Paul’s persecution – Kevin Cassar

Labour’s rabble-rouser-in-chief Manuel Cuschieri has launched a frontal attack on Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses President Paul Pace. Cuschieri made personal allegations about Pace, accusing him of claiming overtime payment for days when he was on holiday in Egypt.

Conveniently, the Health Ministry sprang into action. “The ministry has taken note of these allegations and will be investigating them,” it declared.

Repubblika President Robert Aquilina published a 400-page report by independent international financial investigators that identified multiple crimes committed by Pilatus Bank officials including Antoniella Gauci, the daughter of Robert Abela’s canvasser.

A magisterial inquiry had ordered her criminal prosecution. The Attorney General and police conspired to ensure Gauci never faced justice.

Presented with incontrovertible evidence of the AG’s and police’s perversion of justice, the Justice Minister didn’t “take note of these allegations”. Neither will he “be investigating them”. When Minister Jonathan Attard was asked about those serious allegations, he said, “Why should it worry me? Because somebody published a book?”

Mark Camilleri published chats between Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar and Yorgen Fenech revealing Cutajar’s shameless abuse and Fenech’s unprecedented proximity to the OPM. Robert Abela didn’t “take note of these allegations”. Neither will he “be investigating them”.

Quite the contrary. He attacked Camilleri for the “misogynistic and cruel way” he revealed that information which he said had been “timed to cause maximum damage”.

Those chats revealed shocking details of Labour’s greed and other matters of public interest.

Yet Labour Party President Ramona Attard refused to comment. Instead, she “strongly condemned the publication of the chats”.

“It worries me immensely when private details are published, I don’t think this is the message we should be spreading in Maltese politics,” she said.

Yet private details about Paul Pace have been broadcast by Manuel Cuschieri.  Ramona Attard isn’t immensely worried about that. It seems Labour’s now changed its mind about exposing private details.

Robert Abela didn’t condemn Manuel Cuschieri for making those allegations. He didn’t call Cuschieri “misandric and cruel”. He didn’t worry that although Pace’s alleged abuse occurred in February the information was only leaked now and “timed to cause maximum damage”.

Cuschieri is at Labour’s core.  He’s just been brought in from the cold. He’s presenting programmes on ONE Radio again after his short-lived exile.

None of Labour’s chiefs expresses disgust at Cuschieri’s despicable accusations. Nobody at the Health Ministry is concerned about who might have leaked information to Cuschieri, assuming there’s any truth to his allegations.

Nobody among Labour’s ministers is outraged for subjecting Pace to an unfair public flogging. None of them are insisting that investigations should take their course and that institutions should be allowed to work.

Pace is currently Labour’s public enemy number one so it’s a free for all. Anybody and everybody is encouraged to lob grenades in his direction. Labour’s using every opportunity to discredit him.

Paul Pace is leading nurses and midwives in a battle for fair working conditions. He’s standing up to Labour and fighting for nurses and midwives to be treated like other healthcare professionals.

He’s demanding that nurses join the health service on the same salary scale as other professionals. He’s asking for nurses to be paid at overtime rates from their 40^th hour and not their 47^th.

He’s pushing the government to make conditions for nurses more attractive in order to reverse the haemorrhage of nurses . He’s trying to make sure that we’ll still have nurses in years to come.

You might not agree with Pace’s tactics.  His abrasiveness might put you off. His directives have often been dangerous and poorly thought out with little consideration for seriously ill vulnerable patients.

But there are legal means to combat irresponsible directives. Leaking dubious information about the union’s president to Labour’s agitator Manuel Cuschieri is not one of them. Neither is the ministry’s publicity stunt of launching “immediate investigations”.

But Labour didn’t stop there. In a press conference, Labour MP Malcolm Paul Galea, felt perfectly at ease commenting about Paul Pace.

“The issue of nurses’ pay and the investigation are unrelated,” Galea commented. How does he know? He’s a Labour backbencher. He’s not part of the executive.  He’s not part of the Health Ministry. Why does Galea have inside information about Pace? Who gave him that information?

“Investigations into claims that Paul Pace claimed overtime while on holiday is not intimidation,” Galea insisted. How does he know? Galea should not have any information about the investigations into Cuschieri’s malicious allegations.  He should certainly not have been making public comments about them in a press conference.

Ramona Attard refused to comment about Rosianne Cutajar’s chats at her press conference. But Malcolm Paul Galea was happy to amplify the negative publicity about Pace.

“I let procedures take place in court and not in press conferences….and not in books or blogs,” Justice Minister Jonathan Attard exclaimed when challenged about the shocking revelations in Aquilina’s Pilatus book.

But Labour has no qualms about having Paul Pace discussed at a press conferences, by a backbencher. And it isn’t bothered that Cuschieri lampoons Paul Pace on his radio programme without giving him a chance to defend himself.

This is nothing but vile abuse of power. Labour is using all its weapons to intimidate and silence Pace.

The leaking of spurious allegations, timed perfectly with the current industrial dispute, is nothing but unscrupulous intimidation.

Intimidation can prove effective but it draws attention to the government’s many failures.  It also highlights Labour’s rampant hypocrisy – closing both eyes to shocking revelations of criminal abuse at the highest levels while exposing petty personal matters for political gain.

Paul’s persecution reveals Labour’s ruthlessness and malevolence. Labour’s intent on destroying Pace.

It’s also sending a warning to everybody else that it will stop at nothing.  Any personal information held by the government will be leaked and abused by Labour to destroy its adversaries at the opportune moment.

Anybody who dares stand up to Labour risks vilification and defamation.

Paul’s persecution reveals one more thing – Labour’s harassment has backfired.

Nurses and midwives have rallied around their president and 97.6% of them are standing up against Labour’s bullying, abuse and intimidation.