The shrinking Prime Minister

I see that the Nationalist knives are out for MP Franco Debono. His unpardonable sin? Declaring he will abstain from voting on a motion calling for Austin Gatt to resign over the bus service reform fiasco.

Lawrence Gonzi has become a hostage not only of recalcitrant backbenchers, but also of the media manipulators within his own party- Claire Bonello

Debono maintained that he would do this unless the Transport Minister assumed political responsibility for the mess that is Arriva. Apparently the PN apologists find Debono’s actions completely unacceptable.

Not because the bus system is working perfectly. It is evidently not, and we are well beyond the teething trouble or tweaking the system stage. The way the bus service has been operating has inconvenienced several commuters who have to get to work on time, and who do not have all the time in the world to stop at every rural hamlet on two-hour long journeys. In this regard Debono is simply pointing out the obvious.

His call for the minister to assume responsibility is not far-fetched either. In a grudging admission Gatt has finally owned up to having something to do with the reform (though he somehow shifted the blame onto Maltese commuters for not appreciating the “avant-garde” system, drawn up by the ministry minions).

So now that it looks like the routes were drawn up by Gatt and aide Manuel Delia playing with Hot Wheels cars over a map of Malta laid down on the floor of the ministerial office, why is it thought to be unheard of for the minister to shoulder the responsibility for the resultant cock-up?

In other countries – the ones where elected politicians act with some amount of gravitas and in keeping with the responsibility of their office – ministers resign when they have been found to be responsible for inaction or ineffective action. They do this without hemming and hawing and trying to shift the blame onto the citizens who voted for them.

Only last year, Scotland’s transport minister Stewart Stevenson resigned over his handling of the gridlock and travel chaos caused by a heavy snowfall. Now the blizzard was hardly Stevenson’s fault, but he took the criticism in good grace and resigned.

In his letter of resignation Stevenson expressed deep regret and said that he could have done much more to ensure that members of the public were better informed of the situation. Compare this with Gatt’s half-hearted apology – one with no consequences other than that of the public having to pay for his mistakes by way of increased subsidies to Arriva.

So why are the Nationalist rottweilers attacking Debono instead of Gatt? Why lash out at the person describing the chaos, instead of the person responsible for it? It’s a bit like bashing up the little boy who pointed out that the Emperor was strutting about in the nude, isn’t it?

Terrible visuals aside, the Nationalist apologists laying into Debono are doing so because they feel his actions are highlighting the Prime Minister’s ineffective leadership. Several MPs are showing up Lawrence Gonzi as a man who cannot bring his MPs to heel. His response to their not-very-subtle challenges question his authority, his ability to call the shots.

What we have been seeing in these past few months is the reverse process of the creation of the GonziPN myth. In the build-up to the 2008 general election, Gonzi succeeded in carrying off a remarkable triumph practically singlehandedly. He did this by projecting the persona of a responsible statesman and an experienced politician – a leader who could be entrusted with the running of the country.

The whole campaign was based on the build-up of the persona of Gonzi, with the Nationalist Party being pushed into the shadows. This distancing of the Prime Minister from the party had the advantage of deflecting criticism from the Prime Minister’s way. Disgruntled voters could criticise the PN, but the Prime Minister was not the party and consequently criticism was not directed at him.

In the short term, that strategy seemed to be successful. However, in proceeding as he did Gonzi was sowing the seeds of discord which would eventually hobble his administration. This was due to two main reasons.

The first is that of making unrealistic promises to the electorate, and is the most understandable, as most politicians do likewise.

However, there is another, more serious reason which is contributing to the increasingly negative public perception of the Prime Minister. In order to win the last election, Gonzi entrusted the building up of his image to the media rump of the PN. Slowly this faction has taken over the party, and the PN has become more taken up with the dissemination of propaganda and spin than proposing policy or aiding its implementation.

The Prime Minister has adopted the negative mindset of this faction and seems to have started believing his own propaganda. Which goes a long way towards explaining why he is expending most of his energy on embarking on exercises in spin and not addressing matters of substance.

Gonzi has become a hostage not only of recalcitrant backbenchers, but also of the media manipulators within his own party. He is so intent on dancing to their tune that he has neglected to act on issues which affect the public.

This is the real reason for his diminution in stature in people’s eyes. It has little to do with the Prime Minister’s inability to rein in his backbench and everything to do with his inability to address the real issues, held to ransom as he is by the propaganda arm of the PN.

cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt