The prime minister and his men need to grow up and stop being so childish and spiteful
Now because everybody’s praising Marisa Farrugia, those skunks are saying that Galea was never in danger and that he wasn’t really abducted but being ‘held for his own safety’. That would be why he was incommunicado, then.
The plans of the prime minister and his ministerial sidekicks to triumphantly claim credit for the rescue of Martin Galea blew up spectacularly in their faces when Galea stepped off the plane and immediately went ‘off message’ by thanking Marisa Farrugia “for saving my life”.
The story about how Dr Farrugia was called in to save the day by a government that had suspended her from work and subjected her to a police investigation on trumped-up charges was immediately uploaded on this website and people learned the truth about exactly who did what and how.
The prime minister and his ministerial sidekicks didn’t help matters much by pushing the envelope too far. They should not have formed a phalanx on the apron as the official and only welcoming party for the returned man. They were out of place and it looked terrible and really intrusive, making it obvious they were only after the limelight rather than happy about his safe and whole return.
Now that this has gone wrong for them and they cannot be seen as the heroes who saved Martin Galea from death or disappearance or both, they have launched a backtracking offensive to undermine the achievements of Marisa Farrugia. First they use her after ill-treating her, then they try to take credit for what she managed to do, and when that fails and she gets the credit anyway – at least from the public and the abducted – they begin briefing the press about how he was never in danger at all.
This morning Malta Today is running a big story quoting Libyans who popped out of the woodwork to say that Galea was never at risk, that the militia was holding him “for his own safety because he is Maltese” and that “the Maltese and the Libyans are like one family”.
What rubbish – clearly, not even the Libyans are like one family, which is why they are currently so intent on blowing each other up, while hundreds have fled to Malta to escape the depredations of their ‘family members’.
Meanwhile, the head of the civil service, Mario Cutajar, has been talking to The Malta Independent. Why the head of the civil service should be doing anything of the sort is a mystery. Civil servants never talk to the press: that’s the job of their political bosses and appointees to private secretariats.
The top job in the civil service is not a political post. It is a civil service post. However, this government has politicised it by bringing in a former GWU union man, and promoting him straight to the top. Not being fit for purpose, he thinks that he is a politician and should speak about political matters.
Nor is the subject he chose to speak about within his remit. He told The Malta Independent that there “were no signs of injury or violence” on Martin Galea.
I quote from the newspaper: The government never used the word “abduction” he said, and it was the media who called it an abduction.
OPM communication head Kurt Farrugia said the exact sequence of events was never clear, and the government never had direct contact with whoever was holding Mr Galea.
Do they have to be so childish and spiteful? If Galea was never in danger and he wasn’t abducted and the government never had any contact with those who were holding him even though he wasn’t abducted, then exactly why did that large government contingent turn up on the airport apron to give themselves a hero’s welcome?
Now they are saying that they did nothing, they never spoke to anyone, and he wasn’t abducted. But then the prime minister, the foreign minister, the police and army minister, the head of the security service and the commanding officer of the Armed Forces of Malta all lined up beneath the plane as though they had just performed the raid on Entebbe.
Grow up, why don’t you.
The first thing that Galea said when he got down off that plane was that his life had been saved. The man is not a fusspot. He has worked in very difficult desert conditions for years, has been in Libya throughout the trouble of the last three years, and was a soldier for 14 years. If he said his life was in danger, and he is the one who was there, then he means it.
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http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-07-30/news/no-signs-of-injuries-or-violence-on-martin-galea-government-6027182084/
If this man was never in danger, why did the government send armed soldiers to accompany him back? Another childish prank if you ask me. As if our six armed soldiers could have done anything had they been surrounded in Libya!
Hang on a minute. We don’t even need to take Martin Galea’s word for it.
The Prime Minister and the entire government itself was saying that Galea’s life was in danger, and that we shouldn’t be discussing him because that would put his life in danger, and what dangerous conditions the “Security Service” (Clancy quand tu nous tiens) had to work in, and that why there was an escort for Martin Galea made up of no less than six AFM soldiers, and then Manuel Mallia put the cherry on the cake by tweeting his congratulations to all government agencies, the Security Service and his beloved AFM for bringing a difficult mission to a successful conclusion.
Malta, the land that logic left behind.
