What is happening behind the scenes

I guess the news of the week was dominated by four events.

The decision by Nationalist backbencher Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando to call it a day, the Budget speeches and the proposal by a Norwegian company to solve Malta's energy problems are pencilled in on my diary.

I think the other event which tickled the public's curiosity was Consuelo Scerri Herrera's decision to chicken out of a libel action against the bile queen blogger.

I can't fully understand the reasoning behind this decision.

Well, no matter what is said, the blog assault on Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera was completely unjustifiable, and disproportionate.

They say she is a good magistrate, but what she did in her personal life was paraded on the net for everyone to view. Her infatuation with Facebook did not help. 

It started off as we know, because the bile blogger and OPM apologist wanted to deflect as much attention away from her personal problem, dominated by flying saucers and police reports.

And the vomit parade all started because the subject was raised at a private dinner at the Magistrate's home, and would have gone unnoticed had not one of the guests (Lou Bondi et al) not SMSed the bile queen from the toilet itself.

This whole saga changed Consuelo Scerri Herrera's life.

It exposed her to ridicule and incessant abuse. It nearly drove her to insanity. 

And in all this tirade, her partner continued - I am told - to respect the political party which stood by, applauding as the magistrate was demolished and turned into an object of ridicule.

It should have led others to stop inviting people like Lou Bondi and his partner to their homes, but I am not too sure Robert Musumeci would concur.

At this memorable dinner party, this newspaper was dragged into the conversation at a private dinner and since then, MaltaToday has been the focus of this pathological fixation.

But MaltaToday can never be loved.

It was the newspaper that revealed and led to the resignation of MPs from both sides of the political divide, campaigned for Europe and divorce, confronted both political parties and found no qualms with revealing the network of interests and deceit that permeates Maltese society. From revealing fake Satanic masses which went unquestioned at TVM to white elephants such as the White Rocks.

But really, this fits into the Gonzi doctrine that anyone who questions his primacy should be demolished.

Very much like what happened in the time of Dom Mintoff.

And this kind of politics is what has made so many feel detached from the Gonzi administration.

Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando bowed out of politics at the right time when he is seen as the precursor of divorce in Malta.  If he had done this three years ago, he would have been associated with Mistra.  And Mistra is not something he should be very proud of.

If he did not lie, he was economical with the truth, in a business deal which he was entitled to carry out. 

I believe, as many others do, that the Mistra story as presented by the PN then, led to the PN winning the 2008 election.

If Alfred Sant had managed to present the Mistra contractual agreement beforehand, I am convinced that the Labour party would have won, hands down.

But as the days rolled on and we were embroiled in more confrontational talk in the post-budget debate, we are faced with the latest proposal on a new technology that could halve our energy bill.

Yes - reduce our energy bill by half and more importantly, put Enemalta from a red to a black accounting situation.

Let's say for a moment that the Sargas proposal is a sick joke, which it is not.

Why did it have to take the government 18 months to react to such a proposal?

Indeed, I would concur with what Edward Mallia had to say, when he claimed that he cannot find one reason why the government has not taken this proposal seriously other than the fact that it was first brokered by John Dalli.

John Dalli, as we all know, is not on Edgar Galea Curmi's the Christmas card list.  With all his religiosity, Gonzi's men have turned out to be admirers of Inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada.

Sargas's boss was in fact rather surprised that Mr Dalli was not 'appreciated' by the government. 

Needless to say, it would take only five minutes to explain to the Norwegian entrepreneur the reality of 'pique politics' in this new way of doing politics.  The history of fake reports, crooked investigators-cum-TV assistants, and the network of spin in Malta.

The moral of the Norwegian story lies in the very fact that the guys are offering to fork out a billion euros themselves, promising that they will produce zero emissions, halve the electricity bill, use biopaste and remove all the flue gases from the BWSC power station.

Perhaps this sounds too good to be true?

But then, that is why Stockholm is the green capital of Europe.

The Prime Minister and the leader of Opposition would do well to embrace such technology. The latter has, but the PM has been more cautious. I would hope he has his good reasons. Or better still, I would hope he has no good reasons to throw away a Godsend proposal of this magnitude.

There seems to be a debate, or a 'theme issue', every week.

As we continue debating energy, bloggers, magistrates and elections, the problems at ground zero remain the same.

The large King Long buses continue to break down, they continue to block the road and they continue to offer the worst possible public transport service we have ever experienced.

Before the public transport system was launched we had no chance to grill Arriva or to ask questions to the importers of King Long what the hell they were doing.

We had no chance to ask Manuel Delia about what kind of mess he was about to make.

Neither did we have the chance to ask the minister if he had checked on Arriva's 'capabilities' and 'abilities'.

Nor did we check on whether Transport Malta had looked into the routing.

No, instead we sat back, and allowed millions to be squandered in direct orders in consultancies to blue-eyed boys and additional millions spent in 'work' related to the new transport system.

When Sargas landed in Malta, someone ventured to ask that one needs to carry out a due diligence on the company and the real prospects of the project.

Yes, I agree, after all the mistakes we have committed there is little doubt in my mind that a project of such magnitude cannot not be looked at cautiously. But at the very least, do have a look at it.

The Norwegians are saying simply that. They are saying: "Yes, check us out."

The problem is that someone in the system has stalled the process.

When it came to other projects, the system was well-oiled and greased, the White Rocks complex and so many others come to mind. BWSC is another. There the system worked like clockwork.

Perhaps Sargas have not quite grasped what it takes for concrete decisions to be taken in this country. Perhaps!