In an interview with Franco Debono (October 24, 2010), Chiara Bonello reported, among others, what Dr Debono’s vision of “justice” is. At the end of the interview I was particularly impressed by the words: “He praised Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici’s great contributions in the area of justice and home affairs.”
What I find increasingly disconcerting is the change in estimation Dr Debono has developed towards Dr Mifsud Bonnici in a rather short period of time. I wouldn’t like to trigger a speculative vein, but I would think that behind the scenes something happened that shifted the whole calibration of this “rising star” turned “renegade” and interpreted by many in his own party as a turncoat and a bit of a defector.
Like others, I need to register my agreement with a number of issues that Dr Debono has been raising over these last years. Many, myself included, have asked and keep asking if he has been demonised by his antagonists or whether he has shot himself in the foot because of the way he channelled his gripes and grouses.
Some have described him as “wanting to have it his way – or no way”. Not too sure about this analysis. I am more of the opinion that it’s a hullabaloo of mishandled emotions essentially.
I think Dr Debono wants to have a go at all those who he interprets as creating an obstacle to his ostentatious ideas. In fact, he was increasingly irritated that he was not being given enough attention by the party and by the Prime Minister (and his staff).
Some have conjectured and others have accused him outright that his interest essentially was that of publicising his profession, which, again, I think is a half-baked veracity. Even so, in past conversations I’ve had with Dr Debono, if I got him right, he was feeling that, somehow, people in the media were orchestrating his demise for taking out of the scene a number of party “stalwarts”, notably Louis Galea.
Now, just a note on the side.
I wouldn’t think the Nationalist Party is exultant at having Dr Galea out of the scene. Dr Galea was busy patching things up for Lawrence Gonzi prior to the last election, working his guts out on establishing one of the biggest educational reforms this country has ever seen and he still got the boot by the electorate.
Dr Galea carries the praise of many for the great work and targets he achieved in public policy, welfare and education. Getting him out of the scene further crippled the organisational and visionary capital the PN was evidently lacking so much. I think the PN has to reflect on how and why this whole situation occasioned in the way it did.
Was it preventable? Was it an issue of pig-headedness? Is it right, acceptable and justified that we have an MP shouting his head off in Parliament asking the Prime Minister, his own party leader, for what sounded more like a pre-boxing match press conference brawl than a genteel parliamentary sitting?
On the other hand, is it right that an MP is left standing like a tree when most of Malta is following the parliamentary debate and his audience is made up of just a handful of MPs? Is it what it looks like: strategically amplifying the orchestrated projection of Dr Debono as a hysterical, agitated and frenetic politician? If this is the case, I think this is highly unprincipled.
All of this is distantly related to the criticism Labour MP Adrian Vassallo levelled at the Opposition Leader because he felt that in this encapsulating new movement there is no space for him.
While Dr Debono feels that he was a breath of fresh air, the reformer of the PN, he is gently and gradually being hacked out. While Dr Vassallo felt that he was the representative of traditional values in his party he got the boot too.
What seems to be certain is that these two politicians, and a couple of others, will probably make part of the only other hatching process available at the moment, that of barn owls.
This is all so unfortunate because critical thinking is scarce in this country and any wastage is a loss for the political class, which, we must admit, is not too voluptuous at the moment!
(This article was written before Wednesday’s vote in Parliament.)
Dr Azzopardi is senior lecturer at the University’s Department of Youth and Community Studies