The pivotal generation

Malta is approaching a critical tipping point - a juncture at which our environment, society, politics all change irreversibly.

We face the unprecedented responsibility of sticking our necks out to prevent Malta from reaching that point of no return.

The unrestrained overdevelopment of what little is left of our countryside and open spaces has reached a dizzying pace. The number of Planning Authority permits rose from 7,508 in 2016 to 12,485 in 2019. To make up for the subsequent fall in applications during the pandemic, the PA extended 20,000 permits by an additional three years. Height extensions were introduced allowing buildings in villages to rise five floors plus penthouse, ensuring total ruination of old streetscapes.

Tony Zahra, MHRA President, commented that Malta doesn’t have a planning authority, but a permitting authority. Rampant abuse, inexplicable approval of development in sensitive areas and ODZ, blanket sanctioning of gross illegalities are the norm. All you need to sanction the most outrageous obscenities is to hire Labour apologist Robert Musumeci. If you want your Sannat mega-development approved, just organise a private dinner for Robert Abela on the eve of the election. If you want to build the sprawling quad towers all you need do is meet the Minister for a quiet tete-a-tete. He’ll write a sharp letter to the PA CEO: “Mriehel is to be considered an appropriate location for tall buildings”.

Alternatively you could offer the PA’s legal advisor a cool 45,000 euro. You’ll get a permit to develop apartments and garages on a “small Zabbar plot” even before that legal advisor cedes his stake in the property to you. Christian Borg, the alleged kidnapper and money launderer obtained a permit in his name to build apartments and garages on land still promised to Robert Abela. When the permits were issued, Abela ceded his purchasing rights, and collected his monopoly money. But everything was legal, Abela claimed in his recent interview.

21% of PA permits issued were recommended for refusal. But 16,029 planning applications were given the green light despite refusal by the Aurhority’s own case officer. Most were issued between 2019 and 2021, a pre-electoral period.

Meanwhile agricultural land decreased by 6.2%. Agricultural holdings dwindled by 15%. Workers in agriculture decreased by over 4,700.

Our rubbish mountains at Maghtab grow bigger by the day. Rockcut Ltd was given 5 million euro to excavate half a million cubic metres of rock to extend the landfill. Rockcut dumped most of the waste in nearby fields instead of disposing it in dumping sites. The latest extension of Maghtab landfill was presented by the Labour party organising secretary, William Lewis.

The very same people who fund the Labour party and who’ve become multi-millionaires by covering our last remaining green areas with cement are also sucking us dry. Literally. Concrete plants have pumped out the equivalent of 48 million mineral water bottles from our groundwater in 2019 alone without paying a cent. The EU’s Environment Agency warned of the “poor status” of the island’s “groundwater bodies”. Our ground water is drying out. What is left is so salty it’s practically unusable.

The main cause for this devastating environmental degradation is raging corruption. The most worrying irreversible changes the country faces are political. As the global economic situation worsens, the country is burdened with staggering debt accumulated through grotesque fraud.

The recent revelations that Yorgen Fenech stood to earn 2 million euro off a 40 million Marsa junction project provides insight into the famous roadmap. That money was intended to go into two companies: New Energy Supply Limited, Yorgen’s private company and Wings Investments, the sister company of Fenech’s 17-Black. 17-Black was listed as the “main client” and “possible Payer/Sender” of Tillgate and Hearnville, Keith Schembri’s and Konrad Mizzi’s Panama companies.

Wasay Bhatti, the man whose companies paid Joseph Muscat tens of thousands of euro, is now facing claims in a US court that he ran off with 1.47million dollars intended for COVID-19 antigen tests. Bhatti’s company Accutor AG received money from Steward Healthcare, the bulk on the day of the concession takeover. Bhatti’s company paid Joseph Muscat, Ram Tumuluri and Muscat’s consultant Shaukat Ali. Bhatti was put in touch with Yorgen Fenech by Muscat’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri just 3 weeks after Fenech’s ownership of 17Black was exposed. Fenech wanted Bhatti to help him move money secretly out of 17-Black.

Meanwhile Pilatus officials are allowed to evade arrest despite an international arrest warrant issued months ago. Iosif Galea travelled abroad with Joseph Muscat while he faced a European Arrest warrant.

As more of Labour’s rotten deals are exposed, our government scrambles to further erode our basic freedoms and rights. Its attempt to rush through weak and ineffective legislation purportedly to protect journalists is just a ruse. Labour’s rising authoritarianism, its absolute domination of the media and the complete capture of the state broadcaster have only one objective - to suppress criticism and stifle dissent. The harassment and intimidation of civil society by senior ministers, including the prime minister, provide Labour’s trolls with all the encouragement needed to attack.

This problem cannot be solved at the individual level. It can only be solved through determined political action, fundamental changes to the way our society operates. We need to expose the facts about what’s happening and confront those now entrenched in power as well as others seemingly oblivious to their malignancy. Some say arguments don’t move people. More needs to be done to move them to real social action, real political campaigning and even civil disobedience.

Things are now so serious that business as usual cannot continue. When the institutions meant to protect us only rob us of our wealth and rights, action is urgent. This is the pivotal generation that must seize this last chance to avoid the dangerous descent of our country into darkness.