If Manuel Mallia has no shame in eavesdropping personally, imagine the uses to which he might put or be putting the Secret Service. We need reassurances that we are safe from him.
The Malta Independent has another important story today: Manuel Mallia was caught in a parliament corridor with his ear pressed up to a closed door as some members of the Opposition held a meeting inside.
The person who saw him do this is not a politician, and has filed an affidavit (sworn testimony) attesting to what s/he saw, which has now been given to the Speaker of the House.
This is so typical of the man, so much in character, that it makes me want to weep with desperation at the ease with which scoundrels are elected in a place so tiny that their character and foibles should be known to all.
The problem is that we take it as read that the individuals who the political parties have selected and presented to us on their ticket are fit for purpose. We depend on them for the filtering process. This is what is wrong: there is no real filtering process. The parties select those they think will bring in votes, irrespective of whether they are decent and honourable persons or not.
At least the Nationalist Party, after the terrible experience with scoundrels and blackguards like Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, Franco Debono and Jesmond Mugliett (they even presented us with Robert Musumeci in 2008, but thank heavens he wasn’t elected, as imagine how much worse things would have been with that one in the PN parliamentary group, as though it wasn’t awful enough) has made a tremendous effort to be rigorous this time around.
Labour, on the other hand, has become even more lax.
The Malta Independent reports:
Speaker of the House Anglu Farrugia has “taken the appropriate measures” following a report by the PN claiming that Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia was “caught eavesdropping” on an opposition meeting.
Reliable sources told this paper that Dr Mallia was last week caught “with his ears to the Opposition Parliament office” as a meeting was going on inside. At the time a meeting of the Opposition’s Committee for the South was being held. Chairman Stephen Spiteri and MPs Carm Mifsud Bonnici, Mario Galea, Jason Azzopardi and Anthony Bezzina were present.
The sources said that Dr Mallia was seen eavesdropping by another person, who is not a politician.
The Malta Independent is informed that the Speaker was presented with a letter from PN Whip David Agius and a sworn affidavit from the person who “caught the Minister snooping” outside the Opposition’s office.
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http://www.independent.com.mt/mobile/2014-01-30/news/manuel-mallia-caught-eavesdropping-outside-pn-parliament-office-3819175937/
We are not safe in fact – what a sordid coward.
I would have thought that there is a limit as to what this government and its MPs can and will do – apparently not!
In my opinion ‘il-kbir ghadu gej’.
“Appropriate measures”.
I suppose those would have consisted of a little finger wag and a “Don’t you do that again, mister”.
That would be hilarious if it weren’t so damn scary.
Dignity is becoming a rare commodity among some politicians, irrespective of the office they hold and the educational level that they attained.
Min ser jaghtina garanzija li dan il-ministru li ma jibdix jispjuna fuq min irid, ghax biex jaghmel din fil-parlament ahseb u ara x’jaghmel mill-ufficju tieghu meta ghandu s-servizzi sigrieti, il pulizija u l-armata f’idejh.
Dan jista jekk irid iggib kull informazjoni fuq il-privatezza ta’ kull individwu bhalma kienu jaghmlu in-Nazi fi zmien Hitler.
We had it straight from the Prime Minister, ‘The Government will be one that listens’ . He is only fulfilling an electoral promise.
Gvern li jisma’ – u li jigi jitnejjek minn dak li jghidulu.
Ministru li jissemma’ – biex ikollu fuqiex iwahhalulek.
I like Manuel Mallia.
Really. Many of you will have noticed that I rarely comment on the man, and when I do, it’s never scathing.
That’s because I like him.
I mean look at him. He’s genuine. Other Labour ministers, and the Prime Minister himself, go out of their way to ingratiate themselves with the public, to hide evil beneath a veneer of bonhomie, to put a sheen of friendliness on corruption. Not Manuel. He doesn’t try to hide it.
Have you ever seen him smile? No. Have you ever seen him handing out sweets to babies, or patting their cuddly heads? No.
He glowers at us from behind his tinted glasses, head thrown back, the very picture of villainy. So I like him. He is the real deal. What you see is what you get, and what you get sure isn’t Hello Kitty.
I am Baxxter, and I endorse Manuel Mallia.
At least it proves that the Office of the Opposition is not bugged – yet. But it’s a question of time.
I suggest that the PN holds its internal discussions at the PN club in Valletta, a stone’s throw away.
[Daphne – That is even more easily bugged, Giraffa, because access is open.]
Chinese electronic devices are prone to malfunction, you know.
Xi gvern komuni twikkejna bih.
Minn Justyne Caruana li pixxet tahtha bil-biza’ fil-bozza tal-plastik, ghal Nuxellina li taghmilha ta’ sindku u ‘showgirl Taliana’, imbaghad hemm l-ambaxxattrici ghall-Amerika li qed tfittex partner online, u issa ministru jissindika.
Inkredibbli.
If only one could rest easy and agree that Labour is lax in its choice of representatives and that they are unable to see that those chosen are not fit for purpose! The perturbing truth seems to be that their choices are very well suited to fit a specific purpose. The catch is that the ‘purpose’ is not what one would expect a democratic forward looking country to aspire to.
Someone told me he even lifted the Government’s head of Communications up to have a peep through the key hole.
I got this mental image of Mallia standing by the door listening in, and I laughed like crazy. What an absolute baby.
This same minister has the authority to approve tapping of our private telephone calls. If he was caught listening to a private meeting in a public corridor in parliament where he knew he could be easily seen, let alone what he is prepared to do behind the closed doors of his office.
http://www.ivid.it/fotogallery/imagesearch/images/brigadiere_pasquale_zagaria_ama_la_mamma_e_la_polizia_lino_banfi_luca_davan_001_jpg_pqfj.jpg
Gvern li jissemma.
I wonder if there are any bugging devices anywhere? Clearly not in that room. Yet.
Oh dear, recollections of Watergate and Deep Throat.
Well, what does one expect, he is after all the Minister responsible for the Interior. He was only checking that all was well within.
A case of ‘Big Manwel listening to you’.