Game over

There is not much to say, other than that he has failed miserably. He took this country to a referendum, lost it, and after all this ‘bull’ about majority talks, he is abstaining, or allowing his members to vote against.

And the longer we go on believing he has it, the longer this country will continue trying to extend the expiry date of this government and all the other things that need to be dramatically changed or deleted.

Yesterday, Dr Gonzi expressed very serious concern, after the Church carried out its appalling and scandalous campaign. 

He said this after Monsignor Anton Gouder’s banal statement, which picked on those who did not vote. How bloody arrogant! Will they (the Church) ever learn?

But excuse me please, since when is a Prime Minister – an elected member in the House – responsible for the Church? This Prime Minister is running a secular State, not the Vatican. 

Has he not read the message in those 53% who voted Yes, and the 28% who chose not to vote?

Instead of trying to move on, he continues to persist in defending the mediocrity of an institution that has got it wrong. Wrong in all those societies that attempted to introduce divorce.

The reason that the PM has got to where he has is thanks to a multitude of reasons.

The first reason is that he is surrounded by Yes men, who tell him what he wants to hear, not what he should be told.

The second consideration is that Gonzi does not really understand the Nationalist party – his roots are in the Catholic Action Movement, not the PN. He was nowhere to be seen before 1987 and he does not understand that diversity was one of the PN’s greatest strengths.

Here is someone who cannot feel what it means not to forget those who made the lives of the Opposition into a living hell. The photo of him embracing the Gozitan Monsignor Anton Gauci is a case in point. The same Monsignor who for years poured bile over the PN Opposition before 1987 in newspapers that heeled heavily to the Mintoff government.

The third reason is that he so obsessed with staying in power that he does not see the longer term.

And finally, the fourth reason is that he is surrounded in his cabinet by the most unimpressive group of men and women… the likes of Dolores Cristina and Tonio Borg, who are either very conservative or else – like the PM – only interested in their constituency.

Dr Gonzi could be advised by his group of unelected advisors to go for an early election. He faces two immediate hurdles. The first is the divorce issue, where his party members could very well abstain and not vote in favour – further diminishing their status with the electorate.

The second is a motion on the honoraria, which could very well see some of his government members voting with Labour on this motion.

The pressure on the Prime Minister is too difficult to imagine. In the counting hall last Sunday, some members of Elcom – the electoral monitoring body of the PN – were openly questioning whether Gonzi was the right man for the job.

In private, many backbenchers express disdain for a Prime Minister who doesn’t have the backbone to make clear decisions.

So if the people around Gonzi honestly decide to suggest the idea of an early election to Gonzi, someone should really tell them to have their heads checked.

Having an election now means that Dr Gonzi will face a landslide defeat – I am sure of this. In two years, his chances of winning are as good as my chance of giving Richard Cachia Caruana the kiss of life.

Anyway it goes, he is in a lose-lose situation. The big question is: who could replace Dr Gonzi? Austin Gatt, as we all know, is out of the game. He has said that he does not want to stand. Really and truly, what everyone is saying is that we do not really want him. And even so, he would be unfit to even hold the crown. He is abrasive, impulsive and insensitive to the problems facing the underclass and the middle class. His present job is training his rottweilers – Claudio Grech and Manuel Delia – in their bid to get elected.

I hope the Nationalist electorate will see the shadow of Austin Gatt when they think of considering Grech and Delia.  In other words, I very much hope they will boycott these candidates and vote for better ones – ones who talk and think straight, unlike their mentor.

The other contenders are Mario de Marco, or even Chris Said. But none of these junior ministers will be willing to show their interest at this stage. John Dalli, of course, is far away; lost in his Brussels job… and even so, would stand no chance, since he does not have a base.

But before the real contender comes forward – as in all things in politics – the Maltese Premier needs a Brutus. Or, for those who remember the Margaret Thatcher days, a Michael Heseltine. Someone who will drag him down after being stripped and humiliated by Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.

That person will not be crowned as Leader, but will be remembered as the man who catalysed change. And the PN is in dire need of change before being made irrelevant. If this does not happen, then there is little doubt in my mind that Gonzi will go for the election with his GonziPN label. It will be like General Custer, who descended with his troops to be defeated and then massacred. (Custer, as will all know, was a silly General who thought he could outflank the enemy.)

Someone should tell him that GonziPN is over.