Fearne loses out in the crisp war

Malta has become the land of the bizarre taken to a degree which no man could ever have envisaged. Just when the country marches triumphantly a centimetre ahead, it then retreats 500 kilometres.

All it takes is a packet of crisps and our newfound normal is shattered. What’s with our prime minister?

Robert Abela is insecure. He obviously can’t stand criticism. He is an infantile bully, trying hard to impress the ones around him that he is his own man. And the more he displays his bullish, bullying antics, the more he proves he is not his own man. Far from it.

The man is tied in mysterious ways to the old regime of his old mentor and leader, Joseph Muscat. He is always ready to come up with strategies which show he is ready to bend to big business, indeed any business, even if it means risking the health of a nation.

What comes through even more strikingly however is the way he acts vis-à-vis his deputy, Chris Fearne.

Robert Abela’s ways with Fearne are worth examining. He feels intrinsically inferior to his second-in-command. The prime minister must know, in his heart of heart, that he is not as good or deserving of the top spot as

Instead of accepting this Abela, like a spoilt child, is always anxious to upset Fearne’s apple cart. To show him who the boss really is, who takes the decisions. Because, comparing him to a child playing football, Abela owns the ball, so if the game does not go his way, he picks up his ball and walks off. And stamps his feet.

Fearne.

He knows that if it weren’t for strange manoeuvrings by Labour Party grandees, including the disgraced but still adored Joseph Muscat, Fearne would have beaten him by a few miles.

These devious ways, and Fearne being perceived as a threat by Muscat’s regime, paved the way for Robert Abela.

Abela must realise that Fearne is more trusted than him, especially in anything connected to the pandemic, the way the health system is managed, and his overall presence when he talks to the nation. Fearne outshines Abela totally.

Instead of accepting this Abela, like a spoilt child, is always anxious to upset Fearne’s apple cart. To show him who the boss really is, who takes the decisions. Because, comparing him to a child playing football, Abela owns the ball, so if the game does not go his way, he picks up his ball and walks off. And stamps his feet.

In our local politics, it’s not a ball or two that are at play. It’s crisps.

Fearne appeared totally in command and sounded very prime ministerial at the conference where he announced the new directives to save the day for this silly isle. He oozed confidence and declared, amongst other things, that bars would not be allowed to operate. But, hey presto, the out-played, out-ofhis-league Abela decides to counterattack.

Abela treats all this like a parochial issue between two clubs tal-boċċi (bowls clubs). He keeps screwing up the good work to come out strong and mighty. And he orders the authorities to issue a counter-directive that bars can open as long as they serve some crisps.

That, in Abela’s surreal world, is leadership.

This is where Robert Abela shines moronically. The more he postures and bullies the less he displays any fine mettle and the more Fearne outshines him.

Fearne cares about our health. As was shown in the most glaring way when he took to the stage while his “boss” was in Sicily having a good time on his yacht.

I do not consider Fearne an angel. Far from it. He is part of our national problem where politics comes first. Where values and truth are sacrificed. He was there during the worst excesses of Joseph Muscat, Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri. He is spineless and, like his present boss and his previous one, he accepted corruption at the highest levels. He endorsed the corrosion of our moral fibre. He colluded with criminals and was ready to close an eye to what murderers committed in Malta.

Yet Fearne’s sins will not change my view that he, and he alone, represents our chance for a better life as long as the Labour Party remains in power.

Robert Abela’s major concern isn’t primarily the health of the economy and certainly not of the nation. Abela only knows how to play petty politics. Where whoever appears strongest wins. Abela will sacrifice anything to be seen as the leader, the boss, the one who calls the shots. He is the supreme populist, just like his predecessor. He prefers spin to truth, ideally if it entails putting Fearne in a bad light.

Fearne seems to be outplayed and outflanked.

In an ideal world Fearne should resign. Even Charmaine Gauci should go. But if they do the situation will only get worse. An easier puppet on a string would be appointed as health minister and Abela would slide even deeper into idiocy. The country’s health should not be a political ball game.

Fearne might never win a future leadership race. But to anyone with an ounce of objectivity, he proves over and over again that Malta would have fared far better had he been prime minister rather than Robert Abela.