The Last PN Government’s Harshest Internal Critic Advises Current Leader On How To Handle His Own Dissidents
As the man whose vote famously brought down the last PN government in 2012, criminal lawyer and former MP Franco Debono knows better than most how it feels to be isolated from a party.
Now, with the PN’s own chief political coordinator calling on internal critics of PN leader Adrian Delia to quit the party, Debono has urged Delia to reach out to these people and build bridges with them.
“I was the first person to speak about cliques and oligarchies within the Nationalist Party, and yet I cannot imagine a PN where the name ‘Fenech Adami’ doesn’t feature,” Debono said on Dissett last night. “No one has the right to control a party forever but, as a leader, you must bring everyone on board and not call for war.”
Although PN MP Beppe Fenech Adami, son of former Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami, has not publicly criticised Delia, Illum has reported he is urging other MPs to try and oust the leader. Meanwhile, his brother Michael is no longer working with the Nationalist Party and was last night involved in the logistics of Occupy Justice’s latest vigil for Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Franco Debono stresses a point on Dissett
Debono couldn’t help noting the irony in how several PN officials who used to criticise him for disobeying Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi back in 2012 are now themselves disobeying Adrian Delia. However, he insisted that Delia must take it upon himself to bring those people back on board.
“Before changing Malta, Joseph Muscat [as Opposition leader] made sure to change the Labour Party by opening its doors to everyone it had been fighting against, including PN voters,” Debono said. “The likes of Beppe Fenech Adami, Mario de Marco, Karol Aquilina and Claudio Grech are all PN heavyweights with a substantial following that Delia cannot ignore.”
Debono reiterated his call on Delia to call a confident vote in his leadership among the Nationalist Party’s local councillors.
“If he wins, then even his critics should support him, at least until the European Parliament elections.”
During the programme, the renowned criminal lawyer also warned Malta against adopting culture that equates political responsibility with criminal responsibility.
“Political responsibility must kick in way before criminal responsibility, because otherwise what’s the point? Should a politician only resign if he gets sentenced to jail, by which time he wouldn’t even have a choice?”
“The principles and standards that apply in western democracies is that politicians should resign when faced with serious allegations. Even if they insist the allegations aren’t true, they resign anyway so as to clear their name without dragging the entire party down with them.”
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