Stop messing about

That you pamper a news source is understandable, but becoming a pawn in the hands of your source is another matter.

Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono has just done this to all the media. He is an amazing manipulator. He thinks that he can say what he likes, when he likes, act when he likes and have the media play to his tune when he wants to. He can decide when to answer his phone calls, when and how stories are to be placed and positioned. He expects us to write his own stories, but not have them sourced.

Better still: he expects us to interpret his mind and not take him up on all the vows he made; namely, that he would bring the government down by voting against it, a vow he made when he was not appointed minister and when he saw Jason Azzopardi and Chris Said being appointed ministers.

He said this in very clear terms when Gonzi decided to foolishly make a cabinet reshuffle when he did not need to, and when he was advised that this would create ripples.

Franco Debono expected he would be made minister. There is no doubt in my mind about this, and because he was not appointed minister he started firing all sorts of accusations at his own prime minister.

There are so many faults with this administration that anything that is said probably sounds right: even when it comes from someone with ulterior motives. And Franco Debono is definitely not a symbol of altruism.

So when Debono highlighted some of the intrinsic deficiencies of this government, it was interpreted in the very beginning as some kind of hand-on-heart approach to a greater understanding of an open and transparent democracy - a radical and rebellious call from the underdog in a deficient democracy.

But let's face it. When Debono did stand and militate in the Nationalist Party, he was fully aware of the state of play when it came to party politics. He was fully aware of the grit and the dirt that makes politics what it is.

He talks of big business financing the PN as if Zaren Vassallo and all the others were only born yesterday. Maltese politics is run on a system of favours and nepotistic traditions that has slowly eroded and corrupted any form of transparency and meritocracy in the system. But Franco Debono has done more than to simply remind us of the serious problem in the system. It has been proven to us that he has every intention of wasting our time and allowing the whole country to be held to ransom because two men simply refuse to take a firm decision.

Debono is simply playing a game but does not have the balls to vote against his Prime Minister. He would not have made such a scene if he did not belong to a party with a one-seat majority.  And the Prime Minister - like any other politician - refuses to give up his government just because of an errant backbencher.

If Debono thinks he has any esteem from the general public, he should perhaps engage someone to carry out a survey on his status. Then he may confirm his worst fears: that is he is no longer taken seriously and is simply treated as someone who is politically 'toast'.

Not only that, he also fails to answer direct questions. And when he fails to answer we simply look on as if he can be tolerated for avoiding an answer. When they do ask questions, he answers in gobbledegook and more importantly, he simply evades any intelligible question and refers to what he said some time in the past.

In reality he should be taken for what he is - a bloody waste of time. He states in private that he has "sacrificed a lot". Perhaps he should work with the press to learn what sacrifice is all about.

More importantly, he should stop talking in generic terms and start mentioning people, not only whispering in the ears of certain journalists or over meals with certain editors about his pet-hates.

My bone of contention is very simple. Debono could have easily exercised his rebellious thoughts by taking the issue to a democratic venue and doing what he said he would do.

Debono thinks that his actions are not his responsibility and are the responsibility of the Prime Minister. In other words, he can kick the ball into someone else's court as if responsibility was a football game. That of course is something which he would like to think of as the norm. But in all fairness, he cannot promise in the first instance that he will vote against and then surprise us with an abstention.

That uncertainty has led to a sudden shock in the Maltese business world and in a market which was already depressed.  Franco Debono argues that democracy is more important than the economy but that does not justify that he can fuck around with his vote and leave everyone guessing. He talks of being loyal to Gonzi, but no one takes him seriously. Loyalty to Gonzi is something people like Edgar Galea Curmi can attest to. Loyalty is about saying yes to everything and defending your boss no matter what.

Now don't get me wrong. I would agree that many of the arguments that Debono has raised are credible but they have been raised before he even considered joining the PN. In 1989, the Greens had presented a blueprint for the future. They were taken with a pinch of salt and ridiculed.  Local councils, divorce, party financing, electoral reform and accountability were all party issues on the Greens' agenda which at the time were derided by the political parties led by Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici and Eddie Fenech Adami.

Times change.  And many reforms have taken place because politicians find that the lobby is far too great to handle. But then again, Debono's qualms are not about reform. In between all his rhetoric, it is obvious that the man is hurt for being forgotten and not involved. The reason he has not been involved at cabinet level is because he is probably not trusted. Take a look at the people selected by the Prime Minister in his Cabinet, and you will see that he is surrounded by yes men. Men and women he can trust when he turns the other way or when he makes blunders. All of them have one thing in common: their virtue is loyalty, not competence.

If Debono came to realise that this is not the way of doing politics in Malta and the world over he should have either quietly retired or else exited with a big bang. What he has done today is set fire to a fuse, only to leave the bomb undetonated. There are no excuses for all this. And in the circumstances, I would rather he decide what to do once and for all - he cannot play Humpty Dumpty forever.