A Favourite Channel caller-in’s justified rant, that went viral on social media this week, captures perfectly the spirit of a society that is exasperated at mealy-mouthed politicians attempting to play down the shortcomings of Malta’s COVID-19 strategy.
“Who are you trying to fool?” the female caller, a self-declared Labour voter, told Labour MP Silvio Parnis. And she was right: at a time of such alarming COVID infection rates, Prime Minister Robert Abela can hardly expect to be taken seriously when declaring ‘battles won over COVID’; or predicting a ‘return to normality’, when statistics clearly point in the opposite direction.
Labour’s metamorphosis
Despite Bernard Grech’s improvement in the polls, unless the PN can plot out a strategy to counter Abela’s incredible ongoing Labour metamorphosis, it has no chance of winning the next general election
Michael Falzon
26 January 2021, 8:32am
Newly co-opted MP Oliver Scicluna takes his oath in the House of Representatives (Photo: DOI - Jeremy Wonnacott)
A report taking up two pages in last Sunday’s
il-mument alleged that the current Labour Party leadership is plotting to remove three MPs from the current parliamentary group and replace them with another three who did not contest the last general elections.
The following are the top stories in Malta s newspapers on Sunday.
Times of Malta reports that Vince Muscat, one of the men accused of carrying out the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, is trying to negotiate a reduced jail term in exchange for admitting his role in the 2017 assassination. The newspaper also reports how COVID-19 fears have sparked depression, substance abuse, among students.
The Malta Independent on Sunday says architects involved in the project suspected to have caused the fatal collapse of Miriam Pace s home have not had their warrants suspended. It also says top management officials at Steward Healthcare s Gozo hospital have been told to start looking for other jobs, amid reports that the hospital will be transferred to the government.
Labour MP Silvio Parnis said on Monday that it was his decision not to form part of the Cabinet and not to contest the forthcoming general election.
However he had a good relationship with Prime Minister Robert Abela and would be loyal to his Christian Labour principles.
Parnis was dropped from his post as parliamentary secretary for the elderly during the December Cabinet reshuffle.
He said when speaking in Parliament on Monday that he had been offered a secretariat but refused.
Nonetheless, he said, he was proud of his 25 years in parliament and his work as parliamentary secretary, notably his work for the elderly. He had to introduce tough measures because of the virus. In a sense he was ‘a victim of Covid-19’ because of the criticism he received while he was parliamentary secretary, but he was confident that truth would eventually emerge.