Et tu Brute? This is the question Lawrence Gonzi must be asking those around him after last Monday he entered Parliament thinking that he commands the support of the majority of his MPs but walked out surprised – his word – that he doesn’t.
... a parliamentary majority does not have trust in (Lawrence Gonzi’s) decisions and actions- Helena Dalli
According to MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando – in his, shall we call it swan song? –it is not just him and Jesmond Mugliett but there are others who are not on board. This declaration was a source of great unease for the Prime Minister, as his body language in Parliament amply demonstrated.
No surprises for Richard Cachia Caruana, though – whose actions were the subject of the motion on which the Prime Minister lost his parliamentary majority. The long-time Prime Minister’s adviser said that he knew the loss of parliamentary majority was coming.
This obviously speaks volumes. It indicates why GonziPN depends so much on Mr Cachia Caruana. The latter could read the signs while the former couldn’t, showing that there are those who cast the shadow and others who live in that shadow.
But, at the same time, Dr Gonzi repeatedly claims and insists that Mr Cachia Caruana’s actions were undertaken upon his orders. If we are to take the Prime Minister’s word on this, then the logical extension to this argument is that he should assume responsibility in all instances and admit that a parliamentary majority does not have trust in his decisions and actions. What’s more, the buck stops with the ministers and the Prime Minister who have parliamentary seats. So, technically, Dr Gonzi’s resignation would have been in order.
What continued to emerge in the latest parliamentary debacle, especially from Dr Pullicino Orlando’s speech is that the Prime Minister isn’t really the Prime Minister.
True that there are always people behind the throne whom a leader trusts and turns to for advice. But in this case it is evident that one person commands a disproportionately huge amount of power.
Which begs the question: Do we really have a democracy? Do we really get the politicians and the policies that we vote for?
Sociologist and economist Max Weber, writing over a century ago on the subject, had claimed that “The day-to-day exercise of authority was in the hands of the bureaucracy and even success in the struggle for votes and in parliamentary debate and decision-making would come to naught unless it was translated into effective control over administrative implementation” (Max Weber in Gerth and Wright Mills, 1991:433).
The Prime Minister will not pass the test: he does not have this effective control.
In a leader that was published last Wednesday, The Times editor wrote that “it is very evident that the situation within the PN and, more specifically, within its parliamentary group is far from rosy. Order must be restored for the good of the party itself but, more importantly for the good of the country”.
Many are of the idea that the Prime Minister is not resolving much by his piecemeal “solutions”, when he patches up one hole in his sinking parliamentary boat, only to have water gushing in from another one in no time.
It is a fact that politics is, in part, about the personalities of the people in it. This can be evidenced in what has been unravelling on the national political stage throughout this legislature and others before it. But when things went wrong for Labour, it was decided that the decent thing to do was to go to the country.
In the present case, the Prime Minister keeps plodding on, throwing away our money on form, for instance on parliamentary assistants and a parliament building, while in substance Parliament disintegrates in front of our very eyes.
The Prime Minister solved nothing when he called for a vote of support from his party delegates.
The problems remained even after he called for a vote of confidence in Parliament. Now he has come to the point of walking into Parliament thinking he holds a majority and walking out with a minority.
Once Labour was faced with similar parliamentary challenges in 1998, Dr Gonzi had written that “this saga cannot last forever”. Tonio Borg, as an MP, had, echoing Oliver Cromwell, told Labour: “In the name of God, go.”
When the Prime Minister voted no for the divorce law in Parliament after the people had said yes in a referendum, his brother, MP Michael Gonzi, had said that one had to be a dictator to vote against the people’s will.
Staying on when you have lost the trust of around one third of your own MPs is nothing to boast about either.
A few weeks ago, I had described Dr Gonzi as a walking ghost dressed as Prime Minister. We keep getting more proof that this is the case, only now he has more reason to watch his back.
Dr Dalli is shadow minister for the public sector, government investments and gender equality.