I trust the government and the Opposition are not going to collude in pretending that John Dalli isn’t happening
There has been a magnificent silence from both the government and the Opposition on the not-so-small matter of an international news story called John Dalli.
If they’re hoping he will finally dry up and go away, he won’t.
But the issues go way beyond the nuisance factor.
Dalli is now de facto health minister, and the prime minister’s ‘decision-taker’ – his own description – rather than mere consultant.
He was also the previous government’s choice for EU Commissioner, hence the blame for putting him in a position where he could make such an international-news-making mess can be laid fairly and squarely at that door, even while nobody is to blame for his actual actions and choices but himself.
Still, dispatching him to the European Commission was a serious dereliction of duty. The man was contaminated already, and judged untrustworthy. That is not a position where you give people the benefit of the doubt. There should be NO doubt.
The prime minister is silent, busy opening clothes shops while his wife opens jewellery shops.
And in my in-box, I have just found a press notice from the Nationalist Party, inviting the media to cover the party leader’s visit to the Trade Fair at 7pm.
For heaven’s sake. The Trade Fair? What the Nationalist Party needs to do is hold a press conference at which the party leader demands to know what the government plans to do about John Dalli. And that doesn’t mean only his new role as a government decision-maker, but also the opening of a fresh police investigation, this time for financial funny business.
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At this rate, being Leader of the Opposition is not worth the bother. Simon Busuttil should resign and perhaps disband his party.
That sound like Muscat’s wet dream. Absolutely no opposition.
Simon ga hareg ta’ pastizz. Ma ghandhu ebda hegga, u presenza ta’xejn.
Sa issa, hlief joghrok idejh u jitlob mahfra minghand dawk il-qabda gakbini u opportunisti li ivvutaw PL ghadu ma ghamel xejn.
Dan il-gvern bit-tahwid u abbuz kontinwu qieghed kuljum jipprovdi minjiera ta’ materjal li bih il-PN u Opposizzjoni jistghu u ghandhom jattakawh kontinwament, izda min dan ma hemm xejn.
Ghandek ragun mijja fil-mijja! Il-PN qabda professuri bla ma ghandhom hila jwasslu l-messag filwaqt li l-PL qabda amateurs u l-messag dejjem jasal.
Agreed, what else has to happen, let Muscat’s message, that both parties are equivalent, be vindicated?
Muscat’s message is that “zmien il-partiti spicca.”
Reminds me of China, where the Communist Party and the State are one and the same thing, and there is no opposition.
What opposition? If it weren’t for you the government’s post-election misdemeanours would have gone mostly unnoticed.
I was one who vouched for Simon Busuttil as the new party leader, but I must say I’m rather disappointed.
Keep up the good work – maybe some day, hopefully soon, the PN will awaken from its slumber.
Since the PN is in self-flagellation mode, what’s keeping them from issuing an apology for Lawrence Gonzi’s bad judgement in promoting a bunch of crooks and nasty characters?
John Dalli should have been dropped from the party and denounced by his bosses ages ago. Ditto for Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando. Ditto for Franco Debono.
But this is Malta, where anything goes. Il-bniedem fic-centru tal-politika taghna? Il-kilba ghall-flus more like.
This is what you get when you remove all social distinctions. Then the only measure of a man’s worth becomes his ability to make money. John Dalli made lots of money, therefore he is someone to look up to. QED.
The PN has turned Malta into a Gulf State society, or China, or North Africa, or any of the countries where unsophisticated societies found themselves swimming in money. And they have the bloody nerve to call themselves a conservative party. Or even a European Christian-Democrat party at that.
Hear hear
H.P. Baxxter –
Appointing Dalli was a Machiavellian move from the PN who simply wanted to see the man’s downfall.
You wouldn’t send a glutton to work in a sweet shop, would you?
It was a stupid move, not Machiavellian. Would you send a known paedophile to judge Little Miss Toddler Malta in order to see his downfall?
No, you wouldn’t. Because in order to secure his conviction, you’re causing untold harm to his victims.
John Dalli isn’t a private individual. He was a government minister and an EU Commissioner. We were his victims.
If the PN really promoted him for the reason you suggest, then we are in the presence of monumentally cynical evil, and Fehmiet Bazici be damned. I hope this isn’t the sort of party that Simon Busuttil wishes to build.
Will Simon Busuttil give us the reasons why he is happy with the agreement reached with the PM about the Security Service?
It seems that the people who were irregularly interviewed as the chosen ones have not been given the boot and replaced by ones who have undergone a proper interview by independent people.
http://www.ecita.org.uk/blog/index.php/dalli-doesnt-dilly-dally-on-the-way-out/
The PN should raise this matter in Parliament.
They had a unique opportunity this evening, because the main subject in Parliament was a Ministerial declaration about the Accident and Emergency services within the Ministry of Health.
And quite frankly, I don’t think there is an accident and emergency in the Ministry of Health greater than John Dalli at the moment.
I may not have listened to the debate from the start, although I tuned in during questions time.
The questions were being answered by the Parliamentary Secretary Godfrey Farrugia. It was not clear if the Minister J Dalli BA was on another non-stop round-flight to the Bahamas. He was never mentioned.
Godfrey Farrugia mentioned that he has some new advisors on health, but never mentioned their name. Could it be they are John Dalli & Associates? He said that they have even provided software on patient management as part of their services.
He spoke about his ‘smart plan’ for the emergency services, although he never mentioned “5 star”. In my view, it sounded more like a recipe for confrontation with the medical professions at Mater Dei.
We have a decidedly frivolous government with an opposition, led by Simon Busuttil, intent on mimicking its frivolity.
It cannot get more ominous than this for our poor country.
I hope I am wrong.
I very rarely am.
It’s in times like these that real statesmen emerge. Unfortunately neither the Prime Minister nor the Leader of the Opposition seem to have what it takes.
Povra Malta
I was just thinking the same thing on reading your previous post.
Has the cat got everyone’s tongue?
A statement from both sides is well overdue.
Gvern li Jisma’.
http://www.thebeginwithinblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/three-wise-monkeys.jpg
Imma mhux li jaghti kas!
I hear from good sources we have another bomba in the pipeline, with Swiss bank accounts to boot.
There’s no better time for a total clean out. We have really reached the pits.
The very least the PN could do is as many people here have suggested, disassociate itself from John Dalli.
More than that however, due to its past links with him, it would need to disassociate itself from his reason in needing to be in the Bahamas.
If the money is local, as I think it is, then the residual perception today is that it is a family front for ministers and ex-ministers from both sides.
my worst fear in a democracy, is not having a bad government…but a non-existent opposition!