Today, we have the honour of presenting the first edition of the Prime Puppet Award.
It is our great pleasure to announce that the Prime Minister has been selected to receive this prestigious prize in recognition of his loyal service to developers in our country.
The Prime Minister’s absolute devotion to the interests of developers in Malta is undeniable. He has always done his best to meet developers’ every need, an effort for which he deserves to be recognised and celebrated.
Of all the candidates nominated in the first edition of this prestigious award, the Prime Minister stands out as the prime servant of developers. Among the many distinctive qualities that make him the indubitable winner, the way he bends over backwards to appease those pulling his strings and employs mental gymnastics to justify his decisions are among the most obvious.
One can mention, for example, the way the Prime Minister has still not introduced the promised reform in development appeals, allowing developers to continue building while an appeal is ongoing. A certain Joseph Portelli, who sent in a testimonial endorsing the Prime Minister, said he is very satisfied and remains indebted to him for the delay in the reform.
The Prime Minister also won points in the competition for Prime Puppet for allowing the Planning Authority to ignore the Court’s decisions and issue permits for illegal buildings. The same Portelli, in his submission, admitted that while he could hardly believe the Prime Minister was ready to go so far in service of developers, he is eternally grateful for his bold actions.
The Prime Minister cemented his status as the Prime Puppet and made his award a foregone conclusion with his decision to change the Local Plans to appease the developer of Villa Rosa. A certain “Tal-Franċiż” said that the Prime Minister jumped at his request to change the Local Plans to allow him to build a larger project, promising that he would do his utmost to make it happen.
Such service, bearing witness to the Prime Minister’s absolute loyalty to developers, cannot go unacknowledged.
It was therefore a great honour for us to have had the opportunity today to confer this Award to the Prime Puppet of Developers, and we hope that the Prime Minister is just as enthusiastic and proud to receive it.
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Premju ‘L-Prim Qaddej tal-Iżviluppaturi
Illum għandna l-unur li qed nippreżentaw l-ewwel edizzjoni tal-Premju lill-Prim.
Bi pjaċir kbir, qed inħabbru li l-Prim Ministru ġie magħżul biex jirċievi dan il-premju prestiġjuż bħala rikonoxximent tas-servizz leali tiegħu lejn l-iżviluppaturi f’pajjiżna.
Il-fedeltà assoluta tal-Prim lejn l-interessi tal-iżviluppaturi f’pajjiżna hija xi ħaġa li ħadd ma jista’ jinnegaha. Il-Prim dejjem ra kif għamel biex jaqdi lill-iżviluppaturi f’kulma jkollhom bżonn, u ta’ dan jeħtieġ li jirċievi r-rikonoxximent mistħoqq.
Mill-kandidati kollha nnominati fl-ewwel edizzjoni ta’ dan il-premju prestiġjuż, il-Prim bla dubju jiżboq lil kulħadd bħala prim qaddej tal-iżviluppaturi. Fost il-ħafna preġji tiegħu li jagħmluh ir-rebbieħ evidenti ta’ dan il-premju, il-Prim spikka għall-mod kif jagħmel kull kutrumbajsa possibbli hekk kif l-iżviluppaturi jiġbdulu l-ispaga.
Insemmu biss, pereżempju, il-mod kif il-Prim Ministru baqa’ ma daħħalx ir-riforma fil-liġi tal-appelli sabiex l-iżviluppaturi jkunu jistgħu jibqgħu għaddejjin jibnu waqt li għaddej appell. Fost it-testimonjanzi li rċevejna, ċertu Joseph Portelli stqarr li jinsab tassew ferħan li l-Prim għażel li ma jdaħħalx din ir-riforma, u ta’ dan se jibqa’ jafhulu.
Punt ieħor li għamel lill-Prim tagħna kandidat ideali għal dan il-premju kien il-fatt kif ħalla lill-Awtorità tal-Ippjanar tmur kontra deċiżjonijiet tal-Qorti u toħroġ il-permessi għal bini illegali. L-istess Portelli stqarr magħna li lanqas hu stess ma seta’ jemmen li l-Prim kien lest jagħmel dan għalihom, u li jinsab eternament grat għal dan.
Però, dak li għamel lill-Prim l-unika rebbieħ possibbli ta’ dan il-premju kienet id-deċiżjoni li jibdel il-Pjanijiet Lokali biex jaqdi lill-iżviluppatur ta’ Villa Rosa. Ċertu wieħed “Tal-Franċiż” stqarr li meta talab lill-Prim biex jibdillu l-Pjanijiet Lokali ħa jkompli jkabbar il-proġett, il-Prim ħatfu fil-kelma u qallu li se jagħmel minn kollox biex jaqdih.
Dan is-servizz li jixhed lealtà assoluta lejn l-iżviluppaturi ma setax jibqa’ ma jiġix rikonoxxut.
Kien ta’ unur għalina llum li kellna l-opportunità nikkonferixxu dan il-Premju lill-Prim Qaddej tal-Iżviluppaturi, u nittamaw li l-Prim jinsab entużjast u kburi daqsna b’dan l-unur li rċieva.
