Rewind back to 1987

In 1987, the Labour Party, newly in opposition, was at its lowest point in years. And yet in spite of its horrendous handling of human rights and its institutionalisation of corruption from 1971 until 1987, its political leaders continued to act as if all that had happened was above board, and operated in complete denial. 

Every time the Labour party pointed out some questionable position by the Nationalist administration which succeeded it to the seat of power, it was ignored and laughed at.

The opposition was ridiculed and could not even stand up on its own two feet.

In 1987, the decision to build a new power station within walking distance of the picturesque fishing village at Marsaxlokk was the first major example of Labour’s impotence in opposition. 

The new power station was piloted by then minister Ninu Zammit and no one gave a flying hoot what the Labour opposition or NGOs had to say about the implications of the project. No one even cared that the siting of the power station was purposely situated to spite Dom Mintoff, who had a small summer residence on the Delimara peninsula, in the shadow of the new power station’s chimney. Promises then that the Marsa power station would be closed down turned out to be just hollow promises.

The opposition had no credibility, especially when it criticised all the appointments of young incompetent party diehards to boards and commissions or of the various allegations of nepotism under various ministers, including individuals such as Louis Galea.

Fenech Adami characteristically would stand by all his errant ministers, even when it was obvious they had done wrong. But he was invincible then.

Better still, every single time the opposition ranted, Fenech Adami and his ministers would handpick one of the many cases of irregularities under the Labour administration and neutralise the opposition.

It was to continue for a good number of years.

Fast forward to 2014 and the PN is tasting some of its own bitter medicine. History not only repeats itself, it replicates itself.

When George Pullicino stood up last Monday to query the power station time line, he obviously could not come to terms that his legacy as a minister would return to haunt him.

The Pullicino style of running a ministry was not only awkward, not only strange but also simply just bad.

I can vouch for this personally because I served as his consultant for some years and I can say that he may have impressed me for his intelligence but he lacked the decision making nous and was so confusing in the way he took decisions.

The last time I spoke to him was just before the introduction of the Outside Development Zones in 2007. It was a scandalous scheme that led to the destruction of large tracts of pristine land to the advantage of hundreds of land speculators. His height policy also led to the decimation of Malta’s skylines.

After 2008 Pullicino saw MEPA removed from under his ministerial responsibility and he was given the responsibility of agencies such as WasteServ.

Which led the auditor general to point out in a report on WasteServ the deficiencies and total anarchy in the management of the agency. At the time Leo Brincat, then in opposition, had called for Pullicino’s resignation.

Of course, Pullicino did not resign.

In 2008, when Lawrence Gonzi appointed Austin Walker, his colleague from the Mizzi organization where he had worked, to head MEPA, Walker, on a wage of just under €100,000 said that he had inherited ‘an authority with zero credibility.’

Many people may be shocked in the way Muscat’s administration favours development but really I see little difference from the days of George Pullicino.

Pullicino’s appointments at MEPA included individuals such as Ronald Azzopardi.  An incredible appointment when one considers that the man in question was and is involved in various litigation issues related to some very serious payment cases. Azzopardi owed so much money that he was the target of a shooting incident by Giosue Gauci.

This week Pullicino yelled in parliament that he is cleaner than all the opposition put together.

It may be so, but there are people who find his assertion difficult to believe. I am too sure that the people who hovered around him were as clean as he purports himself to be.

I also recall some episodes where George Pullicino’s actions spoke louder than words.

10 years ago when the tuna controversy was at its height, a Maltese tuna magnate who was being investigated upon orders of the European Commission for fishing and ship-registration irregularities, invited environment minister George Pullicino and former MEPA chairman Andrew Calleja for a yachting trip to Sicily on a chartered yacht.

The ill-fated voyage was organised at the end of April 2007. It could easily have turned into a veritable disaster, had the trio not decided to disembark from the yacht at Pozzallo, and meet up with the skipper in Syracuse.

At the time MaltaToday had reported that the Maltese chartered yacht never reached its destination. Instead the yacht ‘strangely’ motored straight into a reef, causing serious hull damage and cutting the trio’s sailing holiday short.

The tuna magnate’s trip to Sicily, accompanied by the then chairman of the MEPA board, as well as the minister responsible for MEPA, did not pass unnoticed by a contingent of Maltese sailing boats, which in fact were in the area for the traditional Marzamemi sailing race.

The presence of George Pullicino and the MEPA chairman, together with the tuna magnate, on the quay at Syracuse, was soon to be the talk of the 30-odd Maltese racing teams, who ended up raising questions of conflicts of interest between politicians and big businesses.

A spokesman for George Pullicino had told MaltaToday that the minister saw no conflict of interest, nor had Pullicino ever felt the need to declare his close friendship with the magnate.

Well, that is George Pullicino for you.

Now just imagine, that instead of the tuna magnate you had Sandro Chetcuti, instead of Andrew Calleja you had Johann Buttigieg and instead of George Pullicino you had had Michael Falzon.

What would Pullicino say?

Today Pullicino faces many queries over the mess in the Solarig tendering affair. One in which an apparently fraudulent banking document was presented to effectively win a tender worth €35 million. And upon which the whole project was given the green light by George Pullicino’s permanent secretary.

To me, apart from the potentially forged document, the real question that anyone should ask is why should any government offer a company to use public buildings to install photovoltaic panels and then pay them an amazing rate over the normal 16c feed-in tariff.

Pullicino is in what we should call the proverbial shit.

Konrad Mizzi has managed to divert attention from the very valid questioning on the power station’s timeline by stirring some shit on Pullicino. It was not too difficult.

Next time the opposition wants to raise a point, they should bring in a Maria Goretti to pilot its motions. I suggest they keep the Goretti character on their benches for the next seven years. It is the time I calculate Muscat can get away with murder before his invincibility starts to crumble… slightly!