A small argument broke out following PN MP Francis Zammit Dimech presentation of a printout of the art and culture section of Malta’s CHOGM website, which read that Valletta was built in 1565, the year of the great siege of Malta.
Minister Owen Bonnici interrupted and said the site says it was built in the 16th century, however Dr Zammit Dimech argued that this was not the case earlier today. The PN MP then tabled the document and asked the Minister to look into when it was changed. The PN MP persisted and said that earlier in the day, an article on the website said that the city was built in 1565.
The PN MP also highlighted a number of other incidents on the site relating to inaccuracies and bad use of English.
Continuing the session the PN MP said: “We cannot today leave without questioning the progress towards Valletta 2018. What is sure is that this government must understand the difference between having important projects and an important programme, as a vision must be made clear.”
Regarding the V18, he mentioned a large number of projects that require a lot of investment involving millions of euros, requesting government to reveal the timelines for these projects.
“One example must be the case surrounding the coordinator for the promotion of bands William Mangion. He is someone who worked for the PL during the electoral campaigns and has been working in his current post for 20 months. He was looking for garages for rock bands. Can someone please tell me what is happening regarding this?
“Will these people be buying these garages or renting them?” he asked.
Two weights, two measures
PN Deputy Leader Beppe Fenech Adami said that nearly nothing was said in this budget speech regarding the legal sector.
We had a number of laws on which the opposition gave feedback and actively took part in debates to reduce the court bureaucracy, yet these measures are not leaving the desired effect. "I think we can say the courts today are in a worse position than before the current minister was appointed.
“The impression given by the minister is that waiting times have been cut down, and that nobody is called in to court for nothing to happen, and that cases take place on time and that when a case is deferred then all parties are notified. The truth is that today the courts are a major waste of time. In the last legislature, we faced savage attacks by the then opposition arguing that we did nothing and that they had a roadmap, a key, to solve these issues. Unfortunately the reality is that those who believed in you today are upset that you are have taken them for a ride”.
With regards to trial by jury, “there are people who are still awaiting their trial. There is a situation where accused persons have been waiting for lengthy periods of time for their trial to take place”.
Discussing district cases, “hundreds are still waiting to be heard. We were under the impression that summary judgements would happen very fast, yet 28% of cases relating to Qormi in October saw people not notified of their case. In another instance, 21% of cases were differed”.
“From the 1000 persons who were caught stealing electricity how many of them have been settled out of court? Who stole a small amount of money is taken to court, and so they should, but it is wrong to negotiate with the big fish, the same big fish this government wanted to catch. Certain heads of department at Enemalta stole electricity yet instead of accusing them of theft they were treated differently”.
Regarding the oil scandal, the PN government took steps to ensure that criminal procedures were taken against the people involved, he added, “yet the Labour Party has not taken a single person to court”.
Referring to Manuel Mallia’s former driver who fired gun shots at a British national, Dr Fenech Adami said it took the police a week to charge him. “This is a government with two weights and two measures”.
He mentioned an incident regarding Magistrate Carol Peralta where he threw a party last Christmas in his court room. “A party with finger food, alcohol, smoking (a place where smoking is prohibited), etc. the public had stood up and said this is a scandal. We had stood up and said ‘let’s have the courage to do something, that when a Magistrate feels he could do whatever he wants and throw away standards, something be done. Yet we found a government trying to throw the situation under the rug. A year on and nothing has been done”.
Regarding Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco, he said that “We were taken for a ride. A judge was condemned by the Commission for the Administration of justice, telling him he did wrong, but the government did nothing about it."
Decision to cancel 2017 local council elections taken with only 40 consultations
The decision to change the timing of local council elections to every five years was taken basewd on a consultation document with 40 public submissions, PN whip David Agius said in Parliament
Referring to a report the government published in October after four months of consultation to postpone the local council elections, he said that this decision was based on 40 submissions. 11 of these said they want to see the local council elections occur every five years, he said. "The government, I believe, is afraid of these elections."
Dr Agius asked if the government is ready to give a date for the upcoming local council elections. "Maybe the government would like to sit down with 40 people or so and decide with them, " he added sarcastically.
He said that over the past six months there has been a disaster in the local councils sector, "so much that the Prime Minister didn't have a word to say about local councils in his Parliamentary speech earlier this week".
"This government didn't manage to give 1% of the budget to local councils and when one sees all this, one must say that the government does not believe in local councils and this is why they want to postpone the local council elections," he added.
Referring to the budget, he said that there are three pages dedicated to councils, "yet they almost says absolutely nothing".
"Are we looking at the needs for local councils today or not? He said that the elderly centre in Birgu was completed this month yet another one is nowhere to be found".
"We have said that to strengthen local councils we need an office under the responsibility of the Ombudsman dedicated to local councils. We have made many proposals for local councils but we have received absolutely no feedback from the government."
Dr Agius said that the government needs to see what is happening within the Association for local councils and that not a single suggestion by the association was included in the proposed budget. "Will you help local councils conduct their projects? Lets take local councils seriously. They are important for our citizens."
"We suggested giving Administrative councils a specific fund so they can survive, yet you said nothing".
"Only 11 press releases have been released by the Parliamentary Secretariat for local councils over the past 12 months, from a government that loves to publish them. What is this department doing?"
Unsafe playgrounds
PN MP Paula Mifsud Bonnici spoke about playgrounds, mentioning that she had submitted a Parliamentary Question last October regarding the number of checks on playgrounds to see if they are safe and the number found to be dangerous. “Social Dialogue Minister Helena Dalli in response said that 34 of these playgrounds were found to be unsafe and that works will be done. She did not say which playgrounds these are and I began to ask why she would not reveal information that the residents have a right to know”.
“She threw this question onto Minister Bonnici since alterations to playgrounds fall under local councils, thus falling under his responsibility. I feel that there seems to be a game of ping pong being played. He didn’t reply stating that due to the sensitivity of the investigation he could not reveal what is being done. I cannot think of a single reason why they would not give this information”.
She turned her intervention to local councils, stating that “If this government believes local councils can make a difference in society that the government needs to give them all the help they need in order to do so”.
‘No credibility’ to discuss local councils
This government cannot be credible when it speaks about local councils, PN MP Robert Cutajar said.
“There is no stability in this sector. The PN, 20 years ago, expanded local councils and kept giving to what we believed in”.
“A number of Ministers in the first year and a half of government held many meetings with local councils, however these councils need action”.
Regarding the Local Council elections, the PN and the Labour government were in agreement on lowering the voting age for these elections to 16. He argued that by attempting to move the 2015 elections these people would have been robbed of their legal right. “What about those who would have the chance to vote in 2017?” he asked.
The PN MP also mentioned last Summer’s bus schedule, arguing that it was not implemented until August.