How about the press getting the story from Martin Galea himself?
The last thing Galea needs right now is to take on the government for its corrupt ineptitude and pettyfogging mindset.
Holding the government to account is the job of the self-serving and the spiteful who voted this lot into power.
With ambassador Manny’s help, of course.
Isn’t the lady in the first photo the notorious individual who got some 3 or 4 promotions in 15 months, making it it the post of permanent secretary in George Vella’s ministry?
So, I am trying to get my thoughts straight. Perhaps someone can help me. The latest version as per Malta Today is that Mr Martin Galea was very kindly removed from the streets to protect him.
How very kind of these Libyan militias to think of such a gesture during quite a savage and brutal civil war.
My question is: as per Mr Galea’s statement, for most of his 11 days in “captivity/abduction/safe haven” he was locked up in a cell.
Even if we were to believe this very tall story that he was removed from the streets for his own safety’s sake, would he be needed to be locked up in a cell? This is extremely contradictory!
There is no contradiction. Galea was abducted and feared for his life.
The other version is a pack of lies.
They are learning fast from China. It is either that or communism was always in their veins, not to say DNA. Ghax Mangion jiehu ghalih.
So that’s why he was held incommunicado in a cell, unable to talk to his family and friends – because his life wasn’t in danger and because he hadn’t been abducted.
A Muscat and his henchmen aren’t just childish and spiteful. They are downright dangerous.
I quite like the second one but you’ll probably go for the fourth. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Muscat
I know Ajman el Madani personally and contacted him. He denies speaking to anyone in Malta. He also praises Marisa Farrugia, because he knows her well.
So does his boss Mleghta, and his other boss Khaled Dromba. These are the top Zintani guys.
The only Maltese they know well is Marisa Farrugia, and certainly not Mannie Galea.
Anyone who is in Libya knows full well what the Warshefanna are, and what they do. Martin was in the gravest danger.
It seems that there is an all-out war, led, amongst others, by a strange woman called Irene Bonello, who hates Marisa Farrugia and is “in Love ” with Mannie Galea, to discredit Marisa and put Standing Ovulation in a better light. Even his children are posting “brave Daddy, how we miss you” messages on facebook.
The truth is that Marisa Farrugia saved Martin from certain harm. No doubt about that.
[Daphne – IRENE BONELLO? There can only be the one, pronounced the Italian way and not the English way, right? I think her mother was Italian. If it really is the same one, we were in the same class at school from the age of four to 15. I haven’t seen her since. I remember a very quiet, completely introverted girl with sort of reddish-brown bushy hair pinned back, very pale.]
Same Al Madani?
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/41791/galeas_rescuer_claims_warshefana_men_did_not_kidnap_oil_worker#.U9lGaWIaySM
In comments he gave to MaltaToday, Al Madani insisted that Galea had “not been abducted”.
“The first thing we asked the captors was why they had taken Galea. But they insisted that Galea and his Libyan chauffeur had been caught in the crossfire on the road between As Sawani and Tripoli,” Al Madani said. “So they took him in for their own safety and drove out of the area.”
There is only one Ajman Al Madani, who in actual fact is just as guilty as the rest of them for all these troubles. He didn’t talk to Malta Today
So exactly what is it Al Madani did in all this?
https://www.facebook.com/irene.bonello.5?fref=ufi
[Daphne – No, not the one. Wrong age, too.]
If Cutajar made a statement, then somewhere there must be an untruth, a half truth or a lie.
http://www.independent.com.mt/mobile/2014-07-30/news/exclusive-the-real-story-of-martin-galeas-abduction-out-tomorrow-6029803521/
Find out the real story about Martin Galea’s abduction by Libyan militants in an exclusive interview given by Mr Galea to The Malta Independent.
Martin Galea was abducted by militants on 17 July and spent ten days locked in a small cell. He was released and returned to Malta on Monday evening.
In an interview to be published in The Malta Independent tomorrow, Mr Galea speaks to Rachel Attard and Neil Camilleri about his abduction while on his way to work, the conditions he was kept in and how he was treated by his captors.
The first part of the extensive interview will be published in Thursday’s newspaper and uploaded online on http://www.independent.com.mt
The second part of the interview will be published on Friday.
