Oh Lord, deliver us from this biblical plague of locusts
When Gozo Channel chairman Joseph Grech ordered a ferry-boat back to the dock to pick him up when he turned up late and missed it, there was an entirely justified fuss, lots of media coverage, and Grech was made to resign.
The Labour Party and its mass media had joined in, talking about the story in scandalised tones.
Now we know that they weren’t really scandalised at all; they thought it entirely normal because, in their book, when you’re in charge you do what you like.
They were just pretending to be scandalised to hype up the frenzy against ‘gOnziPN’, and to impress people from my socio-economic background (many of whom are of tragically unremarkable intelligence which has never been challenged because they tend to keep to their own company, and with limited rational abilities) with how they’ve changed and how their ethical standards are now amazingly superior.
Within a couple of months of being elected to government, Labour returned Joseph Grech to Gozo Channel. He sailed in, gloating – the triumph not so much of evil as of banality.
And this morning we had the news via Times of Malta that the Gozo Minister himself, the man who got Grech back in despite what he did, has now done the same himself.
Here’s the report:
The Gozo ferry Gaudos was last night ordered to turn back to Ċirkewwa after it left port with no passengers on board, leaving the Gozo Minister and some three other cars behind.
The Gaudos was supposed to drop off its passengers and head to Mġarr empty to dock for the night, leaving the MV Ta’ Pinu and the MV Malita to take over the night’s work, employees told Times of Malta. The Malita arrived just 15 minutes later and the Ta’ Pinu 10 minutes after that.
Dr Refalo, who had just flown in from abroad, insisted he did not order the ferry back but called Gozo Channel officials to complain about the absurd situation, insisting it was not right to leave harbour empty.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130930/local/ferry-ordered-to-return-to-pick-up-gozo-minister.488307
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
Funny how this didn’t get a mention on the new TVAM show with Pablo and Norma. Oh, and by the way, the presenters of the show look totally inept. Why do we always need to re-invent the wheel when Labour is in power?
I always thought Pierre Portelli and Joe Mifsud offered a balanced and fair political analysis. In the one hour or so in front of the box this morning, Joe was relegated to reading newspaper headlines.
And Bundy?
Totally inept show. They absolutely have no clue. That Norma is as sharp as a blunt butter knife, and her IQ isn’t the highest ever. Pablo on the other hand is….well Pablo. Not suited at all
All they need is Martin Sapiano and then they can call the show, “The Three Stooges”. U halluna.
The film was called the Devil’s Double and was centered around the unbelievable super-arrogance of pigs in power. Now why did this thought come to mind when I saw The Times this morning?
So are the Gozo crew getting paid overtime for going back for four cars filled with power people who could not wait ten minutes for the next boat? Or do they feed on the satisfaction of serving one who saved us from the arrogance of the Nationalists?
It is worth reading the elves’ comments from the Times article of 2011.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111121/local/minister-asks-journalists-to-wait-on-gozo-channel-resignation-calls.394927
A hilarious if not utterly sad comment, ‘is it not better that the ship turned back to pick up Refalo and co, rather than sail empty’ ? One has to try very very hard to understand how some people’s brains work, if their brain works at all.
Naħseb kien mgħaġġel għax kien se jiskappalu. U x’kull waħda. Jekk il-vapur kien sarlu l-ħin biex jitlaq… allura x’jagħmel jibqa’ jistenna jara hux se jinzerta jasal xi ħadd? Praspura wara l-oħra! Veru moħħ ta’ żrinġ. Arroganza assoluta.
Tistaqsi kif jahdem mohh certi nies? Jiddependi jekk ikunux minn fuq jew minn taht, fil-poter inkella fl-oppozizzjoni.
Jekk taqra l-link ghar-rapport tat-Times fil-kumment ta’ qabel, dwar incident simili imma li gara meta s-sur Refalo (ragel sincier u gentlom – ara d-dikjarazzjoni tal-assi tieghu) u l-partit tieghu kienu fl-oppozizzjoni, tibda tifhem kif jahdem mohh dawn in-nies.
The Gozo Ferry employee who recalled a ferry to pick him up was reinstated because “everyone deserves a second chance”.
Another Labour parliamentarian made it a habit to jump the queue to board the ferry. Now an Hon. Labour minister recalls a Gozo ferry boat to suit his convenience. Will some other Labour Minister who pontificated about DNA inheritance in the NP please tell us if he detects a DNA proclivity to arrogance in this Labour Movement?
