Business as usual, my foot!

Article from Malta Independent.

The issues at stake within the PN ranks go far beyond what really happened yesterday week in the House of Representatives. That the votes in question taken did not concern money bills is equally immaterial at this point in time.

For months we had been hearing of internal revolts within the PN which were temporarily fudged after an inevitable PM U-turn over the Co-Cathedral project, much to the dismay and irritation of power broker RCC and his band of cronies.

A Bondi+ programme was quickly hobbled together with the dissident Nationalist MPs, possibly to send a message of ‘reassurance’ that although these guys might have felt pained, annoyed and even hurt, none of them was prepared to jump ship and make the government lose its slender majority in the House. The same sentiment that found a perfect echo this past week.

Throughout the past months rather than giving us tangible proof of a strong pair of hands, Lawrence Gonzi has regaled us with various instances where he showed that he either decides to avoid confronting certain elements in his party head on; or else, that he tries to appease the most dissident elements and that he will go that extra mile to try and buy peace within parliamentary group ranks.

This seems to have been the case of the PM’s recent visit to Franco Debono’s family home in Ghaxaq, with his energetic wife in tow, particularly when according to the independent media she is known to have played a part in important meetings with disgruntled Nationalist voters before the last election, which the PN won on the strength of a slim majority. Mrs Gonzi’s presence shows further weakness on the PM’s part since it is patently evident that he even needs her assistance to bail himself out of such sticky and messy situations.

Apart from the fact that as I commented last week, the newly resurgent glorification of EFA is rubbing Lawrence Gonzi’s already tarnished image the wrong way, there were at least two other instances during this legislature which gave proof of the PM’s political weakness and inconsistency.

First there was the fact that he did not have the political guts to tell former Minister Jesmond Mugliett that he was being kicked out of Cabinet, and that he reportedly chose to send him a text message rather than make his point in a one-to-one meeting; and secondly the other even more embarrassing and more recent development, when outgoing Commissioner Joe Borg, who had first been given to understand that he was being actively considered for a renewal of his term of office, as seems to have been the case with almost half of the serving EU Commissioners from other countries; only for his wife to come to learn from State broadcasting that her husband had been ditched in favour of John Dalli without his even being among those in the final short list for the post.

But back to Debono’s walk out from Parliament where he was present till a few minutes before 7pm.

I will not speculate as to whether he chose to send a threatening signal to Lawrence Gonzi to take advantage of the PN’s very slender one-seat majority, before Gonzi could engineer a political revival of Debono’s arch-rival Speaker Louis Galea who is touted for a possible comeback, including a Ministerial portfolio if he manages to win the forthcoming casual election in January.

That, according to many, will be the real litmus test for Gonzi and possibly, the straw that will break the camel’s back! What is intriguing is that the original idea that he could have overslept was that he was sending a message to Gonzi to listen more to his backbenchers’ concerns. Which, if correct, implies that it was a deliberately premeditated move!

On the other hand it seems that Gonzi’s decision to offer Debono a sweetener by taking him over to a UN Summit on Climate reaped only limited and temporary dividends in terms of ‘buying’ internal peace. If Franco is really into climate issues why did he not also take him all the way to Copenhagen?

It was pathetic of the PN whip to try and give the impression that Franco Debono’s absence from the House was comparable to that of certain Labour MPs from particular parliamentary sittings.

While the absences singled out on TV by Mr Agius are something regularly sanctioned by our whip, in the case of Franco Debono’s absence, as Mr Agius himself owned up during the TX programme, he was not in a position to authorise Mr Debono’s absence since Mr Debono had not even asked for such permission in the first place.

The PN ‘business as usual’ reaction was pathetic to say the least, further proof of the extents they go to, to cover their tracks even at the expense of straining their own credibility further.

As the PL was quick to point out, instead of facing the problem, government was trying to hide it.

What happened last week was strongly indicative of the instability that is permeating government, the parliamentary group and party ranks.

