Opinion • March 7 2004

Game over

Saviour Balzan says that the media has a very important role to play with the confirmation of what he sees to be the making of a weak government

After Saturday’s election result I could not help taking a stroll with one of my former Alternattiva colleagues. He had a big grin on his face and said: “Well John Dalli tasted a bit of his own party’s medicine.”
He explained that what the PN did to John Dalli in the last minute they did to Alternattiva Demokratika before the last election. I had flashbacks of the time Gordan Pisani, Pierre Portelli, Lou Bondi and John Zammit waged a war of attrition against Alternattiva.
“Perhaps now, the Nationalists can see how ruthless Fenech Adami can be.”
Hours before last Saturday party officials and parliamentarians also went into a frenzy. They incessantly phoned party councillors suggesting that “Dalli was corrupt,” and that “Dalli would split the party.”
What Labour never did to John Dalli, the Nationalist machinery chose to put into action.
John Dalli’s inroads with the Nationalist councillors was not only halted but severly trimmed. An estimated 130 to 150 councillors deserted John Dalli at the last moment.
Accusations of corruption against John Dalli have been insinuated by the Labour media even though there has been no proof. It has been taken up by many of Gonzi’s supporters who have had no hang ups about using the fully fledged accusation: “CORRUPT.”
They claim this on the simple premise that because Mr Dalli had spent 3 months with the Daewoo company, it followed that he was responsible for a huge loan forked out by Bank of Valletta under a Labour appointed chairman during a Labour administration.
Thank God, I have never fallen for becoming a member of the Nationalist party. And no wonder I had coined the term years back MLPN.
It was not only Gonzi’s men who ensured that Dalli would not make it.
The truth is that as Dom Mintoff had appointed Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici as his successor, Eddie Fenech Adami effectively did the same for Lawrence Gonzi.
And as Dom Mintoff continued to pull the strings from his bureau at the House of the Four Winds, Eddie could probably do the same when he takes up residence at the Palace as President of the Republic.
So blind are most Nationalists to Fenech Adami’s grand design that they fail to uncover his scheming and those of his immediate entourage who may have little in terms of intellect but much in terms of ‘Byzantine’ tactics.
The campaign to elect Lawrence Gonzi does not stop with Dr Gonzi, it goes further than that; it also means that the deputy leader will have to be Dr Tonio Borg.
Now, despite all attempts to portray Dr Gonzi as some great strategist in economic planning, it is abundantly clear that the man lacks the acumen and savoir faire to kick start business confidence. With Tonio Borg, that deficiency will not be remedied but exacerbated.
Dr Borg is the minister I tend to think of as the one who shunned any direct responsibility for a disgraced Commissioner of Police. And the escape of prison inmates at Kordin, the scandal with judges at the law courts, the treatment of illegal immigrants and moreover the failure to improve the efficacy of our police force.
In reality, what we have for government is a conservative, leadership with the urgency of Galapagos tortoise turned Catholic.
People will welcome this tandem. People love weak government, leaders that can smile, and deliver beautiful speeches without commitment or content, talk about pension reform accompanied by buckets of valuri.
This is politics, chums, and with a weak Opposition, a weak government, weak institutions, we, the incisive media, are going to have a whale of a time.