No, Marlene – it's not about politics but about competence and being fit for purpose
Marlene Mizzi, 1st from left, with Anthony 'Tie Me Up' Zammit and il-kantant Renato.
Marlene Mizzi, chief of the Labour Business Forum and a woman pushing 60 who behaves like a 15-year-old girl by photographing her new shoes (with her legs inside them) and uploading the results on her Facebook wall, is currently bitching on – where else? – Facebook.
Why don’t these people grow up and get themselves a blog, for heaven’s sake? They’re politicians, not kids.
They must be worried at the prospect of writing all those full sentences with no CU and UR or STR8T.
They could also be anxious that their Facebook friends, who have just about mastered the technicalities of Facebook despite their quite obvious partial literacy, are too thick to find a blog and read it.
Why, only the other day Julia Farrugia was besieged on her Facebook wall by an army of her Facebook friends confused by her use of the word ‘tantrums’.
One after another, they hit her wall to ask her to explain xi jfisser tantrums, and not one of them knew to Google it. Or perhaps they are too illiterate to read the definition in an online dictionary, even if they know that online dictionaries exist, and so what they wanted from Julia was an explanation in Maltese.
Look at this:
Julia Farrugia
imsieken ghandhom it-tantrums …
Jo Meli and 6 others like this.
Ivan Lomax
Xi tkun?
Gladys Caruana Camilleri
Tantrums x’inhi Julia hi??
Valerie Sacco Muscat is-soltu t-tfal ikollhom it-tantrums ;)
Jo Meli My solidarity with you Pupa xxx
Gladys Caruana Camilleri
Imma taf xi tfisser Jo Meli int tantrums?
Ivan Lomax
Jien manafx xi tfisser ima milli jider nahseb xi pusumeti biex niftemu,pero manafx alix in nies jamlu likes???affarijiet bhal dawn!
Gladys Caruana Camilleri
Ivan Lomax hi forsi jafu xi tfisser pero ma wigbunix lilna li ma nafux!!
Now here’s Marlene, talking rot on her Facebook wall again:
Marlene Mizzi
So , Dr Gonzi does not think his team has enough talent for ministerial posts. We agree with his opinion, ofcourse! Did Dr Gonzi also tell Molly Bordanaro that unless a citizen is a PN afficionado, he /she is considered useless for any post ? Did he tell her that his Government ignores and discriminates with more than 50% of Maltese human capital & talent becuase they are the wrong political colour? I doubt it. Li tizragha tahsad, Prim!
She conveniently omits to mention that Prime Minister Sant made her chairman of Sea Malta – not just because of her excellent track record running two small toy shops, one in Rabat and the other in Valletta, but because she is also 1. a woman (a progressive choice) and 2. a raging Laburista (a political choice).
She also conveniently omits to mention that when, 22 months later, Prime Minister Sant was kicked out of office, the incoming Nationalist government kept her on as chairman for years, until she had a run-in with Austin Gatt when he implemented government policy on the sale of the national shipping line.
Marlene, who by then and after all those years had come to feel really territorial about Sea Malta, almost as though she was Aristotle Onassis and it was hers, decided that the government was going to sell it over her dead body.
Gatt properly reminded her, in the manner which Ambassador Bordanaro thought so “refreshing”, that she was neither the boss of him nor the owner of the shipping line – and that hers was a (ahem) sort of grace and favour position. “Thank you for all your hard work. Good day.”
Marlene also forgets to remember that for years and years and years under successive Nationalist governments, Air Malta was run by her friend (and mine) Louis Grech, always a keen Labour supporter and now a Labour MEP.
She forgets, too, that Wenzu Mintoff is firmly ensconced in one of the most senior positions at Malta Enterprise, and that he kicked up one hell of a fuss when he was told by the directors that he could not fulfil the obligations of that role while serving as full-time editor of the Labour Party newspaper.
Mintoff fully expected to do both and created a stink about ‘political discrimination’ when told to choose – knowing full well that had he worked for a private corporation, he would have been expected to dedicate his full attention to the job without being distracted by the onerous responsibilities of editing a newspaper. But being Labour, he probably thinks that a job with the state is just background to whatever else he might want to do.
There are others I could mention, but I won’t invade their privacy by doing so. Marlene Mizzi knows this, and she is disingenuous when she pretends not to.
