Busher than Bush?

Some local council electtions are in the offing. Most councils have been a total disaster and should be dissolved pronto. Some other form to govern localities should be put in place even sooner.

The Sliema council was disbanded, and about time too. But now—till my grand scheme of finding a new way for local government is concocted and stealthily put into action— we have yet to vote in newer, hopefully fresher councillors, to keep Sliema clean, functioning and tidy. Easily enough said but seems sadly impossible to actuate.
What’s with these councils? Do they attract the worst villains or is the villainy set in motion once they take the oath of office? Enough idiots, unscrupulous turncoats and alleged pilferers exist to last us a lifetime in Sliema. May the new ones who are voted in be honourable men and women.

I wish the contestants well—and may they all do their job with no whiff of scandal, petty fighting or unbelievable changing of allegiances. And please, if any contestant is already acting hideously—even before he takes his oath of office—let’s flush them out immediately. No apology is enough—get him out before he wreaks even more long-lasting havoc.

Another contender seems to have been offended because he was called a clown. Can we also have his candidature revoked? I always thought clowns made the best politicians anyway—only sad part is that politicians do not all wear fancy, colourful garb. And most politicians also wear much bigger shoes than are fitting for them: just like clowns.

I laughed out hysterically loud when I saw a few posters—and unbelievably, even a billboard—saying we should vote for someone called Busher, and proudly telling us she is a foreigner. No harm there I say—the more varied contenders we have in the field the more coalitions, failed majorities and musical chairs we can expect. The Sliema circus seems to be extending its run.

But hold on. Let’s analyse the British woman who is contesting. Can someone really vote for anyone who just by name promises to be Busher than Bush? Remember Bush the younger? He talked garbage and acted terribly, going into wars where no one should have gone and moving the world into its rotten state of today. If my name was anything close to Bush I’d have changed it even before I was born.

So she might mean well but the last thing I want to see in dearly cherished Sliema is someone in council who could further fan the fires of feuding in a locality whose name ironically translates as—I hope Ms Busher was told this—peace. Poor Ms Busher I really didn’t wish to bash her this way. She is more than welcome to fight for her seat in council and if she gets elected I am sure she will find nothing but heroic cooperation from everyone around.

But now let’s go back to the times when Malta kept leaping backwards even beyond third worldom. Back then our country was nicely put on a par with the worst regimes. And we also had a strange law to regulate foreign interference. No one could come to Malta and denigrate Dom or his minions or his millions of followers. I promise I’m not harping back to those times, lest I am accused by some of being tied to our recent, but thankfully buried, past.

I’m just mentioning a slight change in attitudes. Back then we had foreigners accused and roundly—and rudely—deported just for speaking up about what they saw as undemocratic and wrong. This happened just because they were foreign. Today these same foreigners can, in theory, become our Mayors and councillors. Thank god for the golden age of yesteryear.

Off you go now and if you do live in a locality that votes go ahead and do so even if local councils should be banned—it’s all we have for now so let’s keep our vote useful and a guarantee of our liberty. Even if they resemble circuses it’s always better to choose your own kind of circus. So vote sanely..