Après Franco la déluge

Politics is not about demonising and attacking people on a personal level. Nor is it about abusing your right to vote for personal advancement.

Yet these two incorrect and unethical notions have been dominating our political scene for ages. Seen in this historical perspective, Franco Debono's vote last Wednesday against a minister of the same party he claims to belong to, is the culmination of years of this political aberration. It does not just happen in Malta, of course. Machiavelli based his advice to his prince on his experience of human behaviour.  Moreover, man's behaviour within social groups is universal and is even shared - at least partly - by 'homo sapiens' with other primates.

It takes, of course, someone with the obsessive frame of mind of Franco Debono for the chickens to come home to roost - at least in a country where the respect of human rights is expected from our politicians.... which means people do not need to resort to physical torture and murder to defeat their enemies and back-stabbing is not literal but still quite effective.

The idea of personal attacks on people with whom we disagree, either on their way of doing things or on their political ideals and tenets, is not one concocted by Franco Debono - it has been going on for years, not only between adherents of different political groupings but also between 'colleagues' of the same party. Using one's vote in order to gain a personal advantage or to satisfy oneself in an act of personal revenge, rather than to ensure that the interest of society comes first, is part of the political culture infused by years of jockeying for positions in the quest for personal glory, a course of action in which the phenomenon of nepotism and cronyism play a very important part.

Franco Debono just pushed the limits beyond what we normally and reasonably expect and arrived at the logical conclusion of this obnoxious way of doing politics. My fear is that rather than concluding that we have to change this way of doing things, Franco Debono's action will serve to reinforce the notion of 'tit for tat' dealings - whether tacit or overt - that have corrupted the system.

A Prime Minister can do it; an MP can do it; a voter does it all the time!

After this, nothing will surprise me: expect anything!

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Last November the House of Representatives debated the budget votes for the different ministries. Those of Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici's ministry were approved with Franco Debono voting in favour. I do not think that since then there have been any special new circumstances that justified the approval of the motion asking for Mifsud Bonnici's resignation.

The Opposition's 'explanation' that it had prepared the motion last August but refrained from presenting it then, as at the time Mifsud Bonnici was facing serious personal medical problems, ignored the approval of the budget vote on his ministry. It also ignored the fact that since January there has been a Cabinet reshuffle as a result of which Mifsud Bonnici's responsibilities were redrawn.

It was obvious that the Opposition's move was a blatant piece of political opportunism that took a chance on the possibility of Debono delivering the goods - which he did, much to the surprise of many and probably of the Opposition itself.

I have already had the opportunity to express my opinion that the Prime Minister's decision to appoint Mifsud Bonnici as Leader of the House when his ministerial responsibilities were redrawn was an ill-advised decision that could only make matters worse. Mifsud Bonnici's last ditch request to be relieved of this task so that he would be able to concentrate his attention more on his ministry exposed the mess resulting from that useless self-inflicted complication.

Debono was unnecessarily irked; although it is very doubtful whether his vote last Wednesday would have gone any other way had the Prime Minister not introduced the Leader of the House 'joker' card in his reshuffle.

That Mifsud Bonnici is the unlucky victim of the way politics is pursued goes without saying. He is not without faults and defects, but then who isn't?

It is also true that the two weakest institutions in our country's set up, the Police Force and the prison system happened to fall on his lap. Their weakness is not just his doing as the Opposition motion implied. It knows its roots to situations and circumstances well before he was ever given a post in the country's executive and it is wrong for anybody to personalise the issue, and pinpoint the problem as if it is all Mifsud Bonnici's doing or lack of doing something about it.

In our system, we have what is known as collective responsibility. A motion asking for the resignation of one particular minister that is not justified by some personal wrongdoing of the minister, is alien to this concept. Whatever the minister did, or did not do, in pursuing the tasks emanating from his portfolio is not just his responsibility - it is the collective responsibility of the Cabinet that defended Mifsud Bonnici so vociferously in parliament. That is why this administration cannot carry on without seeking yet another vote of confidence.

It is the first time in our history that a request for the resignation of a particular minister was approved by parliament. This development has now virtually opened a can of worms that relates to the Prime Minister's prerogative of choosing the persons who make up his Cabinet. The Prime Minister is not exactly 'primus inter pares' any more!

Surely this is not acceptable in our system.

Debono's indication that he will be voting in favour of the confidence vote announced by the Prime Minister indicates the confusion into which his unpredictable cat and mouse game has led him. His message translates into a statement to the effect that he will support the government so long as the Prime Minister's prerogative does not lead to the Ministerial appointment of someone he does not want. In this way, the floodgates have been opened. 'Après Franco la déluge'!

This administration's survival now clearly depends on the whims of Franco Debono and this has put the Prime Minister in a pathetic situation that is not of his own doing, of course.

Yet, the Prime Minister prefers to plod on regardless under these impossible conditions rather than calling it a day and ask the President to call for an early election, on the premise that he needs the time to recover his popularity and give the PN a chance of winning yet another term of office.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast!

The author is a former Nationalist minister.