It’s been a week of high drama in Parliament. During the debate about Enemalta and whether we would be getting a spanking new power station as promised, Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi made the big reveal – only it wasn’t the one we were expecting. The purpose of the debate was mainly for the minister to inform the nation if negotiations were at an ad­vanced stage or not and whether he would be tearing off the bubble wrap from the new power station some time soon.

Mizzi gave us something new – only it was a new alleged scandal, not a new power station. The minister revealed that an audit investigation had found “shameful irregularities” in a €35 million contract for the installation of photo­voltaic panels on public buildings, awarded to a private company by the former government in its last days. The contract was awarded by George Pullicino’s ministry and provided for a feed-in tariff of 23c per electricity unit for 25 years. The feed-in tariff should have been 16c.

This statement shocked the media reporting to its core – not so much for its content, but because Mizzi had addressed Pullicino as “Georgie”. In a country where the Prime Minister has been called ‘Poodle’ and other parliamentarians earned themselves other choice nicknames, it seems that Mizzi has crossed every line of decency and uttered the unutterable, implying that Pullicino is somehow similar to the Georgie Porgie of nursery rhyme fame who made all the girls cry.

As the French would say, ‘Quelle horreur!’ How could it possibly get worse? Was nothing sacred for Labour ministers and their assorted minions? Apparently not. On his way out of Parliament, Pullicino was accosted by a female journalist armed with a dangerous-looking microphone and asked for his reaction to the allegations made by Mizzi. In a terrifying and arrogant manner the journalist directed her microphone towards Pullicino’s lips, leaving us no doubt about her intimidatory intentions.

The whole saga seems farcical – and it is – but there are aspects of it which should be of concern

In these cases, a firm stand has to be taken and there should be no useless quibbling about the freedom of the press to ask questions and similar frivolities, and recognising the great peril he was in, Pullicino asked the police to take the journalist’s details. The next day he asked the Speaker to investigate the incident where he was “obstructed” from continuing on his way and leaving the House. It is now the unenviable task of Speaker Anġlu Farrugia to ferret out the journalist who wanted to keep Pullicino prisoner at the Palace.

The whole saga seems farcical – and it is – but there are aspects of it which should be of concern.

First – it does not behove the Labour government to be so cagey about the Enemalta deal and the new power plant. Getting the Enemalta house in order, cleaner energy and lower utility bills were central planks of the Labour Party’s electoral strategy. The issues are of great importance to the nation’s health and economic well-being, so why all the evasiveness now?

I know transparency is a buzz word that gets batted around all the time, but the Labour government should note that even by giving the perception that it is holding back on something, it sows the seeds of mistrust in citizens.

The repeated failure in addressing legitimate queries will cause those seeds of mistrust to grow into outright resentment of the government.

If touchiness about the issue is due to Muscat’s promise to resign if investment for the deal was not found, he can sleep easy. Most voters take specific electoral promises with a pinch of salt. Practically nobody can recall any politician resigning, for whatever reason, so it’s not as if there is a widespread expectation that the Prime Minister will do so now. Still he should come clean about the proposed power plant – for the public’s sake and not for the Opposition.

As for the Opposition, I’m not sure if they’ve gained much from the way things panned out. The Nationalist Party was definitely right to push for an open debate and for answers on the power plant issue, but it overplayed the victim card a bit.

Mizzi’s ‘scandal-out-of-the-hat’ may very well be a diversionary tactic – a tactic that has been resorted to by the PN in the past. It can’t very well cry foul now. Or rather it can – but it is not going to be taken seriously. Neither will Pullicino playing the ‘poor little me’ tune.

cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt

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