ACTA and GonziPN have one thing in common. They are both evidently on life support.
This is reinforced further by Gonzi’s own hysterical outbursts as well as by his relentless pursuit of a comfort zone that exists no more. The more he retrenches, the more the electorate is beginning to realise the sharp contrast that is emerging ever more clearly between the two party leaders and the parties they lead.
On one hand we have the PL – a party that has now evidently grown into a movement that Joseph Muscat is trying very hard and most successfully to evolve into a national movement that embraces people of different political views and orientation, sometimes bound by even a single issue regardless of their different backgrounds and social upbringing.
On the other hand, we have GonziPN shrinking by the hour from a political party into a clan. Led in a tribal and feudal manner by someone at the helm who seems to have been politically hijacked by ‘hired guns’ who ultimately owe most of their allegiance to their bank accounts, and who are proving to be unwittingly the PL’s secret weapon. As Nationalist MPs – not the current rebels at the fore – have been admitting publicly even till last Sunday in the printed media.
While Joseph Muscat has built a team around him that generates trust and inspires confidence in these difficult times – regardless of age, experience and professional background – where meritocracy is what matters most, GonziPN has remained at the mercy of some people who inspire only fear and hate within their own circles. Even were one to ignore what we might think of them.
So much so that they are now being labelled by self-respecting Nationalists as the PL’s secret weapon.
During the last few days there were two big losers.
They were Gonzi himself and the otherwise affable former Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici.
Although I do not have the foggiest idea what is Gonzi’s take on Franco Debono’s claim that the PM supports him to stand on a party ticket again and whether this is true or not, the fact that Gonzi left such a claim to go by unanswered without a denial on his part has proved one thing. That in order to cling further to power, Gonzi was even prepared to eat more humble pie. Gonzi’s penchant for deliberately choosing to blow hot and cold as part of his game of self preservation and political survival has no doubt dented his already battered credentials further. At least, credibility wise. Particularly among the discerning voters who cannot make heads or tails whether he intends to be firm, wobbly, indifferent or detached from the demands of those who only recently added more chinks to his armour than he can afford under present circumstances.
It is common knowledge that the PN took so long to condemn Franco Debono for having voted the way he did on the motion of no confidence against Carm Mifsud Bonnici simply because had the RCC saga not arisen and ended the way it did, many are of the opinion that Debono would have gone uncensored; in order to avoid rocking the boat further and hopefully shutting him up once and for all.
Otherwise, why would it have taken the PN almost three weeks to condemn Debono’s behaviour when JPO and Mugliett were censored less than 48 hours after they brought along the political downfall of the PN’s larger-than-life Permanent Representative, Richard Cachia Caruana, who seemed so evidently in love with the word ‘Permanent’ as most of his admirers and cheer leaders did.
These internal two weights two measures show that even when it comes to reacting to what may be perceived as negative turns of events for the Nationalist Party, GonziPN has none of the gravitas that Fenech Adami had when he steered the PN to a number of electoral victories.
Although I remain critical of Fenech Adami the politician, I continue to come across various former Nationalists, still active Nationalists and some Nationalist MPs and ex-MPs who tell me openly but off record that the PN would have never ended up in the mess it happens to be in under GonziPN, had Fenech Adami still been the party leader.
While until recently many thought that GonziPN might have to go to the polls earlier than he would have hoped to for economic reasons, matters have been exacerbated further by the political turmoil that he happens to be facing right now.
Forget for a moment what Joseph Muscat and we shadow ministers might say since we could be rightly or wrongly accused of having our own political agenda.
While only a few days ago The Times made it clear editorially that early elections were the only option for an ailing administration, even though critical of the PL on other issues – as they are fully entitled to be – one cannot dismiss too lightly two important quotes in last Sunday’s newspapers.
The Sunday Times stated editorially that:
The Nationalist Party is in turmoil, seemingly not knowing which way to turn… and that the PN sill cannot decide how to handle what has now been the long running issue of (various) disgruntled MPs.
Former Nationalist Minister Michael Falzon stated that:
Those who still believe the Nationalist Party is not in disarray are in denial.
This is definitely not the stuff that one expects from someone whose duty is to work hard to help us move out of the recession. A great chunk of which is due to self inflicted wounds and injuries.
One would have thought that GonziPN would have learnt its lesson after the would-be secret ballot when as a result of Gonzi’s reconfirmation as party leader he had decided to belatedly start giving more attention to the concerns of the ordinary man on the street.
But from the triumphalistic and I know best mode he has reverted to in these past few days he has shown that he has learnt nothing from his not-too-distant past mistakes. And that he remains as unrepentant as ever.
He is determined to cling to power; regardless of the political turmoil, economic uncertainty, party strife and total failure to address the island’s major concerns, foremost of which is the recession itself.
Meanwhile, the PL continues to move ahead – as a political movement that knows that ideology is dead and that all that people want is a fair society based on social justice, sound management and a common sense approach where one gets his priorities right. Rather than caving in to certain lobbies as government has been doing repeatedly during this past quarter of a century.
It has long been known that a week in politics can prove to be a long time, but this week has shown that apart from the fact that we are all in for a long hot summer, GonziPN continues to show insensitivity towards most key issues that are hitting ordinary citizens most.
Be they the cost of living, the utility tariffs, the state of the economy, the erosion of the middle class, immigration, the environment, parliamentary instability, corruption and health amongst many other areas.
JPO, Franco Debono and Mugliett might have created a problem or two, as might be the case with other backbench MPs whose names have not yet hit the headlines.
But these are all symptoms of mismanagement and political inadequacy at the helm, where the major problem was and remains GonziPN.
Not only the Maltese, but even the Partit Nazzjonalista deserves better!
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Leo Brincat is the Shadow Minister for the Environment, Sustainable Development & Climate Change