It does not take too much imagination to work out how the telephone conversation proceeded between Anton Refalo and the Gozo Channel official on Sunday evening after the Gozo Minister realised a ferry had just left while he was at Ċirkewwa.
Perhaps it went something like this: “Hello, good evening. I would just like to point out that one of your ferries has reached Comino. Just thought I would let you know, not because I happen to be the Gozo Minister, but only out of a sense of civic duty...”
Then again, perhaps the conversation went nothing like that at all. In Parliament last night Dr Refalo said he was seeking an “explanation”.
The statement Gozo Channel issued yesterday after a ferry returned to Ċirkewwa to pick up the Gozo Minister went to great pains to stress that it was the duty manager, and not Dr Refalo, who ordered the vessel to return. “At no point did the passenger,” a statement conveniently omitting the word ‘boss’ or ‘minister’ continued, “order or in any way ask for the ferry to go back and pick (up) him or other passengers.”
It then went on to criticise this newspaper, which broke the story, for stating otherwise. Of course we did no such thing. What we said was that the ferry was ordered to return (for those not familiar with the English language, the words Anton Refalo are not present in that sentence) and that Dr Refalo and others boarded it. That is a fact. No conjecture, no sensationalism, no exaggeration. Pure, inescapable fact.
Whichever way it tries to choose its words, whichever way the minister tries to defend his actions, there is no getting away from the reality: a ferry that was halfway across the channel turned back to pick Dr Refalo up after he made a call and identified himself as the Gozo Minister.
People assessing this situation need only ask themselves one question: If a normal passenger had phoned, someone without political connections and certainly someone who does not have political responsibility for Gozo Channel, would the response have been the same? We would be willing to wager Malta’s reserves that it would not. That is the only point at issue here.
If the minister was in disagreement with Gozo Channel’s practice, he could have taken up the issue in the morning. But he had no right to allow taxpayers’ money to be wasted on fuel for his personal convenience.
There are other points to consider: the few passengers at Ċirkewwa were not “stranded” as Gozo Channel stated in its statement yesterday; they were ‘waiting’. And waiting not even for the next scheduled ferry, but since a shuttle service was in operation because of the passenger demand at Mġarr (not Ċirkewwa), that wait would have been no more than a matter of minutes because other vessels were on the way.
Another fact Gozo Channel conveniently left out of its statement is that the ferry which was returning empty was the one that cannot operate a double deck. In other words, what the company was doing in these circumstances made logistical sense because the Gaudos was wrapping up for the day since the other vessels could by then cope alone.
The minister acted improperly. If Labour was in opposition it would call for his resignation. Since it is in government, it will act as if nothing has happened.