Franco strikes again
If any evidence were needed of Franco Debono’s unfitness for leadership, he himself provided it in bucketfuls, again. Ever the impulsive, emotionally incontinent maverick that he is, Debono tore himself away from his busy schedule while listening to a Saturday morning radio show in which his name was mentioned.
He dashed to the radio station, arriving on the scene within minutes, flushed, sweating and very angry. And then proceeded to make an utter fool of himself as only Debono can.
Arriving unannounced, he demanded to be allowed to hijack the radio show. He insisted on confronting one of the guests on Andrew Azzopardi’s show, live. That guest, Edward Debono, had the temerity of expressing his opinion over the latest rumblings about allowing Franco Debono back into the PN.
Edward Debono commented that Franco Debono was laying down conditions to return to the party. And that was it. Franco’s fuse was lit and he was ready to detonate. He barged into the studio demanding he be given airtime, or else. That was insane enough. But more insane was that the show host, Azzopardi, caved in to his demands.
The public was regaled another classic Franco Debono comedy. Raving and ranting, he shouted into the microphone as the sound engineer struggled to adjust the volume: “Edward Debono has just lied about me on the programme. I am not going to accept; I am not going to tolerate lies. I was at home; I came here to confront him and tell him that he lied about me.”
What triggered Franco Debono? Edward Debono had commented that Franco Debono wanted to be part of the party leadership. Franco Debono denied having such ambitions but admitted that he paid money out of his own pocket to commission “scientific surveys” to find out whether the public wanted him in the party leadership.
And, lo and behold, Franco Debono announced, live on radio, that “many people, even within the PN, want me in the leadership of the party”. The megalomaniacal Franco Debono then went on a rant, glorifying himself and his immense popularity.
“I am finding support from thousands, public, public support, you can see that even in the polls conducted by Newsbook. You can see it even from the photo (PN MP) Alex Borg uploaded, more than 1,000 likes, more than 300 comments all encouraging me to return to the PN.”
Without stopping to catch his breath, he launched unsubstantiated accusations against Edward Debono, live on radio. The presenter didn’t challenge him, didn’t stop him. “People like Edward Debono are a small clique that have kept the PN in opposition,” he accused.
“The Labour Party is accepting everybody and that’s how it should be,” he demanded. No, that’s definitely not how it should be. We don’t need any more primadonnas with oversized egos in public life. We need respectful, cool, calm, adults who are able to behave civilly and courteously.
We need mature, level-headed people with a proper perspective of their own insignificance in the grand scheme of things. We need normal polite adults who know how to behave and who recognise that barging into a live radio show and throwing a hissy fit is not a good look. We need educated well-mannered citizens whose strength lies in reasoned arguments presented logically and politely. We don’t need another coarse redneck with a distorted sense of entitlement and even more distorted sense of self-importance who struts into a live talk show shouting abuse and covering the host’s face in spittle.
Franco Debono’s ill-judged stunt reveals one other thing. In the last decade, he hasn’t changed. He’s still the same immature, erratic boor he’s always been.
His RTK invasion is reminiscent of the scene he made when he turned up at what should have been a debate between two deputy leaders – Simon Busuttil and Anġlu Farrugia.
In another unforgettable stunt, Labour decided they couldn’t possibly risk sending Farrugia. The damage Farrugia could single-handedly inflict on Labour could be catastrophic. Instead, they sent Franco Debono to the debate, unannounced. And what a show he put on.
Stabbing his index finger, folding his arms angrily, pulling on Ramona Attard’s shoulder, shouting and screaming, Franco Debono was as aggressive and intimidating as ever. “It’s the PN that are cowards,” he shrieked, “I am never invited on PBS.”
He yelled at Busuttil who sat patiently, waiting for Farrugia to turn up: “Come out and face me, what are you afraid of? Tell me to my face that I’m irrelevant and I’ll tell you who’s irrelevant. He is irrelevant.”
He pranced around before cameras, escalating his antics and descending into the absurd. “This is extreme militantism, while I try to strengthen the institutions to unite the country, I sustain attacks. When Lou Bondì invited me, I humiliated him in front of the whole country, that’s why you won’t invite me, he said I didn’t write the partyfinancing law. The one that Ugo (Mifsud Bonnici) wrote, I told them don’t send it, but they sent it anyway and it was sent back… I have nothing to fear, not like you, locked up in the aquarium.”
Waving his arms around, accosting the cameraman, he continued with his tirade for over 15 minutes: “I came alone, they tried to ridicule me when all I did in my life was work. Cowards, why don’t you go and film Simon Busuttil? They’re so pretty in there, there’s a grand council.”
“You can’t even walk, you destroyed the party with your cretinism,” he shouted, before stopping to sip his coffee. “You think I’m some small boy, everybody says Franco is right – do you think you own the party?”
PN executive member Roberta Bonello Felice commented recently that she’s happy to endorse Franco Debono as a PN candidate and even willing to present a motion to bring him back.
Gozo MP Alex Borg declared that Debono “still has much to offer”.
Borg is right. If it’s an erratic hostile, insolent loose cannon the party’s after,
Franco Debono’s just your man. the
Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.
“We need educated well-mannered citizens whose strength lies in reasoned arguments presented logically and politely