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The Prime Minister who discusses direct orders


Yesterday morning gave us another one of those answering sessions in which our Prime Minister gives away his skewed way of thinking and modus operandi.

When questioned for his views on Norman Vella's arrest, he replied that he will not comment on 'personal issues'. That's right. The Prime Minister said that Norman Vella's arrest is a 'personal issue'.

And THAT is exactly the disgusting thing about it! A man was arrested for four hours, his mobile and tablet confiscated, without any proof of misdemeanor and without him having broken any law, but simply because of a 'personal' issue - which issue seems to be a personal grudge Kurt Farrugia holds for him. That's the scandalous behaviour he was asked to comment about as Prime Minister: were the Police used to payback his Communications Co-ordinator's 'personal issue'? And once again, he backed off from answering

And why did we have to learn of this Super One's contingent free-loading holiday off our taxes from a blog rather than from a government communication? Why were we then told that it was a for a training course by BBC, only to later find out that it was a course given by Public Administration International? Why are we being lied to in every answer this Prime Minister and his government give?

That's not all for a single morning. The Prime Minister was being interviewed after the inauguration of 6PM House (of course, a company which roared to success thanks to PN policies which Muscat had rabidly opposed). It happens that one of the directors of 6pm is former Nationalist Party mayor Zaren Vassallo. The Prime Minister was asked why the government had given a direct order to another company to provide it with software for Mater Dei when 6PM was providing similar software to UK hospitals, and whether Vassallo's position had any bearing on this decision.

Do you know what the Prime Minister replied?

"This is why we are here today, to discuss."

What does the Prime Minister mean by this? That he discusses with companies whether to be given direct orders or not? And what would make the government change its mind in giving the direct order? A discussion with Mr Vassallo? About what?

This admission by the Prime Minister is a serious giveaway of his modus operandi. For such a large project, he shouldn't be discussing directly with companies about being given direct orders. He should issue an open and public tender as normally happens for awarding public contracts.

But in the era where transparency, accountability and good governance have become a thing of the past, that would be too much to ask.


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