Friday 13 January 2012

Franco is an honourable man


In Roman times, when glory sometimes turned to gore, emperors were deprived of power by being stabbed and dumped. Now we live in more enlightened days so we—or rather one particularly particular parliamentarian—stamp our sillier feet, cry foul at anything under the sun if we don’t get what we want and after unleashing all sorts of threats and blackmail we then stick the knife till the emperor is dethroned. Or dumped so that another election is held.

The likely scenario if that happens, according to most pundits and Austin Gatt, is that Joseph Muscat and his motley, mostly worrying, crew will take over the running of our country. Not being a pundit and less of a prophet, I will not say that the ruination of all we hold dear will ensue.

Franco Debono is—at least till the time of writing—a most honourable of men. As Marc Antony so eloquently said when Brutus and his group murdered Caesar, these—the murderers—were all honourable men.

So what should honourable men do? This particular MP wants, he has been telling us ad unbelievable nauseam, reforms. He wants more transparency. More accountability.
He wants parliament not to be a gathering of hens all gleefully accepting the diktats of some superior cock who moves them around and does to them all there is to do between one cock and many hens. Those poor, abused hens have to bow and obey and follow the lead. So I hear most honourable—and less honourable—men say amen to that. If only we have a government that is not set by diktat. Let all ministers be mini or maxi stars just as much as the prime minister. Let’s, he once famously said, follow the Labour Party style and give all backbenchers a particular aspect to shadow. Of course if he agrees with the Opposition nominating all their MPs to shadow a ministry I imagine he—if he were emperor or Prime Minister—would make all his backbenchers ministers.

No backbencher’s talents, he seems to imply, would go to waste. Of course mayhem would result. And would he, in this farcical vision, accept all ministers to having their say and opposing all or most he says or does, just as he did with most of what Gonzi did?

The stage is set. The nation awaits the moment when the despicable man sinks in his proverbial sword, safe in the knowledge that all the ones who voted for him a few years ago are enjoying his antics and his ways. He keeps talking of representing the voters—yet I have not heard even one of his voters saying he agrees with his way forward. All I hear is Labour voters egging him on, saying he is the champion of democracy and other such drivel. All Nationalists—even the ones who are not so full of cheer for Gonzi and his ways—want is to consign Franco Debono to the bin of history as soon as possible.

So shouldn’t he stop and reflect a bit: if he wants reforms and accountability shouldn’t he exit his little world and ask the ones who voted for him what they really think and do their bidding and resign?

Go on Franco and do one little honourable thing. The whole nation will, for once, be proud of you.

6 comments:

  1. Prosit, well written.

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  2. Will he or will he not
    We will have to wait and see
    What are his options?

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  3. I am disappointed with this piece Vic, since you appear to be following party dictats instead of thinking things through.

    So the guy in charge of fisheries, resources and the environment manages to not be in charge ....and get away with it.
    The gal in charge of education manages to get her son to screw up EU funding and the minimum curriculum...and gets away with it.
    The guy who used to take care of the prisons and who admits he had "no idea", gets away with it
    The guy who is clueless yet given the charge of the legal mess or system and actually appears on TV to tell us there's nothing wrong in the prisons (and if there is its his predecessor's fault)...and gets away with it
    The guy who botched up the power station tender, the roads, the public transport reform and the latest MITA permit bubu actually gets away with it
    The guy who supports Arsenal and VAT evading cleaners, takes gifts & paid-for holidays from tenderers he is adjudicating...and gets away with it
    The guy who never managed to get the Health reform off the ground manages to get away with it
    The guy who promises public land to squatters, approves self-serving pay rises without informing anyone for years on end, has no control on MEPA's ODZ debacle despite many promises to the contrary, has no leadership, spine or imagination when it comes to controlling his own "team", manages not to read the signs on divorce and privately complains that his team are really crap to work with...and yes, you guessed it, he manages to get away with it!

    Now FD is misguided, is loud, is inexperienced, is a hamallu, is all the bad things you and DCG manage to throw at him...but I guess he has a valid point - if all the others are f*cking up and getting away with it, why does he, who has not been allowed to do anything, why does he have to resign? Is it because he's upsetting the apple cart? Or would it be more apt to call it the gravy train

    I have to add that I probably missed out on some important gaffes earlier and its also important to say that not all that the Nats have done in this legislature is bad....but you have to be very biased or simplistic to blame it all on FD

    And by the way, I still retain that lejber are crap, be it "inhobbkom" Joe, his two tragically unfunny side kicks or most of the motley crew that make up the background of that Hamrun crowd.

    I expected better than this - sorry :o(((

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    1. Dear Fenech
      You are right about all you say..and in fact I can add on. I would love to say we should vote the nationalists out...but the others do seem frightening.And the yellows remain as oddly useless as ever. I've always said I wish we could have a changed Labour party so that we can let them get on with it and get into power. But the raving antics of people who still think Mintoff was a great hero like AST scare me into a corner yet again.

      And it's true i seem to be saying too much about Franco. i agree and i will try stopping. but he deserves it all. He might have great ideas but he is so obsessed with his own persona that he doesn't care. he keeps moving the goal posts--to the extent that now only he can score. he could have gone places instead he is going to blazes and send us all there too. but unfortunately maybe this government does deserve a few smacks.

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    2. 'The whole nation will, for once, be proud of you.'

      Dear Victor, since when do you respresent a 'whole nation'?

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    3. Dear Giselle,

      OK agreed--I should never have said "the nation". Apologies. All truly honourable men (and women of course) who can see through Dr Debono's antics should agree that the honourable way out for him is to resign--or better still to go to Italy where I'm sure fame, power and adulation await him.

      Vic

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