Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/553115
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 9 AUGUST 2015 Opinion 19 If you want change, change the way you choose people in power Saviour Balzan I was wondering what the solution could be for putting an end to the era of the vulgarly colourful and uncouth Gaffarenas. And other such leeches. It is more than apparent that Joe Gaffarena and his son Mark were unhealthily close to both the PN and the PL. And both parties cultivated this relationship to extremes. There is nothing new in seeing unorthodox and rough sorts hanging around politicians. In the seventies and eighties, the lawyer politicians were swarming with thugs and bullies… at mass meetings. Need I remind any one of the names of these politicians? It is common knowledge that Joe Gaffarena was a political canvasser for George Hyzler, then a Nationalist MP. Hyzler, who hailed from Hal-Qormi, is a soft-spoken MP with roots in the bakers' town in middle Malta but who for obvious reasons chooses to live elsewhere. Gaffarena later also employed John Dalli, then another PN member of parliament, a political heavyweight, who was also from Hal-Qormi. That was the state of affairs, until the whole relationship unravelled, and Gaffarena sort of jumped on the Labour bandwagon, and at least for some time accused Dalli of all sorts of things. Which former Prime Minister Alfred Sant took up and used for his tirades against the PN at the time. The affair was known then as the Daewoo scandal! The Gaffarenas sort of gently exited centre stage. But they kept on operating and were very active delving deep into property acquisitions and making quite a thing with the Government Properties Division. They looked at and invested beyond property, moving also into petrol stations and, of course, cars. As we all know from the little that has come out in the last weeks, the Gaffarenas built for themselves an amazing array of properties and land, amassing assets that are worth millions. Today they are sitting on a gold mine and they know it. And they dish out money judiciously and in no uncertain ways. It is shocking and sad. They have hovered like glue around politicians from both sides of the political divide and, rest assured, they have sponsored everyone. Nearly everyone has been a willing recipient of their lavish- generosity-with-a-purpose. The decision by the PN in government to keep the Gaffarena petrol station closed by denying it an operating permit before the election, then to see the petrol station sanctioned by the newly elected Labour administration, was an unmistakable sign that the Gaffarenas had shifted allegiance to the Labour party. The latest revelations about former Inspector Daniel Zammit, son of former Police Commissioner Raymond Zammit, continue to shed light that the Gaffarenas kept an extremely convenient open line with members of the Malta police as well. The police – that institution that has lost most of the respect of the general public. I will not go into the scandal surrounding the murder by Joe Gaffarena's son-in-law. Enough said, other than the very simple remark that in another country heads would have rolled. In the last days Simon Busuttil has been filing defamation cases about stories published in the GWU newspapers. He has claimed that he never tried to strike a bargain with Joe Gaffarena to barter the petrol station permit for information on John Dalli. I am not one to believe Joe Gaffarena. But I cannot understand why Busuttil did not sue Gaffarena for libel. It is very true that the GWU Sunday newspaper it-Torca was not exactly elegant about the whole matter but it is rather obvious that the story and the source of the story was Gaffarena and his affidavit, not a PN source. In such cases, I would defend the right of the journalist to transmit the message, and I think that Busuttil should do the same. Having said that, I am also curious to know why Joe Cassar, the former Health Minister, served as an intermediary between Gaffarena and Simon Busuttil. I mean, why should Gaffarena use Joe Cassar as his ambassador? And why did Simon Busuttil accept to meet such a 'shady' character (apologies to Beppe Fenech Adami). Attempts to clarify the matter with Cassar left us not much wiser. He avoided answering any question, which of course left us with no answers, other than the nasty rumours being bandied around about the relationship. The truth is that Joe Gaffarena is unprincipled and is only interested in furthering his own interests. The sad thing is that most of our politicians, with some notable exceptions, not only succumb to his blandishments, they also openly embrace him. This is the same Gaffarena that will only use people who have influence. Even his notaries had some political connection: Charles Mangion, for instance, and, of course, architect Charles Buhagiar – two former Labour ministers. Which brings me to the long-term solution. The solution, as I see it, is a completely different approach, leading to denuding our parliamentarians of the need to sell their soul to the devil. It is in my view an electoral reform that would do away with the dependence on the likes of Gaffarena. We should embrace an electoral system in which voters would not vote for candidates but for the party, eliminating the candidates' race for the constituent vote. The rivalry between candidates in the same party leads the candidates to depend on a large budget, which enables them to 'buy' a larger voter base. The party lists are prevalent in France and Germany, and of course in the UK. This far from revolutionary system would bring a true revolution to our electoral system and it would also raise to a new level the void in the ideological status of the two parties, placing more emphasis and importance on the arguments and political approach, rather than on the benevolence of the candidates. Of course both the Labour party and the Nationalist party are vehemently against this system. But they know that with a new system that works well in much larger democracies we would do away, at least to some extent, with favouritism and cronyism. A few years ago there was much talk of constitutional reform. This is the reform we need, a reform that will lead to a new political class that does not build its hopes on the influence of the Gaffarenas of this world. I am sure that this opinion will be summarily rubbished and ignored because the system of patronage and influence suits our politicians just fine. @saviourbalzan The truth is that Joe Gaffarena is unprincipled and is only interested in furthering his own interests. The sad thing is that most of our politicians, with some notable exceptions, not only succumb to his blandishments, they also openly embrace him