The fact remains that the most competent people in Malta vote Nationalist. This is not a coincidence. It’s because competent people make competent choices, not stupid or erratic ones.
Competent people do not say “I’m fed-up of/pissed off at the Nationalists so I’m not going to vote/will vote Labour”. They look at the two options on offer, scrutinise everything about them, and then decide that the Nationalist Party is definitely the more sensible option, and that boring is a whole lot better than risky or dangerous or crassly incompetent.
Competent people think this way: somebody who opposed divorce but really has a handle on the economy is better than somebody who voted for divorce but gives out all the signals that he will run the economy into a brick wall in six months.’
Yes, there are some extremely competent Labour-voting people, but they are the exception and not the rule, the swallows who don’t make the summer.
I have often spoken to some of them about why they vote Labour and how in heaven’s name they can tolerate that level of disastrous incompetence and sheer stupidity without wanting to run a mile.
Why aren’t they embarrassed to be associated with it?
In all cases but one, the individuals have been raised in diehard Labour families and have been unable to overcome the psychological barrier. In the one case, the individual supported the British Labour Party and deludes himself still that the Maltese version is in any way similar.
The point I’m making here is that when the Nationalist government picks people for key positions, competence is the priority and political preference not a consideration. It doesn’t have to be a consideration because, in the pool of competent people, most tend not to vote Labour, though I can think of a couple who ‘tried’ Sant in 1996 and got the fright of their lives.
There is a reason why people in key positions must be political appointments, even though the primary consideration is competence. They are expected to implement government policy, not oppose it or fight against it. If they don’t agree with government policy and voted against it in a general election, they can’t be expected to be considered the best persons or the most trusted ones to carry out that government policy.
Marlene Mizzi herself is, ironically, the best illustration of this. As chairman of the national shipping line, she was obliged to implement government policy where the shipping line was concerned, but because she voted against it, she fought it all the way.
Let’s take Air Malta, for instance, Marlene.
Do you honestly imagine that the government asked for Louis Farrugia’s commitment because he votes PN (and this is an educated guess and nothing more)?
Or because of his track record in running, from a relatively early age, one of Malta’s largest and most economically significant businesses?
When choosing who best to haul Air Malta out of the mire, should the government have gone for the CEO of Simonds Farsons Cisk or the managing director of Mother & Child?
Personal politics are not the primary consideration – now. Under Labour, personal politics were certainly that. There is no other reason I can think of why Prime Minister Sant would have made the owner of two toy-shops chairman of the national shipping line, or why Joseph Muscat would make the same owner of two toy-shops chief of Labour’s Business Forum, alongside, of all things, a criminal lawyer, Manuel Mallia, who is not even in business at all (as far as we know).
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It transpires that Alfred Sant appointed Marlene Mizzi Chairperson of Sea Malta. Daphne dear you are misinformed once more.
[Daphne – That’s what I wrote. Good grief, you Labour voters are slow to catch on.]
It also transpires that Dr Fenech Adami kept her on board.
Yes, until she ‘resigned voluntarily’ in 2005. That’s a full seven years under two separate PN governments, and it also means that Marlene Mizzi was reappointed by Fenech Adami’s government in 1998 and then again in 2003, and that she was retained by Lawrence Gonzi in 2004.
Ghanda xi tghid, ukoll.
Damn it, they can’t even read or they have grown unaccustomed to Sant’s temporary title as Prime Minister for a brief 22 months. They can’t even remember him as PM?
Maybe it’s those befuddled Labour computers omitting complete sentences?
Ikkompatieh Daphne – you confused him by “would have” in “There is no other reason I can think of why Prime Minister Sant would have made…”
Marlene Mizzi is married to magistrate Tonio Mizzi.
Another point which I wish to add to the excellent article above is that when choosing high profile people, it is better to choose personnel from large successful corporations or companies. People running them have for sure during their course of duties come across, the best talent, both on national and international level.
The best talent in question comes at a steep though justified remuneration package which is then promptly challenged by the lazy and mimlijin lanzita idiots as “Not fir – dak jaqla iktar minni. Zgur habib ta’ xi habib”.
Why should they bother?
Of course we know that Marlene is Mag. Antonio Mizzi’s wife. Come and have a look at the toy shop in Rabat especially in the morning and you will find the magistrate’s official driver carrying out driving duties with her as well, driving a car leased to the law courts with the number plate DGK-024.
