s permits?
If the police force is being used in this degrading way it’s going to get much worse.
It is more degrading to be in a Minister’s pocket then to work as a waiter or in the catering business.
I don’t think the issue is that it is “degrading”. I worked as a waitress for years and never felt degraded in anyway.
[Daphne – You are right, Jane. ‘Degrading’ is not the issue here. Nor is being a waiter degrading in any way. Even if the police officers did it willingly and enjoyed it, it is wrong and dangerous.]
With reference to your paragraph before last, why give them another chance?
Why make it ‘next time?’ Isn’t once enough?
After all if a person commits a crime and is caught by the police, that person is booked and charged. Why should they be exempt?
They should be setting the example not creating instances for further examples of waivers.
It’s all right for some?
I have one simple question. Where is Franco Debono ?