I assume therefore that if I am in a similar situation, and observe a ferry departing port unladen, I can call up Gozo Channel and they will order it back to pick me up.
Just finished watching TVM News and no mention of this incident.
TVM Taghna Lkoll.
What is this magical number that one has to call to get the ferry to turn back? Seems to work every time.
Iva għidulna ħalli nagħmlu l-istess.
It’s interesting how Labour use ‘Janissaries’. They choose individuals who have been disgraced under the PN or else were seen to be Nationalist prior to the electoral campaign.
Joe Grech here is one of them and I can hardly fault Anton Refalo who is probably heeding his advice. Turning the boat round – and getting away with it – is blatant abuse of power, but for Grech it probably is revenge best eaten cold.
Ghax mid-9 ta’ Marzu ‘l hawn il-Gozo Channel taghhom ukoll.
Updated – Gozo Channel says duty manager ordered ferry to turn back, after minister’s complaint (Times of Malta
What a sorry excuse. if the ferry was returning empty how was it supposed to pick up people who were waiting to be ferrie?. And was there a full complement of employees since this ferry was going to dock for the night?
This morning on TVM Norma Saliba had the gall to ask David Agius, PN whip, whether anything ‘had changed’ for him in terms of parliamentary work in the past 6 months.
The look on his face said it all. Why didn’t she just spit it out and say, ‘So how does it feel to have lost the election?’
Issa se jirrezenja dan il-muqran?
If the facts are as stated by the company, especially that ferry boats returning for the night in Gozo must carry any remaining passengers and cars from Malta, then this is a clear case where rather than calling the Duty Manager as a client, the Minister of Gozo should have called the Chairman of Gozo Channel and asked for his resignation on the spot.
I would feel totally embarrassed as a Chairman of Gozo Channel to have the Minister call any of the company’s managers on an incident like this.
The Minister acted incorrectly in the circumstances, and should carry his political responsibility.
As a Minister who had sworn his loyalty to the Republic of Malta, Anton Refalo should not have called Gozo Channel and spoken to a Duty Manager of the company – which falls within the Minister’s portfolio – as a customer. In other words, the Minister should not have defended his personal rights and interests as a customer in this instance.
As a Minister in charge of the company, he should have assumed his Ministerial responsibility, which entails the protection of the public interest, and hence the interest not only of himself but of the general public at large.
He should therefore have called the Chairman of the company and demanded an explanation, an apology to the public and the carrying of responsibility. It was the Minister who appointed the Chairman and the Chairman appointed the Duty Manager. The Minister did not appoint the Duty Manager.
It is possible that this case was not an isolated instance, and this case has not only shown that the Chairman has no control over this situation, but has now effectively walked away scotfree after this incident.
For this reason, “Shame On You, Minister,” and you too should resign.
L-Aqwa fl-Ewropa ta’ Joseph Muscat. Jekk dan Huwa l-Aqwa fl-Ewropa, L-Aghar fl-Ewropa Kif Ikun?
Joseph Muscat doesn’t order Air Malta aircraft back from their flight (because he can’t, otherwise he would) but he keeps them waiting on the apron, disrupting the work of busy airports and inconveniencing planeloads of passengers.
Compared to that, recalling a Gozo ferry seems trivial.
Gozo Channel needs to explain why its three ferries were docking at Cirkewwa at night in such a short period of time.
Coming and going, practically empty, chasing each other from Mgarr to Mgarr.
Part of a running up cost operation? To prove that the bridge that China has offered input with will make so much sense?
Oh dear.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-09-29/news/olaf-reported-to-be-investigating-case-in-gozo-2748678149/
I don’t know what happened exactly and I still think it does not make sense for anyone to call back a ferry-boat. Yet I think that unless the ship sheds most of its staff in Malta to go back with a skeleton staff back to Gozo, then it should be common sense that the trip should not be made empty but should be a normal trip.
Whoever came up with this idea of making an empty return trip must either have a very good reason or else has no idea what efficiency is all about.
The minister should have taken note and put forward his ideas to Gozo Channel on the first occasion possible and not do what he did which obviously indicates that he wanted to be picked up.
The other thing to wonder about is how someone with an income of Eur26,000 and a loan of Eur 850,000 can afford to go abroad.