Franco Debono’s behaviour in the past week has fuelled speculation on the role the young MP expects to play in the PN and whether he is playing a dangerous game of brinkmanship. By KARL STAGNO-NAVARRA
Franco Debono immediately attracted the attention of the press when he was elected to parliament: he was the youngest government MP in the House and had just ousted PN heavyweight Louis Galea from his electoral district with 2,000 first preference votes. His ambition in legal and political circles was well known.
As Lawrence Gonzi took his oath of office as Prime Minister in March 2008, Debono was already firmly in the eye of PBS producers, keenly expecting the driven MP to take centre-stage one way or the other. Debono was enthusiastically shaking hands with journalists, as many wondered how he had managed to face off Louis Galea, arguably the biggest loser of the general elections (after Labour, that is…).
Debono is ultimately also a product of the GonziPN ‘revolution’, with its deleterious proviso to make mincemeat of the old crew and promise a repackaged party of young, whey-faced upstarts. Most notably, Louis Galea was the ideal victim of the GonziPN strategy. Elected to every legislature since 1976 and returned to parliament by the electorate in seven consecutive elections, Galea saw his distinguished career abruptly terminated in the 2008 election. On the fifth district Galea’s tally dropped by a substantial 438 votes, which lost him his seat to newcomer Franco Debono. And then he lost his seventh district stronghold (which previously included both Siggiewi and Zebbug), sliced in a boundary redrawing.
Debono rode high on the fact that the minister was yesterday’s news. And why not? Gonzi himself was not parading any of his ministers around with him during the electoral campaign; his Cabinet reshuffle was now an electoral pledge with Labour, making his inherited ministers the focus of their negative campaign. Galea was, after all, on the way to becoming President of the Republic. The voters could spare Galea for a newer face.
But as Gonzi formed his cabinet team, trimmed down and shorn of all the Fenech Adami remnants he had inherited, so was his unhappy backbench taking shape. Debono found himself among the disgruntled men of the Nationalist Party. At first he was satisfied: he had after all been elected to parliament. From a modest upbringing in Ghaxaq, to a law degree with a thesis on political party financing, and now an MP, the intelligent Debono had achieved what others can only dream of.
But he also complained of “not being valued” enough as a backbencher, cementing the perception that he was after a role in government, at least as a parliamentary secretary. Instead, the backbench proved to be his learning curve, as he quickly understood that Gonzi’s government had been won by a man who gambled all he could by pitting himself – GonziPN – as his party’s sole winning ticket.
Out on the backbench Within a few months, Debono gradually learnt the art of dissent, and perhaps ruffled some feathers to be heard like the rest. The Gonzi administration was now accused of having cocooned itself, while the men inside the ivory tower were interpreting the backbench dissent as a campaign to oust or discredit Gonzi. PN parliamentary group meetings became increasingly agitated, with MPs and ministers up in arms against each other.
Like the other dissenters, Debono absorbed all he could to be as vociferous as the rest. When Gonzi did not consult the PN parliamentary group to nominate former Labour deputy leader George Abela as a ‘unifying’ President of the Republic, and that Tonio Fenech was proposing amendments to the gambling law without a chance for discussion, Debono found his dissent could make a difference.
The controversial power station extension in Delimara proved to be the right weapon for Franco to exercise his authority as an MP. Through his constituents, mostly from Birzebbugia and Marsaxlokk, Debono acted as their mouthpiece from the government bench.
But his enthusiastic goodwill to drive the Delimara point through the decision makers, led him into a vortex of further controversy. When voicing his objections to the choice of technology for the power station extension, Debono was interpreted as confronting the ‘inner core’ of Lawrence Gonzi’s administration. He clashed head-on with ministers Austin Gatt and George Pullicino who considered him an “empty vessel” and simply brushed him aside.
Debono found comfort with other backbenchers whose show of dissent was now public. Inside the PN parliamentary group, he reportedly challenged finance minister Tonio Fenech to respond to rumours of his freebie trip aboard magnate George Fenech’s private jet to watch Arsenal play in Spain, courtesy of Joe Gasan. And together with Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Robert Arrigo, Debono became part of the ‘gang of three’ who seemed to represent this unprecedented disgruntlement inside the PN, as the unbreakable unity fostered by Eddie Fenech Adami now started to buckle under the pressure of the unhappy backbench.
Appeasing him, Gonzi threw Debono a handful of treats – a trip to New York accompanying him to the United Nations (complete with Net TV coverage) with all the VIP trimmings and a meeting with Barack Obama; and then a parliamentary commission of his own to update antiquated laws.