Paragraphs
“The fact remains that the most competent………….”
and the one that follows
“Competent people do not say “I’m fed-up of/pissed off at the Nationalists……………”
perfectly describes Malta’s political scene and beyond!
Nobody kicked anyone out except Austin Gatt who created
a situation for the competent Chairperson of Sea Malta to
resign. Maybe you are to slow to catch on facts Dear Daphne.
[Daphne – She shouldn’t have been there in the first place. It was a classic case of pruzunzjoni.]
Marlene Mizzi’s living on another planet. Was it 30 years ago that Joseph Muscat & Co were air lifted in Gaddafi’s private jet?
Marlene Mizzi
The PN media and apologists are going on and on -yawn- about the great friendship the PL had with Gaddafi 30 yrs ago! Apart from the fact that this is alienation of the masses from other problems closer to home, do they not realise that the recent visits to Libya of Dr EFA and Dr Gonzi, their warm embraces , as well as the invitation for Gaddafi to visit Malta ,has more than endorsed this friendnship? So stop making fools of yourselves and us.
Was it 30 years ago that Noel Arrigo used to pop so often into her Merchant Street shop?
Yawn.
He must have needed a hell of a lot of maternity dresses.
Remember all that boasting when she became the ‘first woman in the Chamber of Commerce’? How we laughed.
She must have had her meetings with the president, Arrigo, among the prams and plastic toys, to trash out the chamber’s stance on tariffs.
Kemm huma tac-cajt.
Dapne, I must agree with what you said, but there are people who are better than others but do not have the right connections or maybe are not known in certain political circles to be appointed to certain type of administration jobs. Not always the very best people appointed. The (more loyal than others) maybe YES.
[Daphne – The real reason, Lawrence, and I know this because I am acquainted with so many of the individuals in question, is that very few truly competent people want that kind of appointment because 1. they don’t need the hassle and see it as a poisoned chalice, 2. they are not interested in status because they have enough already, 3. they are busy enough already looking after their own outfits, 4. they really don’t want to become targets for the political press and wish to maintain their privacy and peace. Louis Farrugia doesn’t need the hassle, he’s certainly not doing it for the money, and he’s only able to take on Air Malta because he’s slowly retiring from Farsons. He doesn’t need the status either. It’s a proper pro bono challenge. My rule of thumb is this: if people want the position because they see it as a ‘gift’, then they should be put out of the running.]
It’s true that succesfull people in businness or professions sometimes do not bother to be in the limelight of any government appointments, although money talks and buys anything.
Sometimes I wonder (especially when you know them personally) on what criteria some people get appointed.
Daphne, you are 100% there on Louis Farrugia’s accepting to take on the Air Malta challenge; it is as is said in the US of A pro bono. He surely does not need all the hassle. He is contributing to the overall economic well-being of our country.
Bar putting a big full-stop to the political violence, did Dr. Sant do anything right?
[Daphne – No. And he didn’t put a stop to the political violence, Christian. All that had petered out by 1988/89 when the thugs realised that they no longer had the backing of the police.]
As for Dr. Muscat’s call on appointing Marlene Mizzi chief of bla bla bla, well, by then she had some years experience running Sea Malta. If I’m not mistaken the shops are called ELC (early learning centre) – because mothers are too mature to get into it.
[Daphne – ‘Some years of experience running Sea Malta’ – hardly. She didn’t have an executive role. The shops are called Early Learning Centre because they are a franchise. Until recently they were called Mother & Child.]
By the way, thanks to Dr. Sant and his screw-ups – I never voted Labour, yet.
[Daphne – Smart of you. Not so smart to be considering giving Joseph the chance to screw up, though.]
Christian Sant only changed the nature of violence from physical to psychological.
As far as I know Prime Minister Sant at that time left a lot of Nationalists in key posts too and if you know the political landscape well you should know that a lot of Labourites ‘left’ or became disillusioned with Sant and the MLP particularly because of this.
They wanted the ‘pjaciri’ that they didn’t get and he did the right thing in my opinion, although he suffered the political consequences.
As regards Marlene Mizzi and Louis Grech, they are two very able business executives irrespective of their political opinions.
