Malta was not invited. Malta offered.
Martin Scicluna writes today in Times of Malta (see attached clip from his column) that “Malta’s invitation to host CHOGM is partly due to the success of the 2005 summit held here”.
Malta was NOT invited to hold the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting next year. Malta OFFERED to do so – or rather, the prime minister did so unilaterally and without consultation with his cabinet.
He did this at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka last year. Mauritius was the designated host for CHOGM 2015 but the Mauritian prime minister refused to attend CHOGM 2013 in Sri Lanka because of the dreadful human rights situation there, and said that Mauritius would not be pleased to welcome Sri Lanka either. Mauritius, he said, was therefore withdrawing as host of CHOGM 2015. Joseph Muscat then leaped into the breach, and everybody else heaved a sigh of relief because they didn’t want to do it either.
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It was rather more messy than that. Several African countries wanted to host CHOGM 2015, but our government deployed its secret weapon – Shiv Nair – and made sure everyone else’s bid was refused on technicalities.
Details, please.
It was on my website. It’ll be online again this week.
Can we have a link to your website please?
http://www.timesofbaxxter.com/index.php/think/item/206-the-real-story-behind-chogm-2015
There you go. It’s back online.
Thank you.
“Joseph Muscat then leaped into the breach, and everybody else heaved a sigh of relief because they didn’t want to do it either.”
This is not found in the official Communique.:
“Future Meetings
98. Heads of Government welcomed and accepted the offer of the Prime Minister of Malta to host their next Meeting in 2015. They also welcomed the offers of Vanuatu and Malaysia to host the 2017 and 2019 CHOGMs respectively.”
Ref: http://thecommonwealth.org/sites/default/files/events/documents/CHOGM%202013%20Communique_0.pdf
[Daphne – I despair. I hope you are not a diplomat, Ms Buhagiar.]
Claire, I think you’ll find that the operative word here in the Communique you so kindly proffered is the “offer” of the Prime Minister of Malta.
You might want to read the Communique next time, particularly if this is part of your job description.
“Offer” is used also for the Vanuatu and Malaysia proposals. If it were operative, our PM would have been reluctant or conversely, would have been forceful. Frankly I do not see how “offer” is the operative word. It is just a noun. Operative words are generally pronouns or adjectives.
Claire, your supposed explanation is false. The use of the term operative here refers to the word “offer” being the most salient. Muscat offered and no one else did. Those are the facts and deny the truth as you deem fit. I guess denial reinforces your blindness to Muscat’s opportunism.
Claire, I’m finding it hard to cut through the gibberish.
“[Daphne – I despair. I hope you are not a diplomat, Ms Buhagiar.]”
Don’t be so hard on me, Ms Caruana Galizia. Your blog is still entertaining.
[Daphne – Sighs of relief are not recorded officially, Ms Buhagiar.]
I suppose that bench leaping is not recorded either. It’s a pity because it would have made your blog much more credible.
[Daphne – What is bench leaping?]
Did Ms Buagiar seriously expect the official communique to say otherwise. They also did not mention Mauritius pulling out, does that mean that did not happen?
Of course in Ms Buhagiar’s haste to attempt to prove one point she has affirmed the fact that Malta did in fact offer rather than was chosen.
That puts paid to Martin Scicluna’s attempt to rewrite history.
Of course the further embellishment of WHY Malta was ‘chosen’ might be put down to poetic licence. A blunter explanation would be more appropriate, but then it wouldn’t be ‘positive’.
A more honest headline would have read ” GHOGM 2015 hosting crisis. Muggins leaps in to fill the breach.”
The editorial a trumped-up Super One reporter could never write, and the reason why Sri Lanka is one of the worst reasons for hosting CHOGM 2015:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/jan/13/wickrematunga-final-editorial-final-editorial
But there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre and security. It is the call of conscience.
According to an article in the Oldie recently, it’s true that Joey offered, but the pressure was there since the Queen, give her age, will not have that much to travel, with Malta being the nearest Commonwealth country to the UK, and was not held in the UK itself so as to save blushes of having people like Mugabe and his ilk going over.
[Daphne – The Queen isn’t coming. Kate Middleton is.]
So that will be a calculated, polite, snub to CHOGM Malta. Kate Middleton has no official role in the monarchy.
The British monarch is the acknowledged head of the Commonwealth. The correct person to represent the monarchy at the CHOGM is the Queen, or a person who is in direct line to the Throne, i.e. Prince Charles, or Prince William.
Seeing the photo above fills me with the nostalgia of seeing a prime minister well dressed, well mannered, and acting his role, not a burger eating chav displaying ill-fitting suits among others……
Martin Scicluna is a text book case of galloping dementia.
[Daphne – Not necessarily. Bonkers behaviour runs in the family, as I know only too well.]
@Kevin
“Claire, your supposed explanation is false. The use of the term operative here refers to the word “offer” being the most salient.”
Operative and Salient are not synonymous.
Whatever the intended meaning, such an assertion is not corroborated by the official communique, therefore subjective, and in my modest opinion, also highly unlikely.
Erm, Claire, stop digging. I’m not even sure you understand half the words written here. As someone said, your comments are made up of gibberish (i.e. kliem li ma jaghmilx sens, biex tifhimni sew).
Please Claire, let’s cut the crap, shall we ?
1) Muscat offered to host the CHOGM 2015.
2) His offer was accepted.
3) The final communiqué of an international organisation is all protocol and diplomatic niceties, hence the phrase “welcomed and accepted”, which is very standard in diplomatic circles. PERIOD.
Unless you happen to own a prestigious 5 star hotel, a certain car-hire firm or a security firm, CHOGM is nothing but an utter waste of public funds.
In 2005 it was touted as putting Malta on the tourist map. I have never seen any statistics indicating the marginal increase in tourist arrivals due to CHOGM 2005, and I challenge the NSO to include CHOGM 2015 in questionnaires/surveys as to reasons for their (tourists’) visit to Malta following forthcoming CHOGM.
Most of the delegations are made up of hbieb tal-hbieb of some very corrupt governments. In 2005 one of the jokes going around (I was liaison officer for an African country half of whose population had AIDS and the other half hadn’t made it beyond the 37 year average life-span) was that the liaison officer for Sierra Leone will only have to greet half of the delegation at the airport as they would have been gobbled up by the other half during the flight…them being cannibals. This time round I guess Ebola will be the culprit. Still there might be a buck to be earned for suppliers of white sterile suits and protective masks (or are they helmets?)
Kate Middleton is coming for the 50th anniversary of independence. No announcement has been made re CHOGM 2015. If the Queen cannot come it will almost certainly be the Prince of Wales.
The Queen will come. There’s a knighthood for Rob Luke in it.
I am sure that Joseph offered to host just to be on par with Gonzi. He has a lot to learn until then, to be able to prove himself a worthy prime minister.
The venue of a CHOGM is not dictated by any rule, though a rotation among the members states and the continents in which they happen to be, is usually taken into consideration. Members of the Commonwealth invariably offer to host a CHOGM and then this is accepted. A rejection is theoretically possible but I do not know of one, since such issues are usually settled by consensus in corridor consultations.