The rape of Sliema started in the 1960s, with the building of the Preluna Hotel. Minister Lorry Sant ensured that the rest of Sliema would be pillaged during the 1970s and 1980s. In gratitude, a number of ġbejniet erected a monument in his honour.
From Sliema the rot spread to all Malta.
In 2006, George Pullicino could not even imagine the havoc that he was going to wreak on the country when he put on the market two million square metres of virgin land through his infamous rationalisation programme. The horrendous effects of such an exercise are beginning to be seen now.
But the election of Joseph Muscat has sealed the fate of this country. In Opposition, the sly guy allied himself with the development lobby led by Sandro Chetcuti, put the Labour HQ fourth floor at the disposal of Sandro and co. (as testified by Anġlu Farrugia) and planned out the distribution of Maltese land to these various money-hungry developers. On being elected, the plan was put into action.
The result is that now ordinary citizens are desperate: calls for help are pouring in from all corners of our country. It is not only Sliema, Swieqi, Pembroke, St. Julian’s; it is also San Ġwann, Żejtun, Żabbar, the belvedere in Vittoriosa, wherever.
We have become a country made up of desperate groups, named “Save Delimara”, “Save Wied Għomor”, “Save St Julian’s”, “Leave Pembroke Alone”, “Save Bulebel”, etc.
And then, like oppressed slaves of olden times, we have been reduced to continuously addressing petitions to the dominating feudal lord of the day – Joseph Muscat – pleading him to stop this or that senseless development.
And there seems to be little hope for the future because the Nationalist Party has been co-opted in this snatch-and-grab exercise.
Do you hear Adrian Delia and his people say anything about White Rocks or the DB ITS land grab? Of course not. If Muscat is acting as proxy prime minister for the development lobby, Delia is actually a developer himself more intent on selling his unsold flats in Gozo than acting for the general good.
Ordinary citizens are desperate: calls for help are pouring in from all corners of our country
Do you recall Marthese Portelli, Kristy Debono and Ryan Callus pre-election time screaming “No building in Paceville without master plan”? Look at them now: Callus votes in favour of Magħtab petrol station, Portelli votes in favour of Villa Rosa development and of 31-storey Mercury House and Debono is more intent on sticking her neck out at every press conference to ensure that she is visible on TV behind her leader.
And what about the Labour yuppies?
Muscat keeps them happy by giving them extra well-paid jobs as Cottonera experts or commissioners for deregulation or as coordinators of parliamentary questions or what not. Any stupid excuse to create a new job for the boys and girls.
In return, they are all there every Sunday at the weekly sermon of their political master, clapping their hands to their hearts’ content while the normal Maltese pensioner or person earning €1,000 a month is trying desperately to make ends meet.
Together, they are taking away our land. They are taking away our sky. They are taking away our sun. They are bequeathing us with very low air quality.
The air quality is abysmal anywhere in Malta, in particular in traffic clogged areas like Fgura, Msida, Gżira, Paola, etc.
The rate of asthma and respiratory diseases increases by the day for all of us, whilst the greedy ones make hay while the sun shines, with the not-so-tacit approval of Joseph, Adrian and their lackeys.
And, to crown it all, they tried to give themselves the privilege of getting an uncapped pension after five years in Parliament... and a pro-rata pension for just one or two years spent in Parliament.
What a disgusting, greedy and shameful lot. Pensioners are dying of hunger and they were only thinking of accommodating themselves. No amount of backtracking, once discovered, is going to absolve them of their lust for perpetual greed.
We should all be out in the streets shouting “Do not treat us as a ġbejna”, and stop them from continuing to deprive us of the land, air, sun and sky that Mother Nature has bestowed upon us.
Do not let their greed continue depriving us and your children of the quality of life that normal human beings deserve.
Arnold Cassola is former Alternattiva Demokratika chairman and former secretary general of the European Green Party.