Dr Gonzi, go. Just get up and leave

Lawrence Gonzi will have to bless the introduction of divorce after a landslide defeat in last Sunday’s referendum. Under his watch as Premier, he will see the introduction of divorce in the Maltese islands. It is not only humiliating, but hurtful for a man who appears to put more weight to his time as president of the Catholic Action movement than his job as Prime Minister.

He will probably vote ‘No’ or abstain, against the will of the people. After all, the decision to have a referendum was concocted by him and him alone, and it imploded. If he had limited the debate to parliament, the chances of it being ratified would have been very small indeed. Thank God he made such a mistake.

The whole debate on the voting has been quite a joke. Mario de Marco said he can assure everyone that the vote for divorce in parliament will definitely pass. And then he added that the respect for one’s right to abstain or vote against must be respected. So if, for argument’s sake, the majority of parliamentarians did really have a problem with their conscience and all vote ‘no’, what would Mario de Marco say?

Lawrence Gonzi has little respect left in the party. He may think he still has a chance to win the next election under his captaincy. He doesn’t. And he has been faced by backbenchers who have confided in him and asked him to step down for the good of the party. His hold on the Nationalist party is poor, his immediate entourage not only unimpressive but also incapable of providing him with the best advice. Edgar Galea Curmi is simply the wrong man for the job at Castille and Paul Borg Olivier simply does not have it.

As the rest of Europe rejoices as it moves out of recession, Malta remains anchored in its own recession. Gonzi has no control over the excesses of his ministers – such as the case with Austin Gatt – and more so he has no impact on the wrong decisions, such as the Delimara power station. And yes, in the case of the power station, he knows that there was corruption and kickbacks involved and if he does not know, then he should be told. And no, please do not ask me to go to Mr John Rizzo, because I have no faith in the police.

More than that, he has stood by Tonio Fenech, when he knew that his actions were unacceptable and unethical.

But it is not only managing his Cabinet which was a mess, but the country as whole. The general outlook of the country is pessimistic, the business community does not have the feel-good factor and every problem such as the case of Air Malta is cured by appointing highly paid foreigners who cannot possibly address the mistakes that were created by this same administration.

Gonzi has a credibility problem. He lied to dockyard and Air Malta workers and then did the complete opposite of what he promised them before 2008. He created a system of nepotism, appointing yes men in all positions of trust. At PBS, at MEPA, in authorities, everywhere. Political apartheid is real and widespread.

But even economic apartheid is extensive. Zaren Vassallo, a well-known PN sponsor and someone who depends on Joe Saliba in many of his business deals, is the unusual lucky recipient of so many lucrative contracts. Gonzi did more: he promised that he would be magnanimous and open up and invest in meritocracy. He did the complete opposite. He unleashed his Janissaries to destroy any form of opposition.

But in his quest to quell any dissenting voices, he miscalculated big time on one person. That person happened to be Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando – a backbencher who was one of his most loyal parliamentarians. Outspoken, fearless and charismatic, he was launched at Alfred Sant like a gladiator at the Coliseum before the 2008 election. And when it passed and the Nationalist party won by a slim majority thanks to his first count votes, they tried to destroy him, intimidating him by planting stories and inventing reports to make him resign. That big miscalculation has cost them dearly.

The same approach has been administered with John Dalli, Jesmond Mugliett and to a lesser extent to Robert Arrigo. In the end, he tried to buy their silence. In the case of Dalli by giving him the Commissioner’s job and Arrigo by offering him a menial post as a mega junior minister.

But these are parliamentarians on a lower scale – any kind of dissidence was met with draconian measures and the hands of Richard Cachia Caruana and Edgar Galea Curmi were everywhere to be seen.

The only thing that keeps the Prime Minister in his place are his regiment of recipients of exclusive tenders and his posse of political appointees.

Lawrence Gonzi’s days are over. He must go. His last stand on divorce – where he was playing footsie with the Church in the same way as his fanatical uncle Archbishop Gonzi did with the PN in the early sixties.

If Gonzi persists and stays on, he will be the leader of the Nationalist party that will hobble into the next general election and experience the most unforgettable mammoth defeat ever. Who replaces Gonzi at this point is irrelevant. Anyone can do a better job. Anyone.