Escalating matters

Well, it looks like we are in for a bumpy ride this year, if the vote taken in Parliament last Monday was anything to go by. Clearly, the cracks in the PN are quickly expanding into crevices - fractures that are slowly leading to the party splitting apart.

The decision made by the PN executive to publicly condemn Franco Debono, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Jesmond Mugliett has not helped matters. If the party intends to stay in government for the full term it simply cannot afford to escalate the situation with these three men - and the public statement issued was the equivalent of waving a red flag at a bull.

The result was to be expected. Debono and Pullicino Orlando have reacted aggressively, with both of them going on the record with statements that can only cause further damage to the party. Mugliett was more measured in his response, but his reaction was just as damning.

"It would have been far better for the PN executive to have nipped the problem in the bud eight years ago when apartheid politics was introduced in the PN. Since then, prominent Nationalist MPs, loyal representatives of the people and the party, have been vilified, framed and ostracised in an attempt to 'purify' the party of all those who do not form part of or are subservient to the coterie the Prime Minister has chosen to surround himself with," Pullicino Orlando said.

Debono, on the other hand, has stated that he will contest the decision made by the executive.

"I will seek to contest this decision before the Executive. This is in breach of the basic democratic principles and the rules of natural justice as the decision was taken behind my back when I was in Parliament doing my duty as an MP and proposing measures for justice and home affairs... the failure was committed by whoever had been responsible for justice and home affairs... is this the gratitude I get for spending all my time pushing and implementing reform which others should have done?"

Mugliett, on the other hand, had this to say:

"I regret that the Executive was so selective in its condemnation of personal attacks. It would have been better had the Executive had an honest debate on the personal attacks made on a number of us - attacks whose purpose was to deny us the opportunity of objective contribution to politics."

This is all bad news for the country. We seem to be hurtling from one political crisis to the next, with some comic relief thrown in every now and then to keep us interested.

Now that the PN executive has publicly declared "war" on the three recalcitrant MPs, what are the odds that they will not put further spokes in the wheels? What will happen if the Labour Party presents another motion for the resignation of someone or other? What will the MPs do come the time to vote for the budget?

I am sure that the members of the PN executive are truly exasperated at the actions of Debono, Pullicino Orlando and to a lesser extent Mugliett. However, it was extremely short-sighted of them to condemn them. Much as it probably went against the grain for them, it would have made much more sense to try to mend bridges and win time.

As it is, my feeling is that there is no going back.

One woman I truly felt sorry for this week was Marija Hammett. The timing of her 'Prime Minister for a Day' experience was really badly timed, coming as it did just one day after the disastrous RCC vote in Parliament. I am sure that she must have been acutely aware of the fact that the last thing Lawrence Gonzi felt like that morning was a home invasion while he was still having breakfast!

What followed was a day in prime ministerial heaven - a visit to an IT company, a jaunt to the Presidential Palace, some fun and games with some kids in a child care centre, a guided tour of Castille and finally a meeting with Tonio Fenech and Chris Said.

If anyone can prove to me that what Hammett experienced was anything like a normal day in the life of a Prime Minister, I will eat my hat.