Robert the Honest - Kevin Cassar
Scotland has Robert the Bruce. We have Robert the Honest.
“I was honest, like the government I lead was,” Robert Abela declared with a straight face on the anniversary of his ascent to power. “That is how we will continue to be.”
If Prime Minister Abela truly intends to continue to be as “honest” as he and his government have been this last year, God help us.
Does Abela genuinely believe he and his government have been honest? Does he know what honesty is?
Honesty is about integrity, truthfulness and straightforwardness. It is an absence of lying, cheating and theft. It means being trustworthy, sincere and fair.
The whole country yearns for it because it is the rarest of virtues in our government. From one saga to the next, we have witnessed blatant mass deception, duplicity, cynicism, obscenities, falsehoods, secrecy and callous cruelty. One member of government outshines the next in the dishonesty stakes.
Minister Ian Borg was condemned by a court for masterminding a diabolical plan to rob a mentally ill person of his inheritance. And Borg secretly transferred huge swathes of land to the hunters’ and trappers’ association.
The Planning Authority ombudsman condemned him for...