Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/257374
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 9 FEBRUARY 2014 Opinion 23 T he next round in Malta's never ending series of political controversies concerns the choice of our next President: the term of the present incumbent ends in the fourth day of April. Ever since Ugo Mifsud Bonnici succeeded Censu Tabone on the same day that the latter's term as President elapsed, the President has been appointed on that very day every five years. Except for the first President, Sir Anthony Mamo and the present incumbent, all the other Presidents were appointed with the approval of one side of the House confirming the winner- takes-all nature of our political system. Sir Anthony Mamo was the person agreed upon by the Labour government and the Nationalist Opposition at the end of the talks that led to the 1974 changes in our Constitution that – among other things – declared Malta as a Republic. Sir Anthony was a distinguished legal personality who had served the country well as an Attorney General, Chief Justice and Malta's first Maltese Governor-General. His appointment was the only issue that was not controversial in those controversy-infested days. The two sides had agreed that his appointment would last until the next government – to be elected in the 1976 elections – chose his successor by a simple majority vote in the House of Representatives. The 'forma mentis' evident in this historical background contrasts sharply with the way the current Opposition leader and the media talk about the appointment of our next President. So, I reckon, it would not be amiss if we take a look at where we came from before we decide where we are going... I entered parliament after the 1976 election, winning a casual election to vacate one of the two seats won by Censu Tabone. In what was probably the first meeting of the new PN parliamentary group, just after the opening of parliament, George Borg Olivier – then still Leader of the Opposition – told us that he had received a telephone call from the Head of the Civil Service informing him that the Prime Minister (Dom Mintoff) wanted to tell him that he would be nominating Anton Buttigieg as President. Buttigieg was the Deputy Leader of the party in government and Minister for Justice and in those days he could not but be considered to be a very politically divisive candidate – just what the country did not need at the time. The great majority of the PN Parliamentary group were livid and said, in no uncertain terms, that the PN ought to fight this nomination tooth and nail. But Borg Olivier was absolutely against the Opposition being so rash. He reasoned that whatever the Opposition would say and however it would vote, Buttigieg was going to become President and the link between the President and the Opposition was not one to be thrown to the dogs just to make a point, however right that point was. Borg Olivier had his way and when the motion to appoint Buttigieg President was discussed in Parliament, the Opposition did not even pass any comments; it just voted against the motion without asking for a division. As a young political 'lion' raring to go at the enemy I was convinced that this way of doing things was the result of Borg Olivier's weakness and ineffectiveness as a leader. It was many years afterwards that I realised that Borg Olivier was right and that his assessment was the result of his maturity not of his weakness. To his credit, Buttigieg proved to be a likeable President: he left all his political baggage behind him and acted as the Head of the Maltese State rather than as some extension of the Mintoff regime. In this he set a trend that was followed by every President that succeeded him: They all recognised that the dignity of the post was greater than the person who occupied it. Buttigieg was followed by Agatha Barbara, appointed in even more turbulent times when the Opposition had refused to attend parliament after the 1976 perverse election result. Yet, she also behaved with dignity and presidential deference, often acting as unseen mediator between Mintoff and the PN when the two sides were not even on speaking terms. When in 1989, it was about time that the country elected a new President to replace the Acting President, Paul Xuereb, who had overseen the not-so-smooth transfer of power to the first Fenech Adami administration there was an attempt to find a suitable candidate that did not come from the political arena. Paul Xuereb, it must be said, had continued with the tradition of his two predecessors confirming that the President can be a unifying force, no matter which side of the political divide the President he or she came from, The attempt to find a suitable non-political person acceptable to both sides as President failed miserably and on the 4 April 1989, Censu Tabone became the first President from the PN political stable. Thereupon, the Labour Opposition led by Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici (KMB) made the mistake that Borg Olivier had avoided 12 years earlier and launched an offensive to discredit Censu Tabone, boycotting him and labelling him as President of half the country... as if Buttigieg and Barbara had been appointed by general acclamation! At one point, KMB even suggested that the two parties should arrive at an understanding whereby the party in government nominates a President coming from the party in opposition. KMB was laughed off: such was the fate of many of his ideas because some of them were quite absurd. Labour had to regret this mistake; Censu Tabone's personality was so affable that it stood out and resisted all Labour's attacks to denigrate him. In the end Alfred Sant, who had succeeded KMB, even talked of the possibility of giving him a second term. But this was not possible without an amendment to the Constitution that would have set a dangerous precedent. As fate would have it, Censu Tabone was the first of four consecutive Presidents all coming from the PN side. As Prime Minister Alfred Sant missed the chance to nominate a President as his term was limited to 22 months in the middle of Ugo Mifsud Bonnici's term of office. Ugo, in fact, is the only president to have appointed two prime ministers – one each from the two political parties! The appointment of George Abela in 2009 was considered to be against the grain. Whether Lawrence Gonzi chose him in recognition of the wafer-thin majority with which he had won the 2008 election or as a strategic move to deprive Labour of a popular potential leader is a moot point. It was, undoubtedly, a historical aberration, rather than some big step towards a new way of doing things: to nominate Abela, Gonzi overrode the opinion of the majority of both the PN Executive Committee and his Parliamentary group, who were against this nomination. Once again, Abela proved to be a popular President and served with the dignity expected from the holder of the office. Looking backwards at the history of presidential nominations, the suggestion that as a logical consequence of Abela's nomination, the current Labour administration should nominate as President someone who comes from the PN is nothing but futile. One can even understand where Alfred Sant is coming from when he vehemently opposes the idea. So there: Labour will nominate one of its veterans as president and the country will undergo at least two months of futile arguments that ignore today's reality – that reality has been forged in the past. Michael Falzon is Chairman of the Malta Developers Association and a former Nationalist infrastructure minister. micfal@maltanet.net TENDER FOR THE EXPORT OF TUNA FOR THE YEAR 2014 Exporters interested for the export of Tuna for the season 2014 may collect tender forms from the offices mentioned below. The closing date for these offers is the 14th February 2014 at 11am 'Dar is- Sajjieda' Xatt is- Sajjieda M'Xlokk Tel 21659391 Ghaqda Kooperattiva tas- Sajd Ltd 'Id- Dwana' Xatt is- Sajjieda M'Xlokk Tel 21653826 The Presidential stakes Michael Falzon To nominate George Abela, Gonzi overrode the opinion of the majority of both the PN Executive Committee and his Parliamentary group, who were against this nomination George Abela