But while many thought that the Franco issue was settled, he returned to find out the party machinery was pushing parliamentary secretary Jason Azzopardi and Austin Gatt’s aide Manwel Delia into his fifth district in the hope of creating a groundswell that will oust the young MP in the next elections. Back in October, Debono had been challenged by Lou Bondì on Bondiplus to qualify a cryptic complaint of his about “other candidates” who were being preferred on his district, but he stopped short of supplying names.
The day after the programme, Franco Debono made an entry on Lou Bondì’s Facebook page in reply to a comment posted by a certain ‘Azzopardi’ who said she had voted for Debono in the last elections but now “regretted” her decision. She said: “I just couldn’t listen to his nonsense and went to sleep. Still can’t believe I am so bad at judging people.” A few minutes later, Franco Debono replied: “Are you from Marsaxlokk? Are you married to Jason Azzopardi’s brother?”
Debono admits he doesn’t expect to be the sole candidate on the Fifth District, but he is obsessed that the PN is out to eliminate his possibilities of returning to parliament in three years’ time.
But would he settle for Louis Galea being ‘promised’ a Cabinet post if he makes it through the casual election for John Dalli’s seat? Definitely not, and he is not alone in this – but does it justify his disappearing act last Monday?
MaltaToday columnist and former minister Michael Falzon spelt it out: “He is risking his political career”. Former PN candidate Georg Sapiano hinted at Debono’s “personal agenda”. While many consider Franco Debono a “loose cannon”, his decision to sit out Monday’s session where he was expected to vote against an Opposition-moved amendment, was the fruit of unpredictability. And while he has made his concerns public with the press, the reason why he did not vote remains a mystery. That’s the kind of wild touch that wreaks havoc in the Nationalist’s traditionally tight phalanx.
Mystery man For three whole days, Franco Debono was ‘missing in action’ to the extent that the Prime Minister admitted to his parliamentary group that convened on Tuesday, “I don’t know what happened to Franco. I have not spoken to him, and he hasn’t contacted me. When he talks to me, I will let you know.”
The evening after, the Prime Minister went to visit Debono at his house in Ghaxaq and told the press he did not discuss with Franco the reasons for his no-show for the parliamentary vote on Monday. As the nation was kept guessing about the possible motives behind Debono’s choice to desert the House, Gonzi stressed his government was not in crisis.
He threw the ball back into Franco Debono’s court, stating that it was his “personal situation” to explain. But Debono has failed to come clean on what this personal situation is about.
Sources insist the issue that triggered Franco Debono’s no-show on Monday night is much bigger than anyone could assume. For most it is surely non-political, and an issue Franco considers so big or threatening that it is difficult to get out of.
The issue has got the whole parliamentary group guessing about the possible motives behind Franco Debono’s choice.
MP Louis Deguara said: “I honestly don’t know what is behind it.” Deguara, a former minister who was among those who received an SMS in 2008 learning that his services were no longer required, said that it is a “wait-and-see situation.”
MP Francis Zammit Dimech, another former minister, also says he has no idea what could have sparked Franco Debono’s absence from Monday’s vote. He agreed with the Prime Minister, however, that there is no political crisis.
Former transport minister Jesmond Mugliett said that he has no answer as to Debono’s no-vote in parliament, while also stressing that it is a delicate moment for the government.
Asked if he agreed with Whip David Agius, who stressed on TV this week that the Prime Minister regularly visits MPs at home, Mugliett replied that “for months neither the Prime Minister nor the PN officials kept contact with me.”
MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando said that he has contacted Franco Debono over the past days to see if he could be of any assistance. “I did not ask him why he made the choices he made last Monday. It is up to him to divulge this information if he chooses to do so. Franco Debono is no fool. He would not have taken the difficult step he took last Monday if he did not have what was presented to him as being a very valid reason.”
Asked to react to the Prime Minister stating he does not see a political crisis within his majority, Pullicino Orlando replied that “perhaps the Prime Minister is better informed than I am, but I am worried about the current political situation within my party.”
MP Robert Arrigo also says that Franco Debono’s issue remains a mystery. “An MP’s job is definitely not an easy one,” he stressed, while adding that one has to wait and see what the developments will be. “I don’t know if you could interpret it as a message or not, but surely I believe that Franco would have had a very valid reason to do what he did.”
Gozitan MP Frederick Azzopardi, who reportedly had a minor tiff with Franco Debono on Monday evening just before he left parliament, told MaltaToday that he has no idea what led Franco Debono not to vote that night.
While many ponder Franco Debono’s political future, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando pondered on the prospects for 2010: “unless steps are taken to rebuild our team, a team chosen by the people to represent them in Parliament, we will all be wasting more energy on watching our backs and defending ourselves against internal maneuvers than on what we should actually be doing; that is, going about the business of government.”
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