Whistleblowers are now “people who leak information and must be punished”
If public officers don’t keep mum about government abuse, Ronnie Pellegrini, Helena Dalli’s chief of staff, will smash their heads in with a crash helmet.
If you are a corrupt Gozitan building contractor willing to bleat against Mister Giovanna Debono for your bag of silver, then according to Muscat you are a “whistleblower”.
But if you are a public officer who alerts the press or the Opposition about government or departmental abuse, then you are “leaking information” and “abusing your position” and “this cannot be tolerated”.
It was bound to happen. We have been here before, within the all too hideous living memory of those my age and older.
When the Labour government feels threatened and under extreme pressure from the press and the public, it begins to round on those who it thinks are responsible for betraying them from within or working against them: “Min mhux maghna kontra taghna.”
That’s how Ronnie Pellegrini, for example, ended up bursting onto the ST Microelectronics factory floor, leading a bunch of Lorry Sant’s thugs, and using a crash helmet to smash the face and head of a striking worker, leaving him for dead (he was actually unconscious) on the ground.
Now Ronnie Pellegrini is ‘chief of staff’ to the Minister for Civil Liberties.
Read this report in The Malta Independent today:
The Nationalist Party today criticised the Prime Minister for his attack on government employees who are allegedly associated with the PN.
In a statement, the PN noted that Malta is a democracy and a free society that permits individuals to associate themselves with the political party of their liking.
The PN will not allow anyone, including the PM, to embark on a campaign against public officers who do not agree with Labour.
Before the election, Joseph Muscat had repeatedly said that whoever was against Labour could still work with Labour. This is turning out to be another electoral fairy-tale because Muscat is talking about vindictive action against who does not agree with him.
The Labour Party said that people close to the PN have been given appointments and have been allowed to work without any interference. This confidence was broken by these people who were caught leaking informatio.
The right of association is a sacrosanct concept, but abuse of a strategic position goes beyond this and cannot be tolerated, the PL said.