He may not realise it yet, but Franco Debono is throwing his young and promising political career down the drain – if he has not done so already.

The last person to act the way he is acting was Dom Mintoff, and there are many who have not forgiven him for bringing down the Labour government in 1998. The difference is that Mintoff was at the end of his political career, while Dr Debono’s has just started. He is a highly intelligent person, and he can certainly make a valid contribution to the country in many areas, but he has to understand that he must use his talents wisely.

The Ghaxaq lawyer may have been forgiven by Nationalist Party diehards for his pre-Christmas 2009 antics, when the Prime Minister had to humble himself to bring him in line. But the embarrassment he caused his party last Friday will not be as easily digested, especially because we are now much closer to the next general election and, more importantly, the government’s focus should be on more pressing situations than being forced to waste so much energy on an MP who stamps his foot.

Dr Debono may have all the good intentions in the world to promote a cause and stick to his principles, and for that he deserves a pat on the back. Not everyone is prepared to go against the flow or, in this case, against the specific instructions he has been given by the party executive.

But I am sure that all that he has done in these past few weeks has not been appreciated by the party’s top brass, and much less by the voters – those Nationalist supporters who gave him their number one preference in March 2008, only to see him now bringing the government to the brink of collapse. I do not think they support him again in the next poll: they will not want to take the risk of electing an MP who is so unpredictable.

Dr Debono justifies himself by saying that he will not vote against the government on Tuesday, when a Prime Minister’s motion for a vote of confidence will be debated. He says that there is a big difference between a vote on an individual responsibility – for which read Austin Gatt and the public transport reform he introduced – and one on the overall operation of the government.

That may be true, but it is also true that the government is in this delicate situation because of what Dr Debono did with his vote last Friday. Considering the one-seat majority the government enjoys in Parliament, his abstention forced a casting vote by the Speaker, giving the Opposition a lot to shout about and placing the Prime Minister – his own leader – with his back to the wall.

It has led to a political crisis the government could have done without at a time when it should be concentrating on other more serious matters. And, allow me this note, while our main topic of popular discussion is the public transport system, other nations are struggling with much more serious situations, such as unemployment levels of more that 20 per cent, not to mention other economic uncertainties. It shows that we are not in such a bad situation after all, and how parochial we can be. So parochial, in fact, that most of the speakers during last Friday’s marathon sitting took the opportunity of their few minutes of speech to list the grievances people living in their electoral districts had to make about Arriva, rather than concentrate on the overall picture.

Back to Franco Debono. I listened to his speech in Parliament last Friday and, to be honest, there were instances when I could not make heads or tails of what he was saying, or trying to say. He kept going off at a tangent, and at times he was also incoherent, leaving too many unfinished sentences. That he was then applauded by some members of the Opposition – who knew what was coming later – was another nail in Dr Debono’s political coffin. Which Nationalist is going to vote for an MP who is openly praised by the opposing party, simply because he is giving it the opportunity to put his own government and party in a bad light?

Dr Debono defended his loyalty to the PN, but his insistence – on TVM’s Xarabank – that he was the one to suggest that a vote of confidence be taken after the motion on Austin Gatt is yet further proof that the man is seeking attention. Someone who brags about what he has done – “see, I did it” – reminds me of those boys who always sought to be the teacher’s pet. Dr Gatt is labelled as arrogant, but his arrogance is mild compared to Dr Debono’s haughtiness.

I was surprised that, on the same programme, Chris Said appeared to be very much on the same wavelength as Dr Debono. If Dr Said agreed with Dr Debono so much, why didn’t he abstain too? But perhaps Dr Said is too shrewd to go manifestly against party instructions as Dr Debono did.

One of the few interesting comments made by the Ghaxaq lawyer is that as an MP he is there to serve Parliament and the people. Those who want to serve the PN should limit their work to working for the party, he said. What Dr Debono conveniently forgot is that he was elected to Parliament on the PN ticket and, as such, he is part of a team. If he wanted to serve just Parliament, he should have contested as an independent candidate. But then, he would not have been elected, would he?

So, if Dr Debono wants to pursue his political career – and, I repeat, he is highly-intelligent and has many talents – he should stop this kind of behaviour.

I just hope that it is not too late for him.

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