A man for all seasons

Michael Falzon was one of a kind.  A normal, curious, dispassionate kind of guy who was well-read; one of the few individuals I know who could join the dots. I cannot say that we agreed on everything. Indeed, we probably disagreed on several issues. But he was someone you could sit down with and have a very good conversation. 

I remember him from his days as an opposition Nationalist MP in the early eighties. It was the time when the heavy-handed Mintoff era fashioned those in politics as tough and resilient politicians or journalists. 

When the Nationalist Party finally won the election in 1987, Falzon was one of Fenech Adami’s drivers for reform. At the time we pigeonholed PN politicians as confessional and non-confessional types. Falzon belonged to the latter. 

A successful architect, Falzon was delegated by Eddie Fenech Adami with infrastructure and later planning. A fair appraisal of the major projects under his ministerial guidance is not for me to make, but his role as minister here was crucial for the construction of some major projects, the establishment of the planning authority and the creation of Malta’s first comprehensive structure plan. This was no easy task and surely not after the mediocrity of the Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici years. 

I was at the time a relentless critic of Michael Falzon and it came after the very stressful Lorry Sant interlude which was peppered with numerous controversial planning policies and corruption scandals.  

Falzon was a matter-of-fact guy. He had worked in the Nationalist print media in the seventies and eighties. He loved politics and he loved writing. He was enthralled by the impact and the power of the media and the pen, serving as editor of The Democrat.   

When as minister he was faced with accusations that Balluta Bay was contaminated with sewage, he donned his swimsuit and called the media to photograph him taking a dip. That image stayed with him for years to come. 

When Fenech Adami lost the election in 1996 to Alfred Sant, Michael Falzon decided to invest his energy in a new media project. It was there that I met him and worked with him albeit for a very short period. I had resigned from politics and teaching and decided to become a full-time journalist. Michael with Charles Demicoli, John Dalli, George Papagiorcopolo and John Formosa had decided to launch the tabloid daily, The People. I was asked to join them. It was an ill-managed media company, but Michael was the one who would write biting editorials as Andrea Bocelli played in the background. He was the one who could sniff out a good story. 

That short-lived experience spurred me to start thinking of a new newspaper, the one that I write in now.   

When Alfred Sant lost the election in 1998, Falzon returned as chairperson of the Water Services Corporation. He was not a favourite of Lawrence Gonzi, the PN leader who succeeded Fenech Adami. Falzon was considered too liberal, having expressed his views in favour of divorce. 

Michael had numerous acquaintances and friends, some of them incredibly diverse from each other.  Yet, he served as an important mentor to developer Sandro Chetcuti and was instrumental in backing him when Chetcuti set up the Malta Developers’ Association. They were an odd couple; Chetcuti exuberant and singing his own praises and Falzon low key, with a playful smile and refusing to stay in the limelight. 

For over 24 years he took up a weekly column in MaltaToday and was always around for most of our anniversaries as a main speaker. 

In that opinion, he sifted through the weekly news and gave his unadulterated assessment. He was also critical of his own party and had no qualms in calling a spade a spade. 

I was very lucky for having him on my last programme of Xtra just a week-and-half ago. His comments on the Gabriella Vella magisterial inquiry during the programme were particularly gutsy. He said in no unclear terms that the decision by the Attorney General and the police to prosecute everyone mentioned in the inquiry was strange and wrong. His views in the programme are worth watching again.   

On the same day of his untimely death, he managed to pen his last opinion.

Michael Falzon had his morning coffee in a café in Naxxar, for years before that he had a table at Cordina in Valletta courted by a posse of close friends. On the table he would always have a newspaper which he would read from beginning to end. 

I will miss Michael. MaltaToday will not be able to replace his writing and analysis.   

Adieu Mike!  

Turning the table 

There is a concerted effort by government to change the law to restrict those who wish to kick-start a magisterial inquiry.  The reason is clearly because of Jason Azzopardi’s spathe of inquiries.   

This week Kurt Sansone reported this in an article, but he also gave context to this, reminding readers that some 18 years back the Nationalist government had tried to do the same, ostensibly to stop requests by the Labour opposition to have magistrates investigate certain allegations. 

Sansone wrote: 

‘The Prime Minister referred to an aborted effort by then Nationalist minister Tonio Borg in 2006 to reform the way magisterial inquiries can be initiated. “At the time Tonio Borg was foreseeing the abuse we are witnessing today but the reform failed,” Abela said. 

‘The Prime Minister stopped short of saying that at the time, the Labour Party in Opposition had opposed the reforms because they sought to limit the right of ordinary citizens to request a magisterial inquiry. 

‘The whole episode had been sparked by Labour MP Carmelo Abela, who requested and obtained a magisterial inquiry into how the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools was being run. 

‘Then magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera concluded there were no grounds for criminal action but noted several issues of concern.’ 

This episode reveals to what extent history repeats itself. 

Many people in government are irked at Azzopardi’s requests for magisterial inquiries into numerous allegations. But they should turn the table on Azzopardi and not restrict his right to call for inquiries. 

If I were the Labour government, I would get some of its members to open inquiries on the numerous stories that were reported in the media when Azzopardi was responsible for the Lands Department under a Nationalist administration. And if they need some leads, they need only visit MaltaToday’s archives for some unforgettable stories covering Azzopardi’s virginal past!