The Third Great Siege

The Maltese are presently undergoing their third great siege.  After experiencing and successfully repelling the relentless assaults of the Ottoman empire during the Sixteenth Century, as well as those of the Nazi-Fascist Axis over seventy years ago, the nation now faces an equally serious threat to the political order it has managed to painfully establish over two centuries.

No it is not Franco Debono, for all his angst and fury the man has always remained well within the parameters of democracy.  All the pleas and platitudes hypocritically uttered by the holier-than-thou crowd for the man to resign because he has betrayed the trust of his constituents are utter claptrap, as long as these same resignation sayers do not possess the guidance of the Holy Spirit and thus are in possession of intimate knowledge of the hearts and minds of Debono’s voters five years ago.  The man has every right to do what he has done…..and good for him.

No, the true villain of the piece here is Lawrence Gonzi.  The Prime Minister clearly knows two things. Firstly that he no longer enjoys a majority in Parliament.  Secondly that he no longer enjoys the trust of the majority of the Maltese people.  Polls which clearly show this turn of events have held steadily these past twelve months, with no sign of change.  Had this second factor not been evident than, perhaps, his resistance to his loss of a parliamentary majority might have been morally justifiable.  However it is now quite clear that the majority of people are fed up with him.

His antics to stick on to the throne are tragic and pathetic.  They might even eventually be construed to be funny, were it not for the fact that Lawrence Gonzi is authoring the authoritative text on bypassing the parliamentary system and rendering this august body into a pitiable nest of eunuchs.  Gonzi is treading dangerous ground and his reprehensible behaviour may well bode ill for the future of democracy in Malta.  A new government should take all the steps necessary to block any such future artifices through the necessary amendment of parliamentary procedure and even the Constitution.

The Quantum Eye