Political heat not gone away
At least the past week brought some respite from the unforgiving summer heat and the bubbling heat of the political fray. Attention was mostly on the in-vitro fertilisation draft Bill put forward by the government for a short period of public discussion after having waited for years to determine the best course.
The proposed course is already creating much controversy. Every proposal does that in Malta, let alone an issue as profound as this one, from the ethical and medical points of view, as well as the bishops’ pronouncement on it.
I doubt that the authorities will get clear guidance from the views put forward. The opinions that will count most are those of the medical experts and already they are at opposing poles.
An interesting non-technical aspect of the Bill is the role Chris Said, the Justice Minister, is having in promoting it.
Dr Said has been put to the fore of government pronouncements in recent months. There is more to that than meets the eye.
He is charismatic, communicates well and gets along easily with people, even those who carry along problems that other members of the Cabinet have been unable to solve. This Gozitan politician is very clearly going places and might not be so dark a horse when the Nationalist Party gets around to choosing a new leader, whichever way the result of the general election goes.
Meanwhile, there is a considerable amount of water still to pass under the bridge, whether Prime Minister Gonzi goes for a mid-autumn or an early spring election.
Ministers and parliamentary secretaries performing on the public platform will be all out to show their mettle, and never mind the summer perspiration and drying mouths.
While the week has shifted away somewhat from deep political issues they have not, of course, gone away. The two major parties are still regurgitating the past, not least the Mistra affair.
It now transpires that the Nationalist grandees knew, before voting started in 2008, that Alfred Sant was right all along in his accusations and political attack.
Yet they continued to promote Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando as some martyr though they themselves, according to Richard Cachia Caruana, gave him, and confidentially urged others to give him, the least possible preference under the single transferable vote system.
Little wonder that PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier, while calling urgent media meetings on how the Mistra story broke, pathetically refused to take questions on the deeper issue.
What also became clearer in last week’s comparative calm was the extent to which Dr Pullicino Orlando has further humiliated the Prime Minister by forcing him to enter into the queerest of coalitions with him.
Lawrence Gonzi might be happy with that lesser of two evils – the second being a Pullicino Orlando constantly on the warpath. He cannot be happy with his tattered self-respect and dignity.
Nor can it be said that the so-called coalition has calmed Nationalist nerves. There is still the question of how to reply to Franco Debono’s demand that his punishment – not being allowed to contest the coming general election – be revoked.
If the PN does accede to Dr Debono’s demand, it would lose more face than a million Chinese leaders embracing capitalism. It would, anyway, be a cynical decision and the word will be out to blackball Dr Debono should he really choose to contest.
If the party decision-makers stick by their decision, there is no saying what the angry MP will do.
He will not bring down the government, should Parliament really meet again in October, but he just might come out with a fresh outburst or two.
The IVF Bill has shifted attention from the nitty gritty of current politics. It has not driven them away. The fresh summer heat forecast by the weatherman will be accompanied by fresh political heat soon enough.
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m farrugia
Jul 31st 2012, 17:19
It now transpires that the Nationalist grandees knew, before voting started in 2008, that Alfred Sant was right all along in his accusations and political attack.
And what did you expect PN to do withdraw a candidate one day before an election.
It was Alfred Sant who was irresponsible. If he knew all about this scandal, why did he reveal it one day before the election? It was his reponsibility to reveal all scandals as soon as he got to know about them throughout the legislature. He played a dirty trick and lost it.
Eddy Privitera
Jul 31st 2012, 20:18
M. Farrugia:Have you forgeotten that GonziPN had candidates from two local council elections JUST 5 MINUTES before applications for contesting the local council elections at Marsa and Zejtun had closed, so that no elections would be held in those two localities well known as being PL strongholds !
So yes, GonziPN should have withdrawn the candidature of JPO even at that late hour !
Raphael Dingli
Jul 31st 2012, 05:28
It is not a coalition - it is a minority government now reliant on the cross bench support of the independent Mr Pullicino Orlando.
Saviour Cachia
Jul 30th 2012, 17:10
@Eddy Privitera and others.
I am not saying we remove the system whereby a candidate is elected in a district. He might be a person who is vote catcher, and perhaps that's the trick of the trade of all the political parties to attract the persons that they think can garner votes from the other side or floating voters.
But this is not enough. We need a further step. The chance to give the voter the choice to vote for the party independently. If a floating voter fancy a particular candidate and no party,he can still vote for that individual, without marking the box for the party and the vote will still be valid. But the majority rule should run supreme and yes, i am radical, that party with a majority, should be untouchable for five years.