Monday’s incident’s major significance was that, in spite of reassurances to the contrary, Lawrence Gonzi has lost control over his party, parliamentary and government machine.

One moment we had Lawrence Gonzi stating that “I don’t know what happened to Franco, but he has not contacted me, nor have I spoken to him” only to add that “If and when I hear from him, I will let you all know” only for us to come to learn, initially through Super 1 that the PM and his wife reportedly called on Mr Debono at a residence in Ghaxaq!

Whether Mr Debono feels that he is being sidelined within his party is for him to tell. What I can confirm is that many people close to the inner circles of the PN have been trying to gun him for months on end, with some of them even telling me point blank: “Next time, Franco Debono must go!”

Whether he will run or get elected next time round is not my problem, but his and that of the Nationalist Party. But what is certain is that no matter how many massaging exercises the PN PR machine might carry out in the coming days, the Monday ‘incident’ which in my opinion cannot have happened by mere chance or coincidence, will have damaged Franco Debono’s image within party ranks, and possibly disqualified him from any promotional considerations that Gonzi might have had in mind. Apart from possibly costing him a future seat too!

If on the other hand, Gonzi might opt to ‘promote’ Debono, even more so if he chooses to appoint Louis Galea – always subject to his making it in the forthcoming casual elections – that will definitely create a hornet’s nest among those Nationalist back bench MPs some of whom are reportedly already known to have expressed the hurt sentiment – that to get something from Gonzi one must kick hard.

The issue at stake is not simply one of Gonzi having to make do with an allegedly ‘troublesome’ MP but rather that he has had to face at least two embarrassing situations in the parliamentary history of this legislature:

a) that he changed a resolution that would have caused him political embarrassment had the Co-Cathedral motion been pushed forward without any government last minute change;

b) and that due to the Debono absence, we had an embarrassing tie in the House, something which is unprecedented under the Nationalist administrations of the last two decades.

Even more annoying for the PN itself was that the MP in question not only avoided several calls and messages sent to him by the media seeking an explanation for his behaviour but even worse, that without any valid reason being given he failed to attend the PN parliamentary group meeting held at Castille last Tuesday – where surely PN spinners could not dig up the flimsy and hoary excuse that they dug up to justify his parliamentary absence – that he might have overslept!

Xarabank is known to have changed its topics at the very last moment to cash in on a really topical subject that might have crept up at the 11th hour. Predictably this incident was no news for the WE crowd, so much so that they chose to push on regardless with their programme on the visiting Circus controversy. One cannot expect any better from people who continue to think that we are unable to read right through their patently obvious agenda... all over the years!

Meanwhile while wishing your staff, Mr Editor, and all your readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, I cannot afford to refrain from commenting on the fact that a particular business institution that only a few days ago complained that window shopping does not necessarily translate into purchases, and that retailers complain that business is still slow, is the very same institution whose front man – a former PN MEP candidate, had remarked in the wake of the budget, that business will still be good in December, since people will continue to spend, and only begin to hold their horses, once the new utility rates come into effect in January.

This definitely contrasts sharply with the recent statement by the said organisation that there is a lot of uncertainty this Christmas and that the very ill-planned and ill-timed electricity tariff increases are further dampening consumer expectations. No wonder this change of tack could have been influenced by the recent findings that the large majority of retailers – 69% – consider the prospects for this year’s Xmas season as being bad or uncertain!

A walk through many a desolate street of Valletta, in peak shopping time last Wednesday and Thursday was sufficiently indicative of how pointless such a hollow spin proved to be... unfortunately at the expense of many retailers who remain dissatisfied with the level of commerce after having failed to experience any cheer.

As for Gonzi, he can find solace in his beleaguered Minister of Finance who recently reassured us all that the PN parliamentary group had the utmost faith in Dr Gonzi.

He surely must be the last person to comment on such an issue, when it is even doubtful whether the PG itself, has complete faith and trust in him as Finance Minister!

Next week I will stick to tradition and focus on some of the best reads of the year that is fast drawing to a close.

Please visit the article archive for a list of available articles.