Why hasn’t The Malta Independent (and the Opposition, hello there, NET TV) media followed up on the Marisa Farrugia scandal?
It’s the kind of story the media in other countries would kill for but here the media is either censoring itself or is following government orders.
Or maybe they just can’t bring themselves to follow up a story which was broken by The Running Commentary. I think this is a genuine problem in Malta. Nobody wants to follow up stories broken by other media houses, and they especially don’t want to mention Daphne’s name so they ignore the stories which are broken here.
I don’t get it. Why doesn’t the press in Malta have more of a pack mentality? Why put so much energy into ignoring Daphne instead of hounding the government?
I’d ask where the tipping point which should start in Pieta’ is.
Instinct.
To raise awareness one has to address the people’s pockets.
So let the summer holidays continue while we watch this soap opera unveiling, then come next October we will start having reality staring at us in the 2015 Budget. Then it would be time to strike the proverbial hot iron.
Go and enjoy a swim at Wied iż-Żurrieq.
Are you one of Simon Busuttil’s advisors? I think you should be sacked.
While you’re swimming at Wied iz-Zurrieq, Joseph Muscat is signing deals with China which will ensure full coffers for the 2015 Budget.
There goes your hot iron, and Busuttil’s too.
Something tells me Times of Malta in particular go out of their way not to report on something Daphne reveals.
They would rather not print something of news value than give credit to Daphne or enhance her credibility by reporting the story after she does. The truth is, the opposite is happening. Their own credibility is suffering.
With so many expats in Libya, was it a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time?
Or was Mr Galea taken away intentionally and for some other reason?
As it turns out a ransom wasn’t paid, so why would the militias go to great lengths of abducting him? Is there something more to this story?
No there isn’t. There are countless armed bands roaming around Libya right now. The more enterprising are abducting any foreigners they can lay their hands on. They are also abducting Libyans, especially anyone in the more lucrative professions, and politicians. Just yesterday, they abducted Mustafa Abushagur.
France has paid the most to have its citizens released.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/world/africa/ransoming-citizens-europe-becomes-al-qaedas-patron.html?rref=homepage&module=Ribbon&version=origin®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Home%20Page&pgtype=article
Yes, well, it figures. Hostage recovery is something of a PR event for French politicians.
Liars, frauds and tricksters- or just vain and ambitious lime-light seekers?
I would unhesitatingly say “BOTH”.
Daphne, they are doing their best to discredit Dr Marisa Farrugia and push Mannie Galea. It is more than obvious.
Furthermore, what Malta Today is trying to sell to the Maltese people is really incomprehensible. They are insulting our intelligence straight in our face.
It is very evident that the government of Joseph Muscat is in panic mode and has lost any sense of direction.
All those sermons that the less we speak the better. Bull.
But this is the best:
“The first thing we asked the captors was why they had taken Galea. But they insisted that Galea and his Libyan chauffeur had been caught in the crossfire on the road between As Sawani and Tripoli,” Al Madani said. “So they took him in for their own safety and drove out of the area.”
They refer to them as captors but hold on they did not abduct him.
Mamma mia.
Put it this way, if he wasn’t, why bother gathering on an apron with Kurt and co.?
It’s not just panic, they can’t even remember what they supposedly did yesterday.
There’s a limit to how fast one can spin.
How come he was sporting a couple of bruises on his face then?
We’ll soon get Luciano asking whether Galea paid his ticket.
Mario Cutajar has given us the best reason yet as to how and why Martin was successfully freed unharmed.
Acording to him, because the government did nothing and is still not sure whether the poor guy was abducted or not.
That is exactly what we all dreaded. That it would do something.
Now, once Martin is safe and sound, it is expected of the Malta government to publicly thank our brothers, the militia in question, for taking the trouble to look after Martin for eleven days.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/41791/galeas_rescuer_claims_warshefana_men_did_not_kidnap_oil_worker#.U9lEW0BW_Ch
Guess who checked with The Malta Independent.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/41790/government_still_putting_together_what_happened_to_galea#.U9lFwuOSyig
‘Competent authorities’.
Do they actually have to specify? Le, nqabbad case officer tal-Mepa.
Isn’t Martin Galea a private citizen?
What has the civil service got to do with it?
Hawwadni ha nifmek !
These people are, quite simply, despicable.