The individual deputy will weigh his position and if he thoroughly does not agree with the Government, say bye bye to politics, or has the guts to run as independent when he is so sure that he can muster a quota and be elected on his on name.
` Reform please reform. We are swimming(!?) in a quagmire, and the majority is being cheated..oh coalition by the government with an former member of the government. We better go and tell it to the marines. Were it to a third party, ok, all well and justified but not with a former member of the government backbencher.
Eddy Privitera
Aug 1st 2012, 09:42
Saviour: Yes, there is a need for a reform. But I believe the most important aspect we have to keep in mind is that the system offers a stable government. Instability, as we are seeing, hurts not only the political parties , but most of all, hurts the country !
Gianninu Saliba
Jul 30th 2012, 15:51
Lino, somehow, yet again, you are either deliberately not telling the truth or you are very mistaken. The PN made it very clear that they found out about the signed Mistra contract when Alfred Sant showed it on TV and that was on the last evening when campaigning was allowed. What did Lino expect the PN to do the next morning? Did he expect them to break the law? Was there any way or means of preventing JPO from contesting the election the very following day? Lino, when you say something, please make sure that it is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, as the vast majority of us appreciate reading your articles. Even though lately you started giving them a red colour (your Joseph tries to hide the red, so much so he is only wearing blue ties and stands next to the EU flag).
victor bonello
Jul 30th 2012, 16:36
Ganninu.. P.B.O. if not mistaken insists that Dr J.Muscat had told them much before about the Mistra saga.
So why do you say they got to know last minute? which is the correct version, I am confused.
Gianninu Saliba
Jul 30th 2012, 19:14
Mr. Bonello, your problem is that you get confused easily. Dr. Paul Borg Olivier said that Joseph Muscat hinted that there was a Nationalist candidate who acted in what appeared to Joseph as being in a corrupt manner .. It was Fredu Sant, on the day that I mentioned, who made it public that JPO had signed a contract to lease the land for a disco. Up to then, the PN trusted the candidate to be telling them the truth. They had no clue that he was misleading them. It was only then that Mr. Cachia Caruana and others started spreading the word to people in JPO's districts not to vote for him. They could not risk losing the elections because of somebody was only telling them half truths. JPO got elected, but he was not given the opportunity to to become a Minister. We all know JPO's reaction... sour grapes.
victor bonello
Jul 30th 2012, 14:20
When we vote, we choose the party as well as the person. We choose the person from others because for one reason or other, we believe that person is more capable to represent us, or work better then others.
Saviour Cachia
Jul 30th 2012, 13:12
Whom did the Nationalists or who ever gave their vote to Hon. Franco Debono to be elected? They were choosing Nationalist Party to be in Government or Dr. Franco Debono on his own capacity? Has the constituents where Debono contested the last general elections elected a mini-God, or gave him their preference in respect that he was contesting on the Nationalist Party ticket.?
Has Debono the strengtht to revoke the National Executive decision not to let him contest in the name of the party in the next general election? Has Debono enough support to contest as an independent and manage to salvage his seat in the next Parliament
We elected Dom Mintoff or the Alfred Sant Government? . I am finding the present position very confusing, as it was for the Labour Party in 1998. Why do not we go to the polling station and vote equivocally for the party we want to run the country? That what will stand, no matter the members of parliament elected and their qualms within the Government and not theParty set up. mattrs of the party should be fought and settled within the party, But things of Governance should be dealt with in Parliament.
Is this dicattorship? So when a government is elected with a clear five seats majority, that in itself is not democratic-dictatorship, in the glorious name of the majority? How much does the country can carry on with the charade of one seat majority and all the perils and instability it promises. Reform please, reform. I want a stable government whoever the party might be. We do not elect mini-Gods. If they do not agree with the system, such deputies should quit . I do not like to have my country turned into a mini-Italy with no stability at all because the PM can never guess what personal whims can an MP have.
When i go to vote, consciously, i vote for the party. I just can stop there after ticking my number one and ignore all. So why don't I be given the opportunity to declare so outright in a special box reserved for the parties and not attached to individual candidates?
Eddy Privitera
Jul 30th 2012, 16:23
Quite true. But surely, we all know that thousands of people decide to vote for one party and not the other, because they admire some candidate or other. These are normally known as " floaters". And this section of voters is always on the rise ! So the individual candidate has a substantial impact on the result of the election.
Please choose the reason of your report below: