Since Nationalist MP Franco Debono launched a tirade early last month against Richard Cachia Caruana, Malta’s ambassador to the European Union and a regular attendee of Cabinet meetings for several years, he has seldom sat in on Cabinet meetings, if at all, according to reliable sources speaking to this newspaper.

At the beginning of March, Dr Debono, who launched and continues to run a campaign against what he perceives as an “oligarchy” running the Nationalist Party and the country, told this newspaper that the long-time Nationalist adviser should either “stick to his job in Brussels or contest an election, after 25 years of behind-the-scenes-manoeuvring”.

The comments came just after the Prime Minister’s proclamation earlier this week that the days of GonziPN are over and that the PN would return to being the ‘people’s party’.

“GonziPN is RCC’s artefact and he should now answer for that,” Dr Debono had said at the time, adding that “this kind of unelected power encroaches on people’s representation”.

In a reaction to the Prime Minister’s shelving of the GonziPN concept, Dr Debono had said there was still more work to be done.

“He should now see that what is broken is repaired. Those who had wrongly advised the Prime Minister along such lines, even from behind the scenes, should now be held accountable.

“The Prime Minister should strive for a democratic distribution of power within both the party and the government. This mess was brought about by whoever came up with the GonziPN concept – that was Mr Cachia Caruana, and he is responsible.

“Certain powers belong to those who have been elected Members of Parliament. Political power rests with the people and advisers should stick to their roles and not assume the functions of elected MPs. According to our system, Cabinet members should be chosen from Parliament after being elected by the people.

“Party leaders have come and gone, as have party general secretaries and high profile ministers, and he is still there despite never having run for a party or a general election,” he said last month.

Contacted yesterday, Dr Debono said his thoughts on the matter had not changed.

Back in February and well before Dr Gonzi’s announcement that he was shelving the GonziPN concept, in the article entitled “GonziPN a good electoral slogan, but a poor style of government – Debono”, Dr Debono had stated almost exactly what the Prime Minister had announced: “GonziPN should go back to being the people’s party that it once was. GonziPN was good as an electoral slogan, but certainly not as a style of government.”