[Daphne – I will not comment about Louis Grech, but I will comment about Marlene Mizzi. ‘Able business executive’ – how and in what way? She runs two small toy shops, for God’s sake. With that reasoning, you can pick any village shopkeeper and tell them to run a state corporation. Marlene Mizzi is a relentless self-promoter in a fish-bowl where there is no competition. She tells everyone repeatedly that she is a ‘businesswoman’, but nobody bothers to ask what the business is. Two frigging hole-in-the-wall shops. Not to be rude or anything, but honestly. And then we mock Edwin Vassallo because he’s ta’ Best & Less tal-Mosta. Kien ikun xi haga ahjar li kieku kien tal-Mother & Child tar-Rabat?]
On a final note, to vote Labour doesn’t mean you have to associate yourself with everything the party does.
[Daphne – Yes, this is what mystifies me. Exactly what do you identify with? When the time came for me to choose between the two parties, it was no contest.]
There are a lot of things in the PL that need to change, as there are in the PN.
[Daphne – WRONG. There is NO comparison, and the fact that you can’t see this should worry you. It worries me too, because I have to remind myself that you have a vote and will not hesitate to use it like somebody sitting at a slotmachine chancing his luck.]
But the current administration cannot stay in power forever. Categorising Labour voters into ‘incompetent’ people doesn’t apply anymore, it’s a statement of the past – if Labour then ‘hamallu’, if PN then ‘pulit/bravu/ta’ skola’.
[Daphne – Rubbish. That the Nationalist Party can’t stay in power ‘forever’ is no argument for voting Labour. And yes, the argument that (as a general rule) the people who vote Labour are incompetent is as true today as it was yesterday. You have to be bloody incompetent to vote to keep Malta out of the EU just because your leader told you so, for a start. ]
the results of that year’s election show that there’s only a small percentage of ‘hardcore’ Lajburisti (hodor). A lot of us who are now looking for a change, a breath of fresh air, did not vote for the MLP in 1998, or shall I say since 1998.
BUt noone can say that we don’t need a change – unfortunately, in Malta we have no choice – either the PN or the PL.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110904/letters/Don-t-shoot-I-m-just-a-doctor-messenger.383144
“Former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff makes a surprise visit during a Regional Committee dinner at the Tokk in Rabat, Gozo.
Former Labour leader Dom Mintoff surprised attendees during an activity organised by the Gozo Regional Committee, as he turned up at the event unannounced.
Sister newspaper Illum reports how after talking and taking photos with the attendees, Mintoff asked for eye surgeon Dr Franco Mercieca who had carried out a cataract operation both his eyes. Mercieca – who wasn’t present at the time – made it to the gathering after several phone calls informing him that the former Prime Minister was insisting to see him.
Mintoff – who is currently in Gozo for a short break – reportedly took the opportunity to ask Mercieca for a medical appointment.
Read more in Illum’s digital edition”
There’s YouTube too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLKukwm9ODo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbVw7entkxg
Marlene Mizzi needs to learn how to spell.
Was wondering about that. Also punctuation, grammar, thought process and syntax. Ok, a Facebook comment, however a ‘competent businesswoman’ must, at least, proof read her comments.
She doesn’t need to. She’s with Labour, where standards are LOW.
Yes, hence their slogan “the only way is up”. Does anyone remember that? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz1AVwaG2Rc
How come that both Prime Ministers EFA and LG did not share your views that Marlene Mizzi did not fit in the shoes as Chairperson of Sea Malta. Both EFA and LG retained her because she was competent, bearing in mind that she proved herself as Chairperson, when Sea Malta was never subsidized by the Maltese Exchequer.
[Daphne – No. They retained her because they knew that she would turn herself into a political martyr if they replaced her. Trust me on this one. Sea Malta was set to be sold off anyway.]
Life’s good with LG ;)
The Labour leader today went on and on about the PN and their incompetence.
He never explained to us what his policies are or anything of substance.
We have no clue what he intends to do when in power.
They are a bunch of clowns and God help us. They will make a bigger mess than Alfred Sant.
“The point I’m making here is that when the Nationalist government picks people for key positions, competence is the priority and political preference not a consideration.”
While I agree that Labour’s track record is far from exemplary when it comes to appointing people for high-level positions, I certainly don’t share your faith in the government’s impartiality, especially when it comes to choosing people. There certainly have been incidents where the candidates’ most relevant qualification was that he/she was Nationalist.
