One of the projects that was left pending after my exit from the National Book Council in August 2021 was the National Book Centre in Valletta. After years of lobbying, I had effectively acquired under the National Book Council’s remit one of the first palaces built in Valletta and we had also successfully fully restored the building after its ceiling was collapsing.
We were also ready to start installing the electricity and the finishing of the building until the project has been gutted ever since my exit and very little to no progress has been made ever since. A project gutted by the Labour government out of spite and hatred.
It took publishers five years to finally reject the administration of the National Book Council and call for direct talks with the government. This is good news. The National Book Council can’t function without the support of its most important commercial stakeholders. A change of administration is in the offing, and the nightmare may be over.
My replacement was an intentional namesake-parody to belittle my legacy and the government was very successful in doing this: my successor gutted the industry and acted with belligerence against local publishers. He divided the industry caused necessary enmity within the industry and left the industry by itself during tis worst crisis in history.
I also bore the economic brunt of this belligerence as the Council engaged in gross anti-competitive behaviour by supporting my competitors in London while excluding me from its services, funding and support in this matter. I also had to take the Book Council to Court and my legal issues with the Council continue.
Behind the populist maximalism of the Labour Party, there is also systematic anti-competitive behaviour, nepotism, corruption and total destruction of big dreams of competent technocrats who can actually build valuable capital projects. The façade is glossier and fancier than what lies underneath.
Website Editor
Historian and Publisher
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