I am earnestly waiting for the next backbencher to come forward and declare that he has been ostracised, forgotten and deprived and all those ugly things that make you feel depressed and lonely.
So we have all noted that backbencher and General Practitioner Jean-Pierre Farrugia had a story in MaltaToday and the Sunday Times. He said that he was losing his patience with his party and that he was determined to abort (my words) any attempt by his party to push forward the proposed primary health reform.
Like all weak leaders, Lawrence Gonzi caved in.
I have yet to see why Jean-Pierre Farrugia did not raise his voice before the cabinet reshuffle. I guess the fact that he was not appointed health minister has nothing whatsoever to do with it.
And I guess that Joe Cassar’s appointment as minister had nothing to do with Farrugia’s outburst either. I am sure Farrugia would not have liked to be a minister.
To tell you truth I do not know one backbencher who would not like be appointed minister. To imagine that any of the PN backbenchers are thinking about themselves is a vulgar thought.
Jean-Pierre Farrugia said that the government led by Lawrence Gonzi is or was losing its social conscience. Well, I wonder why the issue of a social conscience becomes a problem now, and only now.
Couldn’t Jean-Pierre Farrugia have announced his feelings before the cabinet reshuffle? I have to admit that I am rather confused.
I had the same feeling for Robert Musumeci. He has NOW said that he was not asked by the Prime Minister not to stand for the by-election... and that the fact that the PM said that he was concerned about the lurid and unfounded and vile allegations about his partner Consuelo Scerri Herrera on a wayward blog was meant as a ‘threat’.
Well let me quote verbatim from what was said in MaltaToday: “Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi himself was the person who last Tuesday personally told the PN’s Siggiewi mayor Robert Musumeci that the allegations made about his partner Consuelo Scerri Herrera, the magistrate, by Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia had rendered him unsuitable to stand for a casual election.”
Now that piece of information was not invented, dreamt about or forced upon MaltaToday. It was transmitted to this newspaper. It was not spin but unadulterated reportage.
Two weeks later, and Musumeci is writing on his Facebook wall about what a genuine man Lawrence Gonzi is, and more so he is saying in the press that his conversation with the PM could be open to interpretation.
I am not quite sure what to write here, so the reason that there is a pause is because I am banging my forehead on my desk.
Bang, Bang, Bang and Bang!
Well, I guess it has a lot to do with how he has interpreted MEPA rules, I guess.
I imagine the one and only reason those politicians who openly and secretively dislike (if not hate) Gonzi, but refuse to leave or quit national politics, is because they believe that even if they do leave, the Gonzi brigade will still make their life difficult.
I have no brief for any backbencher or former minister, but it is a well-known fact that some former ministers such as Jesmond Mugliett have difficulty in rekindling their profession after they are sent a text message informing them that they will not be in the next cabinet.
Musumeci has also secretively spoken about his fear of losing out on his profession. He knows that if MEPA wishes, the politically appointed members on many of the decision-making boards can make his life a miserable hell.
The Gonzi administration is primarily concerned with surviving and retaining power.
Yet the Gonzi U-turn on primary healthcare reveals a Prime Minister who is increasingly obsessed with surviving rather than delivering.
He is a vulnerable man surrounded by generals who continue telling him that victory is still possible, and that sooner or later the enemy will be repulsed.
But the real enemy is within.
Today there is not a living soul in the Nationalist Party who does not recognise that Gonzi simply does not have it.
The saddest thing that has happened to the Prime Minister is that he is not running the country, but constantly battling for his survival. He is a prisoner to his backbenchers.
Most of the people around Gonzi are far from being altruistic. They are not primarily interested in the country or the well-being of its people, but in their own survival.
Like most politicians their first concern is themselves, and that is why most backbenchers know that the more they stamp their feet, the better the chance of getting what they want.
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