Malta’s tragedy continues to unfold

The barely literate Labour Party apparatchik Joseph Cuschieri, who knows no language other than Maltese and even that in only the most basic fashion, is now officially Malta’s ambassador to beleaguered Greece.

The way in which the Prime Minister is using public office, high and low, and public money to pay off his personal and political debts to unfit individuals (it would be bad enough even if they were fit for purpose) is utterly disgraceful. The damage it is doing to Malta is unquantifiable.

Muscat has finally found a way to shut Cuschieri up by, he thinks, settling his debt once and for all. Eight years ago this summer, Cuschieri gave up his seat in the Maltese parliament, the lamentable fool, so that Muscat, who had already been elected Labour leader despite not having a seat in parliament, could take on the Constitutional role of leader of the Opposition.

He has been nagging for repayment ever since. He was put on the party payroll as a consultant for a while, but obviously, it’s cheaper for the Labour Party to pay him using public money despite the damage he will do in his role as ambassador and the deterioration of morale among senior career diplomats who should be in these posts themselves, and to whom these appointments are a grievous insult and an ongoing problem they have to deal with.

The Prime Minister has got Joseph Cuschieri off his back by appointing him to a role for which he is completely unfit and where he can do a great deal of damage.