Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa has given yet another interview where he said nothing new. According to him, all is normal in a state where there is total impunity for corruption. The police are still investigating, he says. Waiting for Godot.
One of the major problems with the likes of Gafa is that they have had a career so easy in the public service that they fail to understand the concept of material results. Fact remains that in one of the most corrupt countries in the world, not one single politician has ever been prosecuted for money laundering or corruption. Note, that John Dalli is being prosecuted for his bribery case when he was European Commissioner whose case was raised by the European Anti-Fraud Office. Gafa would be better off speaking about material results, but he can hardly do that, can he? He’s clutching at straws and taking credit for sociological changes such as the decrease in petty theft. The reality is that petty theft is lower in Malta not necessarily because the police are doing a better job, but because Malta was part of the same global trend where petty theft was reduced due to the world literally being on lockdown. Meanwhile, online fraud and online theft have increased but Gafa doesn’t tell you this because his police force is still miles away from even beginning to address them in a serious way. And I would assume that Gafa reads international statistics so in this case, he would have made his argument only on a presumption that his audience is misinformed and will believe his bullshit. I really have no patience with his likes in the public service who make stupid claims thinking they won’t be caught out. It’s just another reflection of the attitudes in the public service: fake it till you make it – or you don’t need to make it away as it’s all fraud.
On political interference, Gafa knows very well that he doesn’t need to be ordered around to know and understand what the Prime Minister expects of him. Gafa didn’t need to show results when applying for the post of Police Commissioner: Gafa was already one of Muscat’s and Labour favourites in the police force. The archetypical robot-bureaucrat is so good at their job that they don’t need to be ordered around or told what to do. Robot bureaucrats serve and work under a set of preconceived laws and principles which are tied with their progression in their careers. This is why Victoria Buttigieg was appointed Attorney-General in the first place: she spent a career as Deputy Attorney-General defending sleaze and corruption in the government and also in the police corps and she knows that this has pleased her masters and she knows that this is what got her promoted in the first pace. Victoria Buttigieg will keep paying very close attention to what her masters want from her and act accordingly. She is unprincipled, opportunistic, incompetent, idiotic and corrupt and the government trusts her because of these qualities: a useful tool and a controllable asset. In fact, Robert Abela has so far kept the peace with Joseph Muscat and Victoria Buttigieg has done just that: she kept the peace with the mafia by granting them impunity. But not only. She also faded a bribery case against one of Yorgen Fenech’s lawyers who also was one of her previous colleagues. Her most important objective has been, so far not to rock the boat and she has fulfilled her duty in this regard spectacularly well.
By now, whatever Angelo Gafa says is irrelevant. Enough time has passed for his honeymoon to end. All that Gafa can do now is show results. There is a great saying which can be appropriated and used as a reference to my point which is “Show me the money”. People often bullshit about their capabilities and their work only to leave out the most important part: where is the money? As for Gafa, we can say, “show me the cases”. There is still, yet so far, no single high-profile case which has gone to court thanks to Gafa’s efforts as Police Commissioner.
Show us the cases Gafa, otherwise, just shut up and get busy.
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