The President of the Law Commission has fallen out with the Justice Minister

For the last few weeks, Franco Debono has been all over the internet comments-boards on the news portals, criticising the government and making inappropriate remarks about it (inappropriate because he is the Prime Minister’s consultant on law reform and also the President of the Law Commission).

Others took it to mean that he is now seeing Muscat’s government and party for what they are, and commented accordingly in return. But knowing what he is like, I knew instantly that this was anything but a Damascene conversion and that it could mean one thing only: that he has come to blows, metaphorically speaking, with the Justice Minister, is envious of him because he is the Justice Minister, and resents him because he is the Justice Minister and getting what he thinks is all the kudos which he, Franco Debono, deserves by right.

I thought to myself that it was only a matter of time before he would crack on the comments-boards and reveal how he has stayed true to type and is waging the same battle of anger and resentment against this Justice Minister that he waged against the last one – only this time he doesn’t have a seat in parliament and so his resentment has no vessel in which to boil over. And last night he cracked. Here are some of the things the President of the Law Commission, and the Prime Minister’s consultant on justice reform, wrote about the Justice Minister on The Malta Independent’s comments-board:

“The Justice Minister has no experience whatsoever”

“He is trying to score points with my reforms”

“He hasn’t got a clue about anything”

“He used to ask me for advice about appeals”

“He had to flee his constituency because of family feuds” – a reference to his marital breakdown and the fact that he is now in court with his wife battling over the separation terms

“Owen is a nice guy but has almost no experience in court”

“He is trying to score points with reforms for which he should be given zero credit”

For a more detailed conversation, switch to the post after this one.