Pig fodder

Robert Abela told us she has not pigged out enough. And he told you to stay put, because all you’re good for is to be pig fodder.

Just a few hours after becoming prime minister, Robert Abela fired Justyne Caruana. He was brand new. He was saying he would be turning the page and cast away the shadow that brought down Joseph Muscat’s government.

Why did he fire her? Not because she did something wrong. The wrong thing was done by her husband. Her husband at the time – her ex now – was Silvio Valletta. He was Deputy Police Commissioner and header the criminal investigations department. For as long as he was the CID boss some half a dozen car bombs were let off in Malta. He never charged anyone. Then they blew Daphne Caruana Galizia up. Instead of investigating the homicide he dined with Yorgen Fenech and let him pay for his trips abroad to watch Champions League matches.

When he was investigating, Daphne Caruana Galizia’s family sued the government to have Silvio Valletta removed. They argued that since his wife was a government minister there was no way he could conduct an impartial investigation. They won the suit. Twice.

When Silvio Valletta was caught wallowing in Yorgen Fenech’s pocket, he had to quit the police. Justyne Caruana said she had no idea what her husband was up to. She still lost her government job.

A little bit later she was made minister again. After all the sin had not been hers, so it was quickly forgiven. She did not last long. This time it wasn’t her husband. It was her boyfriend. She forced her department to contract her boyfriend for work he had no skill to do. She stole government money – your money – to gift them to her boyfriend. She was fired again. This time it was her fault.

Then there’s Rosianne Cutajar. An independent investigation found that while serving as an MP she collected a commission on a property deal and failed to declare her income. She was in government when she was caught, and she got fired.

The commission was for a Yorgen Fenech deal.

Rosianne Cutajar spoke in the interests of Yorgen Fenech. She spoke in his interests in Parliament. And in her four years as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe she spoke but once: she stood to claim that the Electrogas scandal should not be confused with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Everyone is free to speak their mind in Parliament. But there are rules. One of the rules says that you cannot allow someone to pay you to say something. You must declare a conflict of interest. What she did not say when she was defending Yorgen Fenech was that while she spoke on his behalf in Parliament, he was buying her gifts, giving her money and clothes, and sleeping with her.

We found this out. And we also found out that when she was fired from the government, she fixed herself a government salary to pay her for no work. She admitted it herself, in writing, in chats with her lover. She knew she was stealing. She told him, “Everybody pigs out”.

When we found this out, she was fired from the Labour Parliamentary Group.

I’m reminding you of this because after firing them Robert Abela said it is time for Justyne Caruana and Rosianne Cutajar to be brought back to politics. Why? What changed since he fired them?

Did they admit they did wrong and said they were sorry? No.

Did they give back the money they stole? No.

You employ the government. It works for you. If this was your business, would you hire someone you caught stealing from you? I’m not telling you to withhold forgiveness or to punish someone for life. But if someone seeks absolution, surely, they must first show contrition and give back what they stole.

Robert Abela’s statement was criticised.

Sound questions were made.

When someone comes to you to start a career in politics, would you present them as candidates if you know they stole from their workplace?

If stealing and lying are forgiven, what need you to do to lose your political job for good?

If Cutajar and Caruana are coming back, are Chris Cardona and Konrad Mizzi next?

Robert Abela replied regarding Mizzi. He said it was not necessarily the case that Konrad Mizzi would be coming back. Why? What has Konrad Mizzi done? No one charged Konrard Mizzi in court. Is he also innocent?

Robert Abela is not embarrassed by his logical contradictions. He is not worried he is being caught turning wrong into right.

It bothers you. You’re not feeling anger. You were angry when you heard Rosianne Cutajar declare everyone pigs out. But now that she’s coming back like the Second Coming, you’re too tired to be angry.

You’re just sad you live a country which does not distinguish between right or wrong and you can do nothing about it. You live in a country that expects you to forget your lessons at school, at catechism, or at your father’s feet: that it is better to be honest than a thief, that it’s not right to steal from others, that if you keep to the straight and narrow justice will be done on you as on those who cheat you.

You live in a country where you must regret teaching your children to follow their conscience; that you taught them they have a duty to their neighbours and people they do not know. You regret teaching your children to pay their last penny owed in tax because being a citizen means you help the less able. You mostly regret being such an idiot for encouraging your children to sacrifice their careers and their potential incomes, to serve their neighbours in the civil service or in politics.

Instead, you live in a country where pigs forgive themselves because they say everybody does. No wonder Rosianne Cutajar sent that message to one who was such a pig that … better stop there. After all everybody is innocent until proven otherwise.

Where it suits them, they’re quick to hind behind the laws of civility.

We found out about that message – everybody pigs out – because Mark Camilleri published it along with the rest of Rosianne Cutajar’s messages found at Yorgen Fenech’s. Now Mark Camilleri has been ordered to remove the chats. He’s appealing and we’ll see how that ends.

But let us say Yorgen Fenech gets his way, and the chats are removed. Let us say that eventually we forget what Rosianne Cutajar told him. Let’s say that because of this collective amnesia, this lobotomy they did to us, Rosianne Cutajar becomes a government minister.

You won’t be left with anger. You’ll be left with sadness. That once you had a country where you could hope that good prevails. But now, with your money and your citizenship, they took away your hope.

MANUEL QAL, Season 1 Episode 3

Written by Manuel Delia
Video Production: Michael Kaden / NEWZ.mt