The ‘Beatu’ of Maltese politics

When I worked at Il-Hajja, I had a small, walk-on, part in producing some of the original volumes of Rajt Malta tinbidel, Herbert Ganado’s most popular writing.

Every so often, Tonio, his son, used to bring us more chapters to be set and typecast.

Sometimes, he would get his father with him. Herbert was always welcomed with a smile, for he would comment and chat his way through anything. He used to stay chatting with Dun Pawl (Cortis) for a long time – a meeting of friends.

This volume is one of a series edited by Sergio Grech, essentially being a series of articles about the person the book is about.

One can subdivide Ganado’s life in three sections: his internment during the war, his leadership of a fringe party and his writings.

Before that, a word about his background. Ganado was born in an upper middle class family with some notable connections. Simon Mercieca has a very interesting chapter in which he delves into Ganado’s family background. His maternal grandfather was none else than Sir Filippo Sceberras who brought Maltese politicians together after the Sette Giugno riots and obtained a constitution for Malta.

The other components of the Sceberras family (who originally owned what is now Valletta – Mount Sceberras) included a bit of everything, from a cardinal to a political agitator.

As he describes in his Rajt Malta tinbidel, Ganado’s childhood and youth was typical of a bourgeois young man about town. He describes the Floriana of his youth and with some verve the Balzunetta (red light district in front of the Police HQ), the evenings at the Opera House, etc.

Increasingly, however, he became interested in the young Catholic movement, the Azione Cattolica, under the inspiration and guidance of Mgr Enrico Dandria, who was also a Nationalist Minister of Education.

When the paper, Lehen isSewwa was about to close down, Ganado and friends tried to salvage it and Ganado became its editor.

It was this editorship and Ganado’s vociferous subscribing to Italian/Fascist leanings by proclaiming to one and all Dhalna Madrid when General Franco’s troops entered the Spanish capital that marked him as a proItalian agitator in the British colonial eyes.

Before war with Italy broke out, he was arrested together with the leader of the Nationalist Party, Enrico Mizzi, former Chief Justice Sir Arturo Mercieca, Mgr Pantalleresco and Vincenzo Bonello (father of Judge Giovanni Bonello).

There was never a proper arraignment, and, when the internees understood they were about to be deported from Malta, they instituted a court case and surprisingly and courageously Judge AJ Montanaro Gauci, formerly a Strickland supporter and also MP, found for the internees.

Instead of appealing against this decision, the colonial government changed the law. This is the ordnance against which only George Borg Olivier voted against. The other member, Sir Ugo Mifsud fell sick at the end of an impassioned speech against it and soon after died. Nerik Mizzi, the other member, was among the internees.

The illegal arrest and subsequent deportation of 88 Maltese citizens remains a blot on the colonial rule in Malta. It is a mystery why there is no monument in Malta commemorating this scandal and there is no reason why such a commemoration should be added to the Sette Giugno celebrations.

Even before the court issued its decision, the internees were packed on an old ship and taken away from Malta, risking enemy bombing on their way to Alexandria. From there, by train, steamship and boat, they were interned in Uganda until it became clear that the allies were winning and Malta was free.

All this and far more can be found in an enlightening article by Max Farrugia, who has written a book about the internment, and also an article by Judge Bonello.

After the trauma of deportation, Ganado returned to Malta and found himself immersed once again in Maltese politics. He naturally gravitated towards the Nationalist Party but he soon grew uneasy with Borg Olivier’s leadership.

This was to lead, later to the creation of the Democratic Nationalist Party (PDM) which contested the 1962 election getting four seats and taking part in the Independence negotiations.

Ganado being the amiable, easy-going man he was, there was no enmity on his part against the leader (although there was enough between the supporters on either side). He felt that Borg Olivier was too easy on Dom Mintoff who, he truly believed, intended to bring Communism to Malta. This split is of great relevance these days, with the Nationalist Party convulsed with feuds and worse. At the end, Borg Olivier, a better strategist, won and obtained for Malta the Independence that Ganado was so afraid of. On a macro scale, Borg Olivier was right and Ganado wrong. On the other hand, while Borg Olivier’s party consisted of old-time PN grandees, and he just refused to give space to new blood, Ganado’s party included budding politicians who later moved to PN, such as Guido de Marco and Antoine Mifsud Bonnici. It was also nearer the Church but when the elections came, the Church (unofficially of course and at the level of whispering campaigns) plunged for the bigger party and left Ganado in the lurch. It says much for Ganado’s religious upbringing that this betrayal did not make him a sour and angry person. Lastly, his writings. Many people know Ganado from his volumes of Rajt Malta tinbidel but he wrote much more than that. There is a collection of articles he wrote for Lehen isSewwa under the pseudonym Spectator. The Rajt Malta volumes are a splendid collection of chatty articles, written in simple and clear Maltese, about anything that caught his fancy or issues that were in public debate. They have since been translated into English by the late Michael Refalo. There are other writings, such as the articles he used to write for Il-Hajja that unfortunately have not been collected in book form. Dom Mintoff used to characteristically sneer at him and call him the Beatu of Maltese politics, hence my title. The book contains many articles that are worth reading, such as that by his niece Maria Grech Ganado, an interesting one by Tonio Borg and personal reminiscences by Emily Barbaro-Sant, Giovanni Bonello, Oliver Friggieri, and others.