“Everybody’s potential should be sought”
The Labour Party – surely that should have been the government? – has responded to the Nationalist Party statement criticising the appointment of Franco Debono to the constitutional reform committee (this in particular, because it requires the cooperation of the Opposition; the PN made no reference to his appointment as Law Commissioner).
The Labour Party’s statement said the PN “has a good opportunity to learn from the mistakes which brought it to its current situation” and that “the lesson was that everybody’s potential should be used; this is what the new government is doing”.
Yet the Parliamentary Secretary for Justice, Owen Bonnici, had said already that no other people had been considered for the position.
The Labour Party’s statement is inherently contradictory. If “everyone’s potential should be used” then why was Franco Debono handpicked for the role? What about all the other people whose experience and abilities, to say nothing of their qualities of stability and so on, far exceed those of Debono?
If I were a law expert I would, at this stage, be exceptionally annoyed. I would be annoyed because what the government has done here is not seek Franco Debono’s potential but reward him for services rendered to the Labour Party in the most obnoxious way possible.
So all those people who are far better qualified than Debono is to look at law reform and chair the committee for constitutional reform are going to say, “Well, that’s great. Because I didn’t throw a thousand hysterical tantrums, or throw my weight about on the basis of my seat in parliament because I didn’t have one, I’m not even going to get a look in. MY potential counts for nothing.”
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Does anyone know what Muscat’s 2nd Republic is going to be? We sure should know shouldn’t we? It’s about to hit us all in the face.
And something tells me that they will find a way to go round the whole “opposition needs to be on side too” rule.
So this is the new way of doing things? The lesson at the end is that nothing lasts and we all have to be able to live with ourselves when the party comes to an end; sadly we also have to live with others’ poor choices.
Well, good luck to Labour. At some time this relationship is bound to backfire.
How long will it take for Franco Tabone to ask be given an appointment with more substance? Franco’s ambition is after all to become a minister. History repeats itself.
Silly me, I thought that Dr Austin Bencini was THE expert on Constitutional Law!
According to Owen Bonnici there was nowhere to look except at the “habrieki u energiku” Franco Debono.
Il-Labour jithaddet kif jaqbillu. Kultant jista’ jkollok ‘potential’ imma jekk iridu jpattuha, ghalxejn.
“Party sources told MaltaToday that Buhagiar’s fall from grace started during the campaign after leaks about deputy leader Toni Abela were directly attributed to individuals who supported Buhagiar in his election campaign.”
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/…/Decision-not-to-appoint-Buhagiar-not-li...
Joseph jippriedka t-trasparenza bil-paroli biss.
This is getting interesting. Labour may have achieved their objective of irking the PN with this and other similar appointments, but we’ll never know how many of their own they’ve infuriated in the process.
Everything has a cost and this means that by appointing Franco, someone more deserving (or feeling entitled) missed the opportunity.
PN lost the election by 37,000 but got rid of quite a few scumbags in one fell swoop, getting an opportunity to regroup without hindrance from these individuals who have grown accustomed to dissent and who lack any sense of loyalty to their party leader.
Labour seem to have forgotten their experience with others who switched parties simply because their whims were not entertained.
Sandro Schembri Adami is a case in point. Now they have four or five of them, each with a lot more punch. Forsi, kif jghid il-Malti, kull deni hudu b’gid.
Prosit Franco, what I nice example you are giving to our youngsters. It is the end result that matters in life – l-irgulija u l-onesta ma jghoddux fil-hajja.
Owen Bonnici may have appeased Franco Debono in appointing him Commissioner for Laws, but he certainly has alienated the entire legal profession in doing so. I would have thought that Dr Bonnici had greater respect for legislation and the rule of law.
Owen Bonnici’s hands were tied. What makes you think he has any freedom to take his own decisions?
That’s not to say he doesn’t approve of the decision, of course. Anything goes, as long as one’s political career advances. The pity is that Bonnici expected to be made minister, not lady-in-waiting to a super annuated toad.
Labour had to give Franco some kind of reward for pushing them to victory.
So going through the list to find better qualified people be damned is their way of thinking.
The fact that the PN suffered a massive defeat seems to give the right to PL and its supporters (as evidenced by the comments section in the Times) to disregard any comment made by the PN (or its supporters) repeating that the PN needs to learn from its mistakes, as if since the 9th March only 56% of the population are able to think coherently.
This makes the opinions of a significant proportion of the electorate irrelevant, which contrasts sharply with the pre-election cry that everybody is relevant for the progressive movement.
Sadder things to come. The depths have not even begun to be plumbed.
As I said the other day “there’s plenty more where that comes from!!!”
Wara din il-kummidja, jistghu l-awtoritajiet jinvestigaw jekk kienx hemm xi forma ta’ “corrupt practice”?
To see it you’d need to be able to recognise it.
Owen Bonnici on Facebook:
Nirringrazzja lill-Avukat Franco Debono talli accetta li jikkoordina l-Konvenzjoni Kostituzzjonali, jkun konsulent tal-Gvern fuq il-Ligi tal-Finanzjament tal-Partiti u materji ohra u li jservi bhala Kummissarju tal-Ligijiet. Nemmen hafna fl-energija u l-hiliet ta’ l-Avukat Debono fejn jidhlu kwistjonijiet tant sensittivi u importanti.
Nemmen li Dr Owen Bonnici bela’ kanna minghand Joseph, li hatar lil Franco kummissarju.
Darba fil-parlament qaghadu jitkellmu u jifthemu ras imb’ras quddiem kullhadd fuq il-bankijiet tal-parlament, qabel ma Franco ivvota kontra l-Gvern.
Hemmhekk sar id-‘deal’ bejn l-‘old boys’.
I wonder what the MLP diehards who volunteered for years in their party think of all these appointments.
They love the party so much that they volunteered throughout long years to get it elected, while recent turncoats, rats, and those who joined the winning bandwagon at the last minute (being more than certain of the win) obtain all the rewards and the glory.
Probably they are dumb enough not to realize it. God bless them and their simplicity.
Kompli tnejjek bil-Malti, ja Joseph ir-rahli.
Ma jdumx ma ssib kappel jgik.
And Ramona Frendo was handpicked mhux ghax lil min taf imma ghax taf, miskina.