This evening, the Nationalist Party’s parliamentary group is due to discuss the forthcoming Labour-sponsored motion censuring minister Austin Gatt and PN backbencher Franco Debono’s reiterated threat that he is thinking of abstaining on this motion when the House discusses it on Friday next week.

When a paper recently asked government MPs which of them have tried Arriva, only two replied Yes. Dr Debono was not among them.

Nevertheless, this of course does not mean that even if he has not ridden any Arriva bus, Dr Debono is precluded from expressing his opinion.

Practically all Malta, and also most of the visitors we have had this summer, have commented on the low level of the Arriva system and have had blistering comments to make.

However, the motion that Parliament will be discussing next week is not any comment from any person. It is a parliamentary motion of censure moved by the Opposition.

Now Dr Debono is saying he might abstain on this particular vote.

There was one other instance some months ago when Dr Debono in a way abstained from a parliamentary vote, which was then carried by the Speaker’s casting vote. Dr Debono was not in the House and while all Malta looked on amazed, the Prime Minister and his wife paid a friendly visit to him at his home where he was said to be sick.

Just like that other occasion, it is also clear that the coming vote in the House, though more serious since it is a motion of censure, is by no means to be construed as a vote of confidence in the Government. Strictly speaking, that may be so, but a defeat for the government would have great repercussions in the country. And as the events last winter showed, even a vote in which the government survives through the Speaker’s casting vote.

Dr Debono has been insisting, with some justice, it must be admitted, that there should be government accountability and that people who by their actions have made the government unpopular in the country must face up to the consequences of their actions.

In the past weeks, Dr Debono has also been complaining about the situation in the Law Courts, another weak point of the present administration. Some may not be in agreement with him with regard to the position he adopted, acting more like a counsel for the defence than a legislator, regarding the validity of testimony obtained from people under arrest before they had a chance to meet their defence lawyers.

But many more are in agreement with him regarding the quite unjustified situation at the Law Courts. There has not been, so far, any Opposition motion of censure in this regard (perhaps also due to the minister having to spend most of summer at hospital) so we do not know how Dr Debono would act.

In a wider context it is about time for people to sound the alarm regarding the present administration’s record in government. On this issue, there are two very divergent opinions.

On the one hand, there are those who say no one must rock the boat, this is the best government Malta can have, that a government led by Joseph Muscat would be a disaster for Malta and that all is hunky-dory. If this were the case, all must lock arms and head as a united force into the coming elections.

Others are more concerned about the present government’s record when it faces the electorate in the coming year and a half and would like to ensure the electorate gets the message that this government knows where (and who) proved inadequate to the task and that this or these person/s will not form part of a PN administration post-election.

To make things rather easier for all, Dr Gatt has already pledged this is his last legislature and he has also said (or was quoted as saying) that if the censure motion passes, he will resign.

But there is an issue or two that are being spread around and which are doing immense harm to Dr Debono among PN grassroots. These rumours relate to the coming election and to Dr Debono being contested, within his same district, by Dr Gatt’s right hand man in setting up Arriva, Manwel Delia. In our opinion, Dr Debono would do well to clarify that his impending stand has nothing to do with petty constituency politics.