People do generally start as they mean to go on
We forget that Franco Debono began his parliamentary career by picking a fight with The Sunday Times, for failing to mention that he had made Maltese political history by unseating party giant Louis Galea.
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The Sunday Times, March 16, 2008
by Mark Micallef
(Allied Newspapers staff)
BEHOLD, A NEW ‘HONOURABLE’ MEMBER IS IN TOWN
Newly elected Nationalist MP Franco Debono complained to The Times earlier this week because it reported that he was likely to take Helen D’Amato’s seat in the fifth district. The newspaper’s “grave” mistake, according to the honourable member, was that it failed to mention that he had also managed to unseat PN stalwart Louis Galea.
Contacted for his comments yesterday, Dr Debono said he had not asked for an actual correction, but had just pointed out to the journalist that he was not precise.
“This is history,” he said, “you were incorrect, not in my regard mostly, but in your readers’.
“So, now, because I insist on precision, and called courteously pointing out that you had a mistake, in turn I get a phone call from you… I didn’t say anything, for instance, when you took the comments of all the other candidates and dedicated only one line to me while others got six lines, I didn’t phone for that. I didn’t phone because you took (Dr) Galea’s comments twice on two days and (not those) of the elected MPs.
“I have huge respect for (Dr) Galea,” he continued, “you cannot understand how much but… the fact is that I didn’t take Helen D’ Amato’s seat, absolutely not, first of all for the sake of facts, and secondly… I had an almost impossible district if it interests you… I have huge, huge respect for (Dr) Galea, I cannot really explain but the fact that I succeeded in this, I think I deserve a bit of credit as well…”
Dr Debono was elected from the fifth district for the PN with 2,065 first-count votes. He managed to gain the seat usually taken by the highly respected Dr Galea, as a result of the surprising number of votes he managed to garner and the fact that the district’s boundaries had changed.
The former education minister is usually elected from two districts and cedes his seat to Ms D’Amato. This time round, he failed to get elected in either district – so both MPs lost out.
With this in mind, the journalist reporting Dr Debono’s unexpected triumph wrote that the young lawyer from the south had managed to outdo the former parliamentary secretary.
But Dr Debono called, stressing that he had eliminated Dr Galea too, just as messages of praise and tribute started flowing in for the man described as the co-architect of the Nationalist Party.
He insisted, in fact, that the race had been a difficult one for him and that he had put in a lot of effort, which included abandoning his law firm for three months and that the result was a consequence of that. Bruised but not bitter, Dr Galea had said he was serene about the result, joking that this would be his “new beginning”. Perhaps, the young lawyer would have done well to inherit a bit of the graciousness along with his seat.
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A spectacular case of deja vu. This makes your recent appraisal of the gentlemen absolutely spot on.
In other news (literally), I can see why Dr. Debono is now setting his sights on a better paid parliamentary position…….anything’s better than this:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111109/local/nigerian.393023
I recall this article . Not having heard of Franco Debono before , I had said OMG , who the f— is this wannabe.
I repeat ad nauseam that notwithstanding all the flak , Dr Gonzi and his cabinet have taken decisions and produced results –
Maghtab solved and forgotten
drainage purification plants
power station extension
city gate projects incl relocating all those shops plus new parliament building
new road network plus 300 new roads in villages
New schools that are the envy of private schools
university extensions incl ICT
Developing Malta as an airline maintenance base
Financial services booming
Tourism turnaround
Yacht marinas privatization
Liberalization of transport – taxis etc
Public transport reform ( in progress)
Restoration of all Valletta bastions
new Mcast campus planned
New Oncology hospital being qbuilt
Privatization of the shipyards
Closure of the Marsa power station
Development of Maltese merchant flag No 1 in Europe
Science Park being planned
Smart City ( hindered by the financial crisis , where most ICT companies have down sized )
Admittedly there were the banana skins of ministers remuneration , and water and electricity bills / Arms
But is this a government without a vision ?
All this despite the constant primadonna behavior of three backbenchers.
Could you imagine what would have happened in the Montoff years if someone like Franco Debono behaved in a similar manner? His life would have been made hell by Mintoff’s thugs. Despite sticking his head out too much, the PN treated Franco Debono in the most dignified manner.
[Daphne – One should not be praised for normal behaviour.]
I stand to be corrected, but it seems that things started even earlier.
Austin Gatt never wanted him as a candidate, Debono was called urgently to contest on the fifth district because Hermann Schiavone (with nearly 2,000 first count votes in the previous election)had to drop out of the race because of an anonymous letter.
Lino Spiteri was eliminated by Sant with the same method. Remember MC?
These tactics catch the decision-makers unawares and they have to make fast decisions.
It is an open secret in Hal Ghaxaq that Debono spread the rumour in his house visits that Louis Galea was to succeed Eddie as president of Malta. So majtezwel vote for a fresh horse!
Now we have the party-loyal candidate Hermann Schiavone and the brand-new candidate Manuel Delia doing the house visits in our area and we voters are telling them that Franco is politically a dead man walking.He can do whatever he likes but we will not vote for him.
We have been invited for a get -together at the Garden of Eden by Hermann Schiavone on Saturday, 10th December 2011- profits will not go to fund his campaign by ‘his friends’, but for the Saint Theresa Institute of Nigret Zurrieq. Now this is original.
Will FD also object to this?
Can we have more prospective candidates doing the same thing?
I must say that one can notice a pattern in Dr. Debono’s behaviour.
1. His always being first in class as a kid.
2. His request to The Times for credit (I think I deserve a bit of credit as well…).
3. His constant reminders on Dissett that he deserves credit for this that and the other.
I genuinely believe that D. Debono, unlike some other politicians, is not in politics to get rich, but solely for power and attention, as if he constantly needs to please someone.
I reached this conclusion as Dr. Debono seems to have a strong need to be told when he has done something right. He craves credit and praise.
This could be (please note I said could be) symptomatic of having over-ambitious parents or maybe having been ignored as a child.
[Daphne – Rather the opposite, I would say: a child born with a dominant personality to weak parents who admire his dominance.]
In plain English it is called a “swollen head” – in medical technical terms it is known as “megalomania”.
Mameeeeeeee, haduli il-penzijiet!
Mhux sewwa. *Sob *Sob.
The Italians say “La giornata si vede dal mattino”.
The PN should dig up its records, find out who nominated and seconded Franco Debono’s candidature application and ban them from nominating or seconding anyone else for the next nine lifetimes.
What will he expect, if he gets 20,000 first count votes, like Fenech Adami did in 2003?
Taking the post of Pope Benedict XVI maybe?