News | Wednesday, 02 December 2009

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Dumped by Gonzi

The ‘new way of doing politics’ ushered in by Lawrence Gonzi in 2003 seems to include a strange way of handling appointments and dismissals of senior public figures. JAMES DEBONO analyses his choice of EU Commissioner

From sending an SMS informing Jesmond Mugliett that he was not to be reappointed Minister in Gonzi’s second cabinet, to his failure to even inform Joe Borg that he was no longer considered for re-appointment as EU commissioner, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is exhibiting a dangerous character trait which keeps sowing the seeds of resentment among the victims of his chess move appointments.
While Gonzi’s lack of consideration for Mugliett left little impact on an electorate largely unsympathetic towards his first cabinet, the same cannot be said of the treatment reserved for Joe Borg: who retains a place in the PN’s pantheon of ‘heroes’ for his historic role as the Foreign Minister who negotiated Malta’s entry in the European Union.
In so doing, Gonzi may well have dispelled the perception that he is unable to take bold and tough decisions when making strategic appointments aimed at appeasing potential rivals – as was the case with Dalli’s appointment – or to ensure his place in history as was his decision to appoint George Abela,a former Labourite, as President of the Republic.
But his inability to face those left on the wayside with the bad news may well expose a sense of omnipotence rooted in his improbable victory in the last general election.
Having single-handedly defeated Alfred Sant on the GonziPN ticket, and given the impression that change can come from within through the injection of “new blood” in the Cabinet, Gonzi felt bold enough to axe some former ministers like Jesmond Mugliett, Ninu Zammit, Louis Deguara, Francis Zammit Dimech, Michael Frendo and Censu Galea, while retaining others who were more to his liking as was the case with George Pullicino and Austin Gatt.
But he was not bold enough to give a personal explanation to those purged from the cabinet.
Jesmond Mugliett, who was informed of his omission from the cabinet via SMS, felt that former Ministers were owed a more “dignified dismissal”.
“We were at least owed an explanation as to why we were not reconsidered for a cabinet post, and a thank you.”
Not surprisingly Mugliett’s disgruntlement became even more acute when decisions he took as Minister were openly questioned by his successor at the Roads Ministry, Austin Gatt.
Expressing his frustration to MaltaToday after Austin Gatt’s direct attack on the ill-fated Dock No. 1 project in Cospicua, Mugliett revealed that he had informed Gonzi that he “was dismayed by the constant attacks” on his ministerial record, “when we had taken collective decisions together, and when some of my achievements, particularly in the roads sector, had been trumpeted by the previous Gonzi Government and the PN.”
Nor did Gonzi consider the backlash in public opinion, after dumping the popular Joe Borg without any explanation to the aggrieved former commissioner himself.
“I think at the very least I had the right to be told a straight and unequivocal ‘no’,” Borg claimed. Instead he learnt of Gonzi’s final decision to appoint Dalli as he was driving from Brussels to Strasbourg, when his wife phoned him to tell him what was broadcast on the news.
It was not just Gonzi’s failure to communicate the news which irked Borg; but also the way he was kept hoping right to the very end.
“I was informed that only two possible scenarios were being considered – one was the nomination of a Cabinet minister and the other was my re-nomination. If in the last days and weeks the situation changed, I was certainly not informed.”
This was not the first time that Gonzi disappointed a party stalwart with false hopes of an appointment.
Before breaking with tradition by becoming the first Nationalist Prime Minister to appoint a Labourite as President, Gonzi is said to have promised the same post to Louis Galea. Although Galea refrained from expressing his disappointment in public, he never denied reports that he was kept hoping for the post till the very end and that he felt betrayed when he was informed that Abela had been chosen.
Ironically, by not re-appointing Joe Borg, Gonzi may well have rid himself of a reference point for disgruntled MPs sitting on the backbench, but he has also forced upon himself an impending reshuffle.
Once again Gonzi cannot be accused of shunning tough decisions by taking the easy way out: that of re-confirming Joe Borg as Malta’s nominee.
For he will soon have to appoint a replacement for John Dalli in the Cabiner: a scenario which might well raise the expectations of backbenchers who still aspire for a cabinet post.
And if Louis Galea contests the bye election and gets elected, Gonzi will have to decide whether to re-appoint him in the cabinet, allowing him to jump the queue despite failing to get elected in the last election.
Ultimately Gonzi might well heedi the advice of Niccolo Machiavelli: that it is better to be feared than to be loved, and that a prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promises.
But he also seems to be ignoring the Italian political philosopher’s advice, that a prince should “proceed in a temperate manner with prudence and humanity, so that too much confidence may not make him incautious and too much distrust render him intolerable”.

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