Three resignations and a Prime Minister

There is a tendency to think of high-level political resignations as something of a rarity in Malta. But in the light of recent developments, this perception may need to be revised.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has now presided over no fewer than three ministerial resignations over the past nine years - one almost immediately in 2004, and another two since 2010 - as well as a 'close shave' last November, in which a Cabinet minister was rescued only by the Speaker's casting vote.

Foreign minister John Dalli became the first prominent casualty under Gonzi's administration: submitting a bitter resignation letter in July 2004 following allegations of misconduct that would eventually prove unsubstantiated.

Six years later, parliamentary secretary Chris Said would find himself the subject of perjury accusations, and tendered a 'temporary' resignation until his name was cleared.

More recently, former home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici became the third Cabinet minister to resign: 'betrayed' (as it were) by a parliamentary colleague who voted in line with an Opposition motion of censure in his regard.

A similar motion against Transport Minister Austin Gatt the previous November had failed to garner a majority in the House, allowing Gatt to retain his position but forcing Gonzi to submit his government to a vote of confidence (the first of three over the next six months).

Meanwhile the fate of yet another government official - Richard Cachia Caruana, a Cabinet member (albeit unelected) who is central to government policy on a number of crucial areas - now hangs in the balance, as a Parliamentary vote tomorrow could conceivably bring his career to an abrupt end.

The timing of this sudden spate of resignations seems to indicate that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had fully intended to deliver on his earlier promise of a "new way of doing politics".

Under scrutiny, however, it turns out to be a rather inconsistent approach. Some ministers found staunch allies in their Prime Minister; others found themselves cut loose to drift away on a life raft of their own making.

All of which raises the question: why does the Prime Minister react so very differently when his ministers are under attack?

Daggers for Dalli

Being the first case of its kind, Foreign Minister John Dalli's resignation in July 2004 remains arguably the most revealing.

Dalli had previously survived a number of corruption allegations under Fenech Adami - the Daewoo case and the sale of Mid Med Bank being two prominent examples. But within weeks of Gonzi's ascent to the PN throne (after a contest in which Dalli was also a main contender) a whole series of allegations against the PN heavyweight from Qormi suddenly materialized in quick succession.

Dalli stood accused of taking backhand commissions in the sale of equipment for Mater Dei Hospital: an accusation originating from failed bidders Simed, who also had a 'document', supplied by Where's Everybody consultant (and private investigator) Joe Zahra, as 'proof'.

Separate allegations concerned the presumed channelling of airline tickets procured by his ministry to a travel agency owned by his daughter. Elsewhere, rumours of 'insider trading' to secure a contract with an Iranian shipping line also found their way onto Dalli's doorstep.

Prime Minister Gonzi's reaction to all this was to visibly distance himself from his beleaguered cabinet colleague - who had only a few weeks earlier been his main rival in the leadership contest.

"I cannot have a minister under investigation," Gonzi ominously uttered at the time - though it was unclear what investigation he was referring to, as police proceedings in any of those cases had yet to even begin.

Even more unusual was the attention paid to these allegations by the State broadcaster PBS, which departed from its customary script to fan the flames of suspicion surrounding a man many perceived to be a threat to Gonzi's position as PM.

PBS news anchor Ivan Camilleri - whose brother Alan was Gonzi's private secretary at the time - was named openly by Dalli himself as the ringleader of a media campaign aimed at tarnishing his image among Nationalists. 

Faced with a clear snub by his own party, Dalli resigned with a bitter and acrimonious letter which left no doubt whatsoever that he himself suspected an internal conspiracy against him.

"In the 17 years I have served under all Nationalist governments... I have been under constant attack and the target of the Labour Party. But this is the first time I am facing attacks from different quarters..."

Dalli would go on to spend four years in the political wilderness... only to be eventually reinstated (first as personal adviser to Gonzi, later as Foreign Minister, later still as European Commissioner) after police investigations and an auditors' report exonerated him on all charges in late 2007... and landed Joe Zahra in prison for fabricating the Mater Dei report.

Interestingly enough, the same auditor's report revealed that other ministries apart from Dalli's had been guilty of misdemeanours in airline ticket procurement.

Strangely, however, Gonzi did not insist that he could not have any ministers under investigation this time round.

Fighting for Fenech

This curious discrepancy in reactions would go on to characterize Gonzi's general handling of all such accusations in future.

Within a few years of Dalli's resignation, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech found that - unlike his former colleague - he could rely on his Prime Minister's wholehearted support when accused of breaching the ministerial code of ethics, and exposing his own government to serious suspicions of cronyism and corruption.

Fenech had been 'caught' accepting an invitation by two leading entrepreneurs (one of whom was a bidder for a lucrative Casino contract, at a time when Fenech himself was tasked with regulating the gambling sector) to attend a football match at Highbury stadium in London.

On one level the faux pas revealed a degree of naivety on Fenech's part - a lifelong Arsenal supporter, he seemed oblivious to how this incident could be used to damage both himself and his government. But on another level it also exposed the Jekyll and Hyde nature of a Prime Minister who seems to arbitrarily pick and choose which colleagues to defend and which to jettison.

In Fenech's case Gonzi launched an impassioned defence: claiming at a mass meeting that the allegations of a conflict of interest formed part of a 'mud-slinging campaign' by parties who 'wanted to influence the government's decision' regarding the casino tender.

