How come? – Andrew Azzopardi
As a mix of melodrama, comedy, farce and tragedy - call it what you may - unravels in our Courts of Justice, these questions come to mind:
The Windfarm
How come a state corporation with the organizational resources it must have hardly reacts at the latest rumormongering and seems so oblivious to all that was happening?
How come if you go to deposit or withdraw some cash at a local bank you get asked all the questions under the sky and with these massive transactions nothing was forthcoming?
How come a former Head of Government, an economist by profession, with a whole civil service to support him did not suss-out what was going on in this deal?
How come the Cabinet of Ministers, of the previous Government, seemed oblivious to all the alleged wheeling and dealing going on in this aforementioned contract?
Who was managing Government at that time?
Political Parties
How come a growing list of politicians seem to be completely ostracized from the media of their party and cannot get their voice heard?
How come veteran politicians have been reduced to posting on FB hardly trusting their Party media?
How come our political parties seemingly represent nothing in terms of ideals and beliefs?
How come our political parties have no pride and succumb themselves to the mercy of the business people?
Daphne Caruana Galizia
How come the same names keep popping up in the saga following the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and to our knowledge potential defendants are not being called in for interrogation? Maybe the police are shillyshallied for some dullwitted reason in front of all this pandemonium?
How come we are not realizing that a former Chief of Staff is throwing allegations around that are not corroborated?
How come politicians with such serious allegations hanging on their head, do not resign from Parliament and a seasoned politician, known for her self-respect and decorum, was pushed out of her role without anyone batting an eye-lid?
How come we don’t seem to realise that many had all the time in the World to clear the field of play from all proof of guilt? Is there any suspicion that this happened?
How come the general public were left in the dark of the police investigations that we are told were going on?
Opposition
How come the Opposition and its leadership don’t understand that they are getting the strategy all wrong and its leader still thinks he can turn the boat around even now that so many allegations are being thrown at him?
How come some issues by witnesses are considered true whilst others fake?
Where does the credibility of the Opposition lie if is being accused under oath that they were getting money to push aside one of its candidates?
Which Leader sees his ratings plummet, dive and tumble at the lowest ever and makes the delusional statement that the PN will be competitive in the next election?
What message is being sent when the Leader of the Opposition is sleeping on a couch in his office?
Governance
How come the business community is in bed with the politicians and we seem to be ok with this and little did we do to avoid this incestuous relationship?
How would politicians trying to do the right thing feel at this moment?
How come such serious allegations of corruption, sleaze, bribery and fraud by the same band of people go untouched? How come these people are allowed to carry on with their lives, travel, take the mickey, lose their mobile phones and play the victims?
How come we have not set up, at least as far as we know, a proper investigative team made up of senior police officers and inquiring magistrates to investigate all the deals that involved at least one politician who doesn’t seem to realise that all he touched has turned into coal?
How come we say that most of our Institutions are working when really and truly our institutions are throbbing in immorality and perversion?
How come we do not realise that we are fast running out of decent politicians?
How come the man who seemed to possess the Midas touch turned it into the Sadim touch? Does he realise that the one who had the World at his feet risks throwing it all away for decisions that were/not taken?
How come with all the attempts at introducing mechanisms that can put the politicians in a corner some still slip notwithstanding the grimness of the issues and we make a whole scene with a group of police officers who messed up with wavering tickets (wrong) or a girl doing a tik-tok video? Do the Police seem to have been truncated in front of all this institutionalized corruption?
How come there is so much work to do with vulnerable people, people who are struggling not out of their own choice, and instead people in Castille were busy negotiating dappled deals?
How come we speak about people turning up at Castille, asking for a job, promised one, going down to the Customer Care officers, given a job, do not go to work, get a pay cheque – and we are made to feel as if everything is ok?
I could go on forever.
The 2013 election had been won by the Labour Party because people wanted a change, because of the ‘corruption’ narrative, because we needed a fresh start and a new breed of politicians and politics. Never did I believe that our country could stoop so low.
We are on the ropes. Our ‘State’ is imploding. We do not know anymore the difference between who is saying it right and who isn’t. This Country was being taken over by liars, fraudsters, swindlers and cheats. They have not only stolen our money, justified shady deals and made pacts with the devil but have contaminated and soiled the sense of ‘State’.
They have amputated some of the most basic components that make up a State; ethical behavior erased from the political discourse; a moral dilemma like we never believed we would find ourselves in and a complete breakdown of principles. Yes, we can have a good economy based on self-restraint rather than hedonism, on values that construct humanity rather than simply valuing people on how much dosh they have, and we could have used power to run the State instead of using it to dismantle it.
We are now in the hands of a couple of members of the judiciary, the media and a few virtuous politicians and police officers to take us out of this sludge.
Our Country is on the verge of folding and this could have a major impact on our economy if investors start picking up on this spleen. All that we have worked for risks being lost if we really don’t get our act in order.
This is my last regular column for now. I might pop in a column every now and then. In the meantime, many thanks to the Editor, his team and you, loyal readers for making time to read and give me feedback on what I wrote.