Allow me to refer to the interview conducted by journalist Keith Micallef titled The writing was on the wall since 2009 (TMID 3 June) in which interview Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici MP had this to say about PN internal dissent: “The fact that Lawrence Gonzi immediately found himself at the top as Prime Minister was a disadvantage since there was not enough time for him to be nurtured as party leader. Another disadvantage was that he was expected to tackle issues which were long overdue.

To his credit, he succeeded in doing this especially in his second term in office, but had serious difficulties when dealing with internal dissent. Though he was an excellent technocrat, he struggled to understand what was behind the behavior of some MPs. He did not have the required human element to understand the rebellion…” By pointing out all this, even though the attempt to be diplomatic throughout the interview was more than understandable, the word ‘obstinacy’, (conducive to the politics of exclusion), would have been more appropriate in the circumstances.

Edward Torpiano

Floriana