Muscat didn’t even have the guts to ring Mallia himself, let alone call him in
Joseph Muscat didn’t call his minister in to his office to break the bad news. The coward got his PA Keith Schembri to ring him instead.
Buried somewhere in the mass of news reports about the day’s events, you will find what my instinct for a story tells me should have been headline news, because this alone – the way in which he was told he was being replaced – will have made Mallia totally irate and have triggered off a massive urge to crush Muscat so as to salve his ego and salvage his underworld honour.
Muscat did not have the guts to ring Mallia himself and tell him that he had appointed Carmelo Abela in his stead. He got his sidekick Keith ‘Kasco’ Schembri to do it.
This is unforgivable cowardice.
But in Manuel Mallia’s case, it is also extremely dangerous. A man of normal psychology would be deeply wounded and humiliated in such circumstances, but will not react. A man of abnormal psychology and disordered morality, like Mallia, will make it his life’s mission to wreak vengeance.
In situations like these, the prime minister does not merely ring his minister. He calls him in and tells him face to face. Mallia is never going to forgive this or forget it.
Let’s watch that space.
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And they used to make fun of Dr Gonzi for dumping Mugliett by sending him a text message.
[Daphne – Lawrence Gonzi did not dump Mugliett by sending him a text message. Mugliett was not a cabinet minister. He was a backbencher who hoped for a post in the cabinet. The prime minister needn’t have communicated with him at all, and in fact, he shouldn’t have.]
Deguara however was the Minister of Health until he was told otherwise by SMS.
No, it was a new government though with the same Prime Minister – so again, Lawrence Gonzi did not have to inform him and informing him by SMS or otherwise was actually a mistake.
Does Keith Schembri like boxing and Eurovision?
Muscat will regret the day he took Mallia on board.
Mugliett was transport minister until 2008 and expected to get a ministerial portfolio after 2008. But he was left to sulk on the backbench, and is still sulking today.
At least he is just sulking and did not jump off a bridge.
And he is going to be SULKING the rest of his life.
There’s a certain Libyan twist to the outcome of this Sicilian drama.
All roads or sea leads to Tripoli via Lourdes
Or Bulebel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAuum1s6h28
What do you mean? Didn’t Muscat have the balls to call in Mallia and tell him to his face: “You’re fired, Ok, siehbi?”
NO. Muscat would have said “You’re fired” and Mallia would have replied “OK siehbi”.
Mallia is fully committed to the ‘movement’.
He will take it in his stride and work hard from the backbenches to help Muscat achieve his vision.
He will remain silent, hide his chagrin, and show serenity.
“In situations like these, the prime minister does not merely ring his minister. He calls him in and tells him face to face. Mallia is never going to forgive this or forget it.”
Oh yes! I wrote that earlier this morning. Vedremo delle belle!
Mallia is now mulling over whether to wage his battle while holding on to his seat in parliament, or resigning his seat and waging the war of a lifetime from the outside.
If I were him I’d wage it from the inside, as I happily defend all criminals on the outside.
You forget, these are not normal people. Mallia will get his next Taghna Lkoll post and be all cuddly-feely, just like Anglu.
Time will tell whether Muscat is more scared of Mallia or of the press and people’s opinion.
Muscat is scared of both because he needs both. Muscat assesses anything in terms of how it looks in the media. That is his point of reference and that he is how he defines problems and solutions.
He is in a double-bind where Mallia’s concerned. Whether he shuns him or embraces him – and so far it’s been the latter – there’ll be rumblings of discontent, difficult questions and the potential for critical headlines.
He has just irked another nutter in their midst.
Joseph’s bag of irked and dangerous nuts now includes Manuel Mallia, Johnny Dalli, Jeff Pullicino and Frankie Tabone.
Gonzi must be sporting a hint of a smile out and about in Valletta this week. Truly, tibzoq lis-sema…
Oh….and Marlene and Godfrey
Our dear Joseph has created his own little, sorry, big Franco with less cocks and more eggs.
I agree totally with Daphne’s piece in this blog. I believe by now we all know that Muscat is not just lie producer but also a coward. I tend to think that Mallia will now do his utmost to bring him down. Otherwise he is going to lose face with his ‘friends’ big time.
When Mallia lets loose his broadsides, the sh*t is going to hit the fan and when it does, OMG, there will be a mother of all stinks and a number of maggots will wish they never crawled out of the muck heap.
When I was working in the UK I had a friend who towards the end the year joined a firm that specialized in the liquidation of companies.
For his first assignment, he asked his boss for some advice on how to break the news to the workers. His boss told him, “Gather everyone in an open space and say the following words:
Christmas is approaching
The goose is getting fat
You’re being made redundant
So what do you think of that?
Then run for your life.”
[Daphne – Is that supposed to be funny?]
I was just imagining the PM running away from Mallia’s clutches, but never mind.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141208/local/muscat-asks-manuel-mallia-to-resign-acting-commissioner-removed.547479
Don’t you find it strange that when he gave that press briefing, Mallia had not yet seen the result of the inquiry?
Don’t you find it strange that Silvio Scerri was not involved in this whole story? He didn’t even try to defend Mallia publicly.
It’s not strange. It’s typical.
The situation here is different to Engerer’s or Karmenu Vella’s. Mallia is not going to accept an overseas job as his client base and dealings are in Malta.
The problem is, which Malta-based position will give him as much power as that of a minister?
Konrad Mizzi must be somewhat apprehensive about his future right now. But he has his beloved but distant wife’s 13,000 euro a month to fall back on, if need be.
You might laugh at me but I’m beginning to think that there might have been a ‘frame-up’ against Mallia.
[Daphne – Please think clearly. Getting one man to take the rap when more than one man should have taken it is not the same thing as ‘framing’ somebody. Framed people are innocent of wrong-doing. Manuel Mallia is not innocent of wrong-doing. The fact that others should have been made to go with him does not mean that he shouldn’t have been made to go at all.]
Mallia would be right if he argues that Joseph Muscat has not applied justice blindly and has been selective against him.
Mallia doesn’t need my advice on this, but he will have my support.
Mallia doesn’t need or deserve your support.
The disgrace is not that Mallia has been dealt with unfairly – he got far less than he deserved – but that others have gotten away with murder.
That includes the prime minister himself.
The way the local political scene is progressing, I think that the Opposition is going to need those two parliamentary seats that they were deprived of in the last general election. When is the court going to give its verdict?
Does Kasco “owe Mallia” for the disappearance of his cousin Ryan Schembri?
Is he the one with the greatest need for “caution” right now?
Remember how Anglu Farrugia and his mother went all out against Joseph Muscat when he was asked to resign. But when offered the proverbial carrot, all was forgiven. That’s how Joseph buys silence, with public money and high public office. History will repeat itself.
Maybe Mallia and Dalli will team up !
Didn’t you find it odd that Muscat kept referring to him simply as Manuel during the press conference?
I think Mallia will be determined not lose face. He will make sure that “jekk ma nilghabx, inhassar”. And then we are in for some very interesting revelations.