Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/750768
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 NOVEMBER 2016 24 E veryone knows that football is our national sport. Despite mediocre performances by our national team, and persistent rumours of corruption in the local game it maintains a following whose passion borders on the religious. Fans stay up all night to watch their favourite team and spend huge sums of money to watch them play abroad, but what happened a fortnight ago in Gozo must go down as a milestone in the importance given to this sport locally. A man, a footballer and ex national team player, was put under arrest for allegedly assaulting his wife and threatening to shoot her with a gun. Rightly so, until he was due to be arraigned in court the following Monday. What began as a routine case of domestic violence took on a twist the day after that will be viewed in the annals of Malta's Football and judicial history as definitely a first. Sometime on Sunday someone unknown from the Gozo Ministry made a phone call to the police asking them to release the arrested man so that he would be available to play for his team Xewkija Tigers for a 3pm kickoff. The police acquiesced and the footballer duly played for his team, which subsequently won. Now Xewkija Tigers is no Barcelona, and the competition in Gozo is no Champions League, but I suppose the result must have been very important to the person who made that phone call, and judging by the result of the match he probably thinks his action was more than justified. The footballer was arraigned the day after and released under certain conditions. A whole hallabaloo was raised when the incident became public knowledge. An inquiry has been launched, but curiously a Magistrate was not appointed to head it, but an ex-army officer. Some have tried to make political capital of the incident. I am no fan of Joseph Muscat but even if he did micro manage his ministers and departments, which he apparently does not, I would find it hard to believe he had anything to do with the goings on in a village in Gozo on a Sunday afternoon. What is concerning, however, is the following: 1. A man was released into the community after threatening his wife with a firearm. There was nothing to stop that man following up on that threat from the time he was released to when he was arraigned in court. The victim was left defenceless by the very people who are paid to protect her. This shows a total disregard by our police for the seriousness of domestic violence and sends signals that victims cannot be sure of police support. The percentage of unreported cases of domestic violence is sill very high. If they are not given their due importance we cannot expect the situation to improve. Remember we have already had several cases in the past few years which were not acted upon and eventually led to the victim's death. 2. What happened is a symptom of the deteriorating standards within our police force. Poorly trained police leads to a poor response. Five commissioners in three years does not make for effective leadership and no non- professional CEO will change that. What is needed is an experienced apolitical Commissioner who does not give a flying cuckoo who is in government. 3. That a ministry official even considered it feasible to influence the police is indicative of how far this country has slipped down the slope of lack of accountability and responsibility and poor governance. The puerile reason for which it was done is irrelevant. It sends signals that the rule of law in this country holds no water with those with the right connections, be they personal, business or political. It is time Malta and its government took a reality check. The increasing anarchy in its institutions does no one any favour in the long run. Cronyism and its after effects are eroding the pillars of our society. This is a direct result of the two party system we have had for way too long, and will continue to do so if things aren't changed. In the meantime whoever is running this country. is responsible to grab it by the neck and haul it from the abyss it is taking into. Economic success alone does not make for a well run country and this government will not be judged on that singular issue. Anthony Buttigieg is deputy leader of the Partit Demokratiku M onths have passed since it was revealed that Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri had opened a shell company in Panama, in whose bank account a minimum of one million dollars was to be deposited, and we are still none the wiser as to why exactly these two chose a secretive, tax evading jurisdiction for their company. Neither do we know from where the minimum of one million dollars was to come from. When Trump was asked about his tax evading antics, he just brushed them off by saying that he is a 'good businessman'. So called 'good businessmen' and good governance are like oil and water. They don't mix. If Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri do not like their salaries and perks as Minister and Head of Secretariat (the new pompous title is 'Chief of Staff '), then they should not have got involved with the fake Joseph-centred 'moviment' at all. Fossil fuels This week we had Marlene Farrugia, a self-declared 'environmentalist' independent MP riling against solar farms on Facebook. At the same time the government completely ruled out wind energy from the revised renewable energy strategy. Now, as any real ecologist knows, climate change is real and hence a drastic reduction in the use of fossil fuels is necessary. What must be ascertained is that solar farms are not used as an excuse for other kinds of development, that the quarries used for this purpose are not cemented over and that all interventions are reversible. Otherwise solar farms, biomass, offshore wind, floating PVs and also carefully planned onland wind turbines will be necessary for a zero-carbon future. Prices of technology change, and what may be expensive today might become viable in the future. Investment in the strengthening of the electricity distribution system is also an absolute must. It is hypocritical and short sighted to accept fossil fuel operated power plants, just because emissions are invisible to the eye, but then oppose clean and renewable energy sources because solar panels look 'ugly'. Apart from the quality of life benefits, it is also in our economic interest to reduce as much as possible our dependence on imported fuels. Pandering to lobbies The PL and PN's idea of 'progress' are hauntingly similar. They want to spend billions on an underwater tunnel. An admission of their failure to create jobs in Gozo. In the meantime for years on end we've been hearing of a fast internet link for Gozo, something which is essential for job creation. Year after year, budget after budget this 'link' never materializes. Since it was one of its proposals, the PN took credit for removing stamp duty on properties in Gozo – not for first time buyers, but for everyone and anyone. Another PL-PN coalition to speed up the cementification of the island. They both promised an airport in Gozo, as if daily commuters between Malta and Gozo will fork out expensive tickets for a plane ride to Luqa. The smaller the country the bigger the megalomaniac visions, it seems. They want more cars, more planes, more cement. Busuttil also declared in Parliament that he can't see any planes landing in Gozo. Great. May it remain that way. The problem is and remains the PL and PN coalition of shortsightedness and their pandering to the usual lobbies. Ralph Cassar is secretary- general of Alternattiva Demokratika and local councilor at H'Attard Opinion A coalition of cranes, planes and fossil fuels The curious case of the footballer in Gozo Ralph Cassar Anthony Buttigieg The PN took credit for the removal of stamp duty on properties in Gozo – not for first-time buyers, but for everyone and anyone. Another PL-PN coalition to speed up the cementification of the island It is time Malta and its government took a reality check. The increasing anarchy in its institutions does no one any favour in the long run