Opinion: Miriam Dalli’s scaremongering

“I appeal to the opposition to stop their scaremongering campaign about Sunday’s power outage,” Energy Minister Miriam Dalli said in parliament the morning after almost the entire nation’s power supply was cut.

Outages were reported in Mellieha, St Paul’s Bay, Mosta, Senglea, Fgura, Santa Venera Qormi, Cospicua, Gzira, Msida, Zebbug, Marsaxlokk, Zurrieq, Paola, Marsa, Hamrun, Mosta, Siggiewi, San Gwann, Zejtun, Naxxar, Qrendi, Iklin and a host of other localities.

In some places power returned for a few seconds and cut out again.  In others it returned for three minutes, then cut out again.  But Miriam Dalli’s concern is not the nationwide power cuts but the opposition’s “scaremongering”.

Almost the entire nation is without electricity, and the government blames the opposition.  The party that’s been scaring the electorate that PN will send our children to fight in the Ukraine war is accusing the opposition of “scaremongering”.

The people aren’t scared by the opposition. They’re scared by the prospect of another summer of power outages, spoilt food, and blistering heat.  For some, it might be a mere inconvenience.  For others, it’s terrifyingly serious.

For disabled persons who rely on lifts and other electrically operated equipment for their mobility, power cuts mean a complete loss of their independence.  For those reliant on oxygen concentrators because of lung disease, power cuts deprive them of their air. For frail elderly persons, power cuts put them at risk of hyperthermia and death.

But it’s not only Maltese residents who were spooked by Sunday’s ominous power cut.  Foreign investors must think twice before investing in a country that cannot even guarantee a steady power supply.

They will certainly look elsewhere when they see the minister responsible for ensuring a reliable power supply turning on the opposition, accusing it of scaremongering instead of humbly taking responsibility and apologising.

“If nothing were being done, people would not have had electricity restored within an hour,” she insolently declared. Labour’s propaganda machine, ONE News, parroted the minister:  “The power supply in the affected localities was back to normal within an hour”.

This is Labour’s legacy – a broken country that can’t guarantee the most basic requirements. Yet, Labour expects us to be grateful and stop complaining because power was restored after just one hour.

It’s not just power that’s the problem. That same day LovinMalta published an article titled “These are the Maltese bays that have been contaminated by drainage from May till now”. A long list of popular bathing spots – from Tal-Għażżelin in St Paul’s Bay, to St George’s Bay in B’Buġia, Balluta Bay, St George’s Bay in St Julians – were on that list, some several times.

Without any irony, the ministry explained that “to ensure that our water is fit for bathing, we carry out monitoring every week, which is four times more than what the bathing water directive requires”.

What? That’s like an alcoholic stating that he controls his drinking problem by checking his blood alcohol levels more frequently than required. Checking the water more frequently doesn’t make it safe to swim in.  It just warns people that if they dare swim in it, they’ll fall ill.

So, if you’re hoping to get some respite from the heat when your power supply is cut by taking a dip in the sea, you might be sorely disappointed.  Power cuts also mean drainage pumps fail, increasing the likelihood of raw sewage pouring into our bays.

As news about the massive area affected by power cuts circulated, workers turned up at Sliema Road and started digging up the road.

That’s the same road that was closed between January and May, undergoing extensive repairs and resurfacing, and which was only completed on the eve of the MEP elections.

The earth-shaking works continued until 11:15 p.m. This is the staggering incompetence of the government, the unbelievable waste of public money. Mere days had passed since the major arterial road was reopened after months of frustration and delays for motorists—and the road was dug up again.

This is a broken country.  That’s no surprise.  Labour’s florid cronyism means that the most incompetent lackeys are put in key positions.

Karl Stagno Navarra first “worked” at Air Malta and now works at the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA). Most lack not only qualifications and expertise but also any sense of their own pathetic incompetence. Some are so dumb they think the job’s easy, and the country falls apart.

That level of incompetence and arrogance was manifest in Enemalta Chairman Ryan Fava’s comments after the widespread power cuts.

“The situation we encountered yesterday occurred because we are currently carrying out maintenance, which is very important to check that our equipment works when we really need it,” he said.

What do you mean when we really need it?  Don’t you think we need it when the temperature is hitting 30 degrees?  These aren’t the Middle Ages.  And this is Labour’s Malta, where the man in charge of the country’s sole energy provider thinks that he only needs to provide power to the peasants when they “really need it”.

“Switchgear, which is like a fuse, was not working well and now was the opportune moment to change that fuse,” he added, digging himself deeper into a hole.

“If we hadn’t changed it, it would have led to more frequent problems with the power supply.”

So be warned and be thankful that Chairman Ryan Fava has fixed that fuse and stop complaining. After all you didn’t really need electricity last Sunday, stop moaning.

We were regaled with more of Fava’s daft comments:  “It’s like having an MCB at home that keeps tripping, and you say: How come my MCB keeps tripping, and then you remain without power.” Who put this clown in charge of Enemalta?

“Thanks to the extensive work done by Enemalta and other entities, frequent power cuts should be prevented,” Fava concluded. That’s so reassuring.

We probably shouldn’t have frequent power cuts, just the occasional ones. So thanks, Minister Miriam Dalli.