Moreover he even potentially incriminated himself while craning his neck out for Fenech - openly admitting that he had not only known about the trip at the time, but had even given the matter his blessing.

The same pattern would repeat itself in future, as Fenech went on to get embroiled in other controversies in the coming years: admitting, for instance, that he employed a domestic helper without paying VAT... not to mention revelations that he had been asked to intervene in the sale of the Jerma Palace Hotel, by entrepreneurs who were also donors to his own electoral campaign.

Said: an honourable mention

Elsewhere, the resignation of parliamentary secretary Chris Said stands out as an exception to the rule on a variety of counts.

Unlike the accusations levelled at either Fenech or Dalli, Said's case appears at a glance to have been apolitical in nature.

As a lawyer representing one half of a couple undergoing separation proceedings, Said found himself accused of perjury; and while the police initially ignored the allegations, the presiding judge ordered an investigation, resulting in criminal charges brought against the Gozitan MP in 2010.

At a press conference announcing his resignation, a tearful Said explained that he took the decision to resign "serenely, because this is what correctness demands."

"I believe it is important to be correct in politics, which is why I am resigning so that I can contest these charges and prove my innocence... my testimony had no bearing on this case and its effects."

Replying to his resignation letter, Prime Minister Gonzi expressed his personal hope of a "swift conclusion of the legal process that Dr Said is facing", which would in allow him to be reappointed "to the office which he had held with so much energy and dedication".

Gonzi's hope would be granted; and within than less a year Said would win his case and be fully reinstated to government... eventually being 'promoted' to Justice Minister in December 2011.

Austin, Carm and 'collective responsibility'

The last six months brought with them a marked increase in both the incidence of such controversies, and also the contrasting ways in which the prime minister tends to react very differently to all-but identical circumstances.

Last November, the Prime Minister offered  blanket support for his Transport Minister after the perceived failure (and widespread electoral fall-out) of the much-anticipated public transport reform.

Faced with an Opposition motion of no confidence in Austin Gatt - and more significantly, unable to rely on a parliamentary majority after Franco Debono's backbencher revolt - Gonzi significantly invoked the principle of 'collective responsibility' in a last-ditch attempt to throw his Cabinet colleague a much-needed lifeline.

With hindsight it is hard to tell whether this was, in fact, the reason why Debono did not live up to an earlier hint that he might vote in line with the Opposition motion, and effectively force Gatt's resignation.

But with Gonzi's 'collective responsibility' remark - which implied that the entire Cabinet had tied its fate to that of the Transport Minister - the stakes had been dramatically increased for any government MP who might otherwise be tempted to sink the knife in Gatt's back.

In the end Debono abstained: embarrassing Gatt, certainly; but stopping short of terminating his career. He also went on to support his government in a motion of confidence brought forward by Gonzi.

Within six months, Gonzi's administration found itself facing yet another crisis of confidence. This time the target was Carm Mifsud Bonnici - not quite as 'heavyweight' a minister as Gatt, who was previously PN general secretary and a militant from the epochal 1980s... but a Mifsud Bonnici nonetheless, and therefore very much part of the Nationalist Party DNA.

For reasons which have never been made clear, Gonzi did not, on this occasion, resort to the 'collective responsibility' card. So unlike Gatt. Mifsud Bonnici was left to face the outcome of the vote entirely on his own.

The difference was not lost on Opposition leader Joseph Muscat, who accused the Prime Minister of 'abandoning' Mifsud Bonnici (somewhat ironically, seeing as it was an Opposition motion that provoked his departure from cabinet).

"He (Gonzi) treated one minister differently from another. He gave Austin Gatt the comfort of collective responsibility, telling him: 'I'm with you. If you fall, we'll all fall.' But he did not do the same for Dr Mifsud Bonnici," Muscat said.

Muscat however omitted to supply any possible reason why Gonzi would offer only lukewarm support for the otherwise popular Mifsud Bonnici, while throwing all his weight behind the infinitely less popular Austin Gatt.

Naturally all such considerations belong firmly in the realm of speculation. But from the point of view of political exigency, it is not difficult to imagine how the loss of Mifsud Bonnici could effectively translate into an electoral advantage for Gonzi, in a way that would almost certainly not apply to the loss of a minister often accused of arrogance.

Put simply, many Nationalists may privately have agreed with Debono regarding the failure of the transport reform, and may not therefore have been too sorry to actually see the back of Austin Gatt. Had Debono voted in line with that motion, he could conceivably be seen to have been dictating government's agenda to suit popular demand - something one would really expect from a prime minister, not a backbencher at all.

But with Mifsud Bonnici the dynamic was very different. Regardless of his performance as minister, most Nationalists (even some Labourites) automatically sympathised with the outgoing Home Affairs Minister. His forced resignation could therefore allow Gonzi to turn the tables on both Joseph Muscat and Franco Debono... holding them both up to public opprobrium, while boosting sympathy for his own government as the victim of an 'injustice'.

Whether this strategy will be successful in the long term remains to be seen. But the common denominator in all such cases remains visible at a glance. Faced with a decision on whether or not to defend a colleague in trouble - or how far to crane his neck out in the process - Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has always placed his own immediate political interest first.