Election’s funny season opens with a bang

Despite the electoral truce agreed upon by the two major political parties, the electoral campaign has started off with a massive bang: starting with the wrangling involving Judge Lino Farrugia Sacco, the Ombudsman and the Commission for the Administration of Justice, bribery charges against Judge Ray Pace, a tragedy of errors on election dates, the government and Opposition playing ball with impeachment proceedings and to end it all Franco Debono gate crashing the political debate on Xarabank with Labour's blessing.

A serene and calm festive season free of provocation, my foot!

The judges' case highlighted two things in particular: the need for a major overhaul in the selection process of judges and the need to distance politics from the judiciary system. The courts have suffered the same fate as the rest of society - political occupation by the two major parties in their attempt to retain the status quo and their hold on society.

However the most entertaining of all was the postponement of the televised showdown between Simon Busuttil and Labour counterpart Anglu Farrugia, following Franco Debono's sudden appearance at the Xarabank studios.

Despite accepting Xarabank's invite and confirming their participation, Labour had a suspicious change of heart at the last minute and claimed that they were sending Debono in Farrugia's stead.

Labour's claims that Simon Busuttil shied away from facing Farrugia are a non-starter. Despite appearing shaken and startled, Busuttil was at the studios while Farrugia was not. Labour cannot possibly believe that the people are so gullible.

While strengthening the perception that Farrugia is not up to debating Busuttil on TV, Labour's decision to send Debono could have played into the PN's hands, which is trying to portray the wayward MP to be in collusion with Labour.

However, Debono's anger was more then justified and his presence at the studio exposed the PN's unwillingness to confront the MP who the Prime Minister branded as "irrelevant."

While this was definitely poor judgement on Gonzi's end, I would not put it beyond the PN that calling Debono irrelevant was nothing but a clear attempt to expose and bolster the perception that the dissident MP is in collusion with Labour.

However, Debono has made it very clear that he has no intention of joining Labour's ranks and his actions are only motivated by his desire to see radical reforms in justice, broadcasting, Parliament and all other institutions come to fruition.

It was unacceptable on Labour's part to send Debono instead of Farrugia and I cannot fathom the strategic reasoning behind this decision. The PL's communication officer Kurt Farrugia's presence at the studios was uncalled for especially since there was no Labour representative taking part in the debate. Once again it was poor judgement and reinforces the perception of Labour's reliance on PN rebels in their electoral strategy.

PBS were right to postpone the programme, however Peppi Azzopardi's occupation of Friday's prime time on TVM, unopposed and with no interlocutor and his impulsive pretention to hold the debate on Saturday expose the state of affairs at the national broadcaster.

With PBS CEO and former PN strategist Anton Attard nowhere to be seen albeit calling the shots, coupled with Where's Everybody appropriation of PBS, the state of affairs at PBS is both sad and tragic.

Debono is absolutely right in calling for a reform of national broadcasting and PBS should no longer remain the exclusive property of the government. The same applies to the Broadcasting Authority which to this day remains in the PN/PL domain.

Debono's complete absence from the PBS airwaves is outrageous. An MP who brings down a government after having threatened to do so since July surely merited to be interviewed on one the national broadcaster's daily current affairs programmes.

PBS should be modelled on foreign broadcasting frameworks and should not fall in the remit of a ministry. The PBS management should be accountable and scrutinised by Parliament and its loyalty should be to the Constitution and the people not to the party in government.

After such a big bang and with the electoral campaign still in its infancy, we are in for what promises to be the dirtiest campaign in ages and a campaign short on proper and mature exchange of ideas. All we'll have is billboards, dirty tricks, antics and tragedy.