Owen Bonnici: a wordsmith of no mean skill. Photo: Chris Sant FournierOwen Bonnici: a wordsmith of no mean skill. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

If you had the energy, which I certainly don’t in this revolting heat (did I mention that I hate summer?), you could probably look back on my columns, even when I was Beck, and find assertions, with scorn poured upon them by assorted lil’elves, that Premier (though he wasn’t Premier yet) Joseph Muscat’s promises about meritocracy and new ways of appointing people to positions and all that great stuff were, not to put too fine a point on it, just so much hot air, designed to win over the terminally bewildered and the undiscerning, the ones for whom, maaa, the Nationalists had really, really outstayed their welcome, maaa.

You’ll also probably find sentences that are paragraphs-long, just like the preceding one (and some to follow this), a conceit to which I resort in order to annoy people.

Minister Owen Bonnici had appointed a committee of good men and true, of the names of whom I recall only the only one who was and remains a good man and true, he who gave his name to the Bonello Commission.

I had thought to myself at the time that young(ish) Bonnici had given me the lie and that Labour were going to do things differently, at least when it comes to appointments to the Bench.

As they have it in Italian, between the say and the do, there’s a sea to cross (the last bit might be expressed in Maltese, but you’ll get my drift).

Notwithstanding the Bonello Commission’s clear and unequivocal finding that it was about time for appointments to the judiciary to be carried out differently to heretofore, Premier Joseph’s government has blithely sailed on doing exactly what the nasty Nats used to do and the awful Lejber before them and the Nats before them and the Brits before them both, that is to say using the Anglo-Saxon method of a nod and a wink and tap on the shoulder.

Premier Muscat has appointed to the bench, at all its levels, individuals whose distance from the Labour Party is measured in - well, it’s not even measurable. When sniffs of disapproval rose in various corners, the standard inelegant riposte from Labour’s various apologists was that the Nationalists had done exactly the same thing in the past, so there.

Let’s just put that little lie to bed, now shall we?

The Nationalists in government had appointed to the Bench a number of individuals who were unarguably Labour sympathisers. This is not to say that the appointments were misplaced for that reason, far from it, but it is merely a statement of fact: the Nationalists in government had done precisely the opposite, on a number of occasions, to that which was being used as an excuse for the way Premier Muscat’s Labour government is behaving now.

It’s not only in connection with judicial appointments that the government has been partisan

Incidentally, it’s not only in connection with judicial appointments that the government has been partisan: look around and take account of anyone who is filling any role of importance (or even any role at all, really) and see whether or not in the vastest of vast majorities they are not dutiful adherents of the Tagħna Lkoll, aka Tagħna Biss, doctrine as slavishly adhered to by Premier Joseph and his devoted disciples.

Frankly, I’ve nothing much against that, I only wish that, in many instances, they had appointed people who were competent as well as Labour.

I’ve always believed that governments want people it can trust in positions of trust and that wannabe-Premier Joseph’s declarations about meritocracy and being able to work with anyone who wants to work with him were eyewash.

Getting back to the third, judicial, pillar of the State’s rule of law cathedral (the fourth, that is, the media, is only slowly waking up from its post-polling day torpor), Bonnici has just confirmed, as if anyone needed it confirming, that Premier Muscat has absolutely no intention of letting go of his ‘Royal Prerogative’, his right to put individuals in whom his trust resides in place.

Bonnici, a wordsmith of no mean skill, did not put it so baldly, it need hardly be said. He adopted one of my favourite maxims, in fact, by paraphrasing the time-honoured ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ adage. He put it differently, he said that the old system, as in the one of which his party and its fellow travellers had been so critical back in the day, had given us very good judges and magistrates and that we should be careful of changing it, lest we end up with something worse than what we have now.

Vanni Bonello and his highfalutintheories about appropriate methods of selection and systems to ensure propriety can, Bonnici said without actually saying it, go hang: we’re going to carry on with business as usual.

Another example of Bonnici’s wizardry with words can be seen in his reaction when asked about the extent to whichhe believes in the integrity of that Ray Zammit fellow (ex Commissioner of Police) in the aftermath of the (Judge) Mallia Report. Our Owen, with his tongue not even hardly visible in his cheek, said that he had every faith in the integrity of the report, neatly ducking the question and using the word “integrity” at the same time.

Jeremy Paxman, where are you when we need you?

I wonder how the people who voted for a change, believing that Premier Joseph will bring it about, feel now.

Yes, you, the one who thought that this would be a government where appointments are made on the basis of what you are, not who you are, or who you know, or what you can do for (or not do to)Premier Joseph.

Are you happy with the CEO of the ETC and his feminist outlook on life?

Are you happy with Minister the Hon. Dr Konrad Husband of Sai Mizzi Liang’s wife’s appointment to get investment from China, resulting in a broom-cupboard being taken up for testing purposes?

Are you happy with the way hundreds of new companies with Libyan shareholders are being set up to acquire residence permits? Nothing against Libyans, of course, but they’re supposed to be investing here, not pretending to invest in Nutella and Kinder Bueno bars, certified as true and genuine value by one of Labour’s grey eminences, with whom Premier Muscat has no problem posing to hand out degrees that seem to be as full of value as the share capital of these hundreds of companies.

Are you happy with eager supporters of Premier Joe’s system of governance being given sinecures to find garages for rock bands to rehearse, no doubt so they can be at the top of their game to perform at some mega concert to celebrate the 162nd anniversary of the day the Governor General’s butler changed the bed linen.

Are you happy with ambassadors having to step down for not being able to work with their ministry and with convicted criminals representing our Premierin Brussels?

Are you happy with people being appointed to other sinecures and, in at least one case, making their own little appointments down the line, for what appears to be no more valid a reason than their having made Lawrence Gonzi’s life miserable while he was trying, and managing, to steer the country through a perfect storm? And for those with small memories, I’m referring to that Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando fellow and to that Franco Debono bloke, just to be clear.

Have a nice mid-to-late August weekend, even while trying to spot the latest sleight of hand about mega guarantees that Premier Muscat tries to pull off at a time when we’re all trying to survive power-cuts and traffic.

How many more people will the Coast Road have to kill or maim before Minister Joseph ‘Never Said There’s Oil’ Mizzi is told to take a hike, finally?

imbocca@gmail.com

http://www.timesofmalta.com/blogs

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