While lack of transparency in issues such as these might have been acceptable in the 80s and 90s it certainly has no place in a Western nation in 2011. Information is too readily available and too easily distributed. The only reason that the PN have not been exposed to oblivion is that the opposition is simply too thick.
I hope the PN wins this election simply because it’s the better of two evils. What irks me is that the government will take this to be a sign that all is well when some things most certainly aren’t.
Then use your vote wisely to change the people within the PN’s ranks. At the polls everyone is at the mercy of the electorate irrespective of the connections one might have. If someone does not make it he becomes an ordinary citizen again.
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=16480
Ghastly use of the English language in this Maltastar story. Terrible spelling and shocking use of the past and present tense. Peasants.
What a strange photograph. Why is the kantant wiping that man’s head with a Labour Party banner?
The last time I saw the kantant, he was the proud owner of two hairs and a nit. What’s happened to him?
Still as long as they are having a jolly old time….
We need a bit of context for that photograph. Where? When? Who? What? Why?
Marlene Mizzi has to understand that trying to pass the buck onto the Nationalists won’t work.
Not this time. Her flippant comments denigrating those who are concerned about this matter only shows the respect she has for the electorate.
She should know better given her business prowess – isn’t she aware that a growing number of Laburisti are not at all comfortable with the details emerging every day?
By accusing the Nationalists of endorsing this relationship, she admits two things:
Labour did create an intimate relationship with Gaddafi.
The nature of this bond damaged Malta.
I insist on the right to know to what extent one of Malta’s largest political parties deceived its own supporters.
Given that I can ask this question on their behalf, does that make me a PN apologist?
I refer to those Labour voters who feel at odds with Labour, especially due their European vocation, itself an identifying factor when it comes to democratic values.
She should ask how many of these are now silent, disgusted at people like her, offensive and insensitive to their genuine leftist political affiliation.
I don’t have that problem.
A couple of weeks ago after some football game on TV I started shifting through the channels. I noticed Marlene Mizzi on Smash and thought I’d listen a little since she’s meant to be one of PL’s bright stars (so to speak).
She was talking about Arriva and fair enough, was giving the company (and government of course) some well deserved stick. At one point however she said something along the lines of ‘I was really hoping that the bus service would have been great/efficient because I wanted to start taking the bus myself.’ …..Huh! Sure..I thought …..bollocks. I switched off the thing and went to bed.
[Daphne – Marlene on Arriva? No, that would have been Marlene on Austin Gatt. She had a major issue with him about Sea Malta and they’re in court.]
According to Austin Gatt, when inaugurating the Arriva new bus services, he declared that “Il-buzzolotti sejrin jispiccaw”. Manwel Delia compiled the bus routes within the Ministry for which Austin Gatt is responsible. This Ministry created bus routes evolving into new “buzzoloti” in the local Arriva transport services. I wonder where Mr Manwel Delia is hibernating. I wonder how competent, Austin Gatt feels,
Manwel Delia is. Maybe Austin Gatt foresees that if he
sacks Manwel Delia, the latter turns himself into a martyr?
The said Minister yesterday stated that the Nationalist Party will stay in office for the next 20 years. If his recent predictions, regarding Nationalist administrations, are credible new “buzzoloti” following the Arriva flop and retention of Manwel Delia will arise. Good riddance
of Dr Austin Gatt. This is his last term of office hoping
that there will not be any other Minister who does not sack persons, for whom he is responsible, although they are incompetent. Daphne dear, you wish me to trust you
that Austin Gatt is the Minister who had decided that Sea Malta was set to be sold off anyway before discussions started regarding its privatization. This proves that Marlene Mizzi was a competent Chairperson of Sea Malta and she is far more reliable and credible, than Austin Gatt, in what she
says and performs.
Before the referendum, on the introduction of divorce in Malta,
Austin Gatt declared that he would resign if the Maltese electorate would be in favour of the introduction of divorce.
There was a definite approval in the last referendum, held
this year, for the introduction of divorce in Malta and the relevant legislation was approved and will become into
effect on 01/10/2011. It is expected that to save face
Dr Austin Gatt will resign on this date to safe face. Otherwise, unreliable and discredited as Dr Austin Gatt is, the Maltese electorate feels that the majority citizens forming this nation can sigh in relief:- “Good riddance of Austin Gatt” in the coming general elections.