For government ‘to move ahead with stability’

Whether because he succumbed to pressure, or because he has had a change of heart or because he would not like to be the one to bring the government down, Franco Debono last night voted in favour of a motion of confidence in the government. The Prime Minister has the clear vote in favour that he had hoped for after Dr Debono last week sided with the opposition to oust Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, a grave injustice if ever there was one.

This was the third confidence vote the government led by Lawrence Gonzi had to face in under five months.

On January 26, the government just made it through when a vote of no confidence moved by the opposition was defeated thanks to the Speaker’s casting vote. Dr Debono had abstained.

Then, on May 9, Dr Debono voted with the government on the Budget Measures Bill. That being a money law, it would have amounted to a vote of no confidence in the government had it not been passed.

Much to the annoyance of certainly the big majority, if not all, of his Nationalist colleagues in Parliament, Dr Debono last Wednesday embarrassed the government when he voted in favour of a motion calling for the resignation of Dr Mifsud Bonnici.

Dr Gonzi was quick to call a vote of confidence in the government after that decision. Given the sharp criticism Dr Debono had been levelling at Dr Mifsud Bonnici, ostensibly on the way things had been running when he was minister responsible for both justice and home affairs, the reason behind the Prime Minister’s decision may not be all that clear. This was evidently a personal matter between the backbencher and the former minister. Dr Debono had not taken the same stand when Parliament voted on a motion criticising Transport Minister Austin Gatt.

Dr Gonzi probably wanted both to put pressure on Dr Debono and also win time.

His gamble paid off and we are again back to where we were before the censure motion against Dr Mifsud Bonnici was debated and voted upon. What happens if Dr Debono, or the opposition acting “on his behalf”, were to move a motion of censure against, say, Nationalist MP Charlo Bonnici, whom he hit out at yesterday? Or against Justice Minister Chris Said? Or against Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg? Or, indeed, against the Prime Minister himself? Far-fetched? Perhaps. One can honestly only hope so.

The Prime Minister said in an interview with The Sunday Times that he wanted “a clear vote (yesterday) to know the government has the majority to permit it to move ahead with stability”. Does Dr Gonzi really believe, with hand on heart, that it is now plain sailing and that he and his government can move ahead, business as usual? Hardly.

In the same interview, Dr Gonzi made a statement that is very telling. Asked whether he was prepared to run the whole term, he replied: “I’m not just prepared. I’m determined to run the whole term – as long as the decision is in my hands.”

If such a decision is not in the Prime Minister’s hands, pray, in whose hands could it be, bar the Almighty and some calamity?

Just as Dr Debono can now kiss his political career goodbye, so too must Dr Gonzi realise that the vote of confidence he wants “to move ahead with stability” cannot come from MPs but only from the people.