What is illegal is not necessarily immoral and what is immoral is not necessarily illegal. I will make this very clear and with no apologies.
I am just shocked and bewildered by the stories recounted by Jason Azzopardi of people who were on the receiving end of social benefits signed (allegedly) fraudulently by Silvio Grixti. Most of these people, many have not been entitled to the specific social benefit that Silvio Grixti had signed for them, are definitely entitled to some help or another.
So why was it that a cruel decision was taken by OPM to haul these people to court, instead of regulariasing their position with an amnesty? So many amnesties were given to rich people in this country for their obscene tax evasion and law-breaking, but no amnesty is available to people struggling with their lives.
Here is just one story.
A couple lost their jobs and became depressed when their son developed a rare genetic disease that made him bedridden. The couple has to spend all of their time literally taking care of and attending to their son, preventing them from effectively having a normal life. They went to Sylvio Grixti and he signed for them a social benefit that technically may have not been allowed to receive. In practice, this was their only source of income and a lifeline of support for them. This lifeline of support is going to be cut off from them and they will end up with literally nothing as they try to take care of their sick and bed-ridden son. Who will help this family now? Where is the Labour Party in all of this?
Sylvio Grixti didn’t profit from this family. He didn’t ask them for votes or support for the Labour Party. He simply empathised with them and took a big risk with his career to help them. He took a shortcut and (allegedly) abused a system to do good and help these vulnerable people. Hadn’t these people been helped by Silvio Grixti, their lives would have been incredibly worse.
Silvio Grixti is a genuine socialist with a huge sense of empathy. Rarely if ever will you find someone who would risk his career and reputation simply to help the poor and the wretched: these are the people who are hidden from view by Labour’s propaganda machine as if they don’t exist. According to the LAbour Party, poverty is defeated in Malta, the best in Europe, with the biggest economic growth, yadi yada. The Prime Minister literally asked the corrupt scum of Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa to investigate these people and investigate them he did. Angelo Gafa didn’t investigate hardened criminals, cocaine dealers, and political criminals associated with the Labour Party and Robert Abela, instead, he investigated the poorest and wretched in society. What a total bloody scum, but he is satisfied serving his premier and after all, he needs to pay his mortgage for his new villa in Marsaxlokk.
I hope the Medical Council will back its socialist member and forgive him for his alleged irregular use of the system. The greatest medical racket is not Silvio Grixti’s irregular aid to poor people – the greatest medical racket is the flagrant and gross abuse of medical consultants at Mater Dei who double as private practitioners despite their six-figure salaries and, clog the public waiting list as a result while exploiting vulnerable people by forcing them to pay for their services instead of making sure that the public system caters for their needs. This is a common occurrence for many people. If you are seeing a private consultant, you will have access to Mater Dei’s services such as testing and screening much faster and more efficiently than if you were just going through exclusively through the public system, and this is not a racket? And Silvio Grixti has to take the fall by himself while consultants are abusing poor people left right and centre in the most psychotic way possible?
This is incredibly hypocritical and inappropriate in our society. Silvio Grixti deserves support and shame on Robert Abela for throwing these poor people under the bus for political convenience. What a total disgrace for the Labour Party to let Silvio Grixti take the fall on such a matter as it covers up for hardened criminals and politicians who stole from this country hundreds of millions of Euros.
I absolutely unashamedly and unapologetically declare my full solidarity with Silvio Grixti.
A number of families suffer on a daily basis because of illness. A huge number. Creating this scheme to help the needy and lure the rest to vote Labour was never the right way to do things. Prosecution will not take into account the humane motives but will aim to punish the abuse and if a person was never entitled for compensation, irrespective of other issues, taking the money made the person party to a criminal offense. You do not solve a social issue in such a way. The state should have a system to provide for these families. There are such systems in place for the elderly for example.It is unforgivable that Labour abused both the system and vulnerable families who now have face the music. If people in public office start playing social hero we might aswell not have rules and procedures in place. You solve the problem at source. And we all bl**dy know what the source of the problem is! We do not want heroes covering up for their party. We want a decent government that ropes in the best in the civil sector to ensure high quality standard of living. The Labour and to an extent PNs mentality (much much less pronounced) that “we look after our own” has to be eradicated once and for all.
Mark ir- rabja bhalissa hija kbira, u ilha. Mhux ghax hemm partit jew iehor fil- gvern, imma ghaliex suppost Malta qed titmexxa minn gvern socialista imma li mhux jahdem favur il- fqir, l- emarginat u min hu fil- bzonn. Tista’ tahseb 2023 u ghadna bix- xoghol prekarjat. Tal- misthija u tal- biki.
Motive is one thing. Means is another. This type of justification is fallacious. Similar desperate cases of those who did not know of Grixti, went by unaided by society. As a government MP he should have used his position to speak up and try and improve the social services system to include such cases.
There is no justification for what Grixti did. Period.