Nationalist MP Franco Debono said today that comments about him by Eddie Fenech Adami were unfair, and the former President and Prime Minister had told him how he had phoned Austin Gatt, warning him that the changes to the bus system  would not work.

Dr Debono, who abstained in a no confidence vote in the minister last Friday, was reacting to comments by Dr Fenech Adami in The Sunday Times.

Dr Fenech Adami said Dr Debono was 'creating a mess' at a very delicate time for the country.

“I think it is most unfair on the Prime Minister, who has been delivering, and delivering as best he can and with results. Creating a mess out of the situation is not something I approve of. I dislike it and think it is really unbecoming to create such a situation,” Dr Fenech Adami said.  (See story at  http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111106/local/-Mess-created-by-Debono-is-unbecoming-Fenech-Adami.392534 )

In his reaction, Dr Debono noted that in last night's Dissett he was asked by presenter Reno Bugeja whether he had been approached by Eddie Fenech Adami regarding his abstention. Dr Debono said he did not reveal that meeting, and  wouldn't have, had it not been mentioned by Dr Fenech Adami himself.

"However after seeing these comments which I consider as highly unfair, I think Dr Fenech Adami should have mentioned what he told me about 'the mess' of public transport," Dr Debono added.

"In fact, Dr Fenech Adami stated that the first time he had seen Manuel Delia's press conference he had called someone, I think he mentioned Austin Gatt, and told him, that that system could not function in Malta and it would result in a mess."

"Yes, I confirm, Dr Fenech Adami told me that the first time he had seen (Gatt's head of secretariat) Manuel Delia in a press conference announcing the system, he immediately thought this would end up in a 'mess', and he had spoken to someone, I guess it was Austin Gatt, to indicate this to him," Dr Debono insisted. 

Dr Debono said that once Dr Fenech Adami had opted to judge him, it would have been appreciated had he  also explained his opinion of the public transport 'mess' since it was this 'mess' which led to his action.

"It would not have been amiss to put his 'mess' in context."

Dr Fenech Adami in his comments to The Sunday Times said he disapproved of Dr Debono's actions. "I disapprove of what he is talking about and I disapprove of how he is behaving.”

He also described Dr Debono’s comment, that the national broadcaster was in a worse situation than the 1980s, as “ completely out of this world”.