Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil has urged the President of Malta to discuss Dr Caroline Farrugia Frendo’s nomination for the post of Magistrate in tomorrow’s Commission for the Administration of Justice meeting.
Dr Busuttil addressed a PN political event held at the PN club in Attard.
The Commission, he said, will meet tomorrow at 2.30pm. “I urge her to do what the Justice Minister would not do”.
He said that the President’s primary function is to safeguard the constitution. The PN has argued over the past weeks that her nomination is unconstitutional as she does not have the necessary experience required for the post.
Dr Busuttil stressed that “till today, Dr Caroline Farrugia Frendo hasn’t even been a lawyer for 7 years, let alone have been practicing for 7 years as the constitution requires”. He reminded the public on Dr Joseph Muscat’s meritocracy pledge.
Originally there were two nominations, however Dr Zammit Young is no longer part of the equation since she did not accept.
The nominations show the Justice Minister’s incompetence, he explained. “He either does not know what the constitution says, or he knows and doesn’t care”.
Turning to the bill presented earlier this week by the PN, regarding appointments to the judiciary, he said that this embarrassed government. “It had to be the PN to put forward a bill to change the way members of the judiciary are appointed. Government went into a panic. We gathered ideas from the Bonello Commission and the Chamber of Advocates, and picked the best ones. Government also had access to these ideas".
“I am informed that discussions between the Justice Minister and PN MP Jason Azzopardi are on-going, but government has not yet agreed to open Parliamentary discussions. We insist that a debate on this bill begins immediately, and if government is not ready to discuss it in Parliament, we will use our time in Parliament this Thursday to discuss how members of the Judiciary should be appointed”.
He urged government to institute a freeze on appointments to the judiciary until the new system is in place.
The Gaffarena scandal was also featured in Dr Busuttil’s speech.
“For the 5th week I am going to ask the same questions. Did the Prime Minister Know of the deal signed by Michael Falzon giving Gaffarena €3 million for a house in Valletta? Why won’t you respond? Did you know about the deal or not? Why don't you want to answer?”
“Why aren’t the police investigating?,” he asked. “The police had gone into the Lands Department soon after the National Audit Office report was published, stopped employees from entering their offices, only for us to discover a few weeks later that the police were actually not investigating”.
Earlier this week, Deputy Leader Beppe Fenech Adami delivered a letter to the Police Commissioner asking for the police to investigate the Gaffarena-Castille links.
“Do we live in a country where just because government faces embarrassment the police would not investigate? We will keep on pushing for an investigation and we await the Police Commissioner to respond to our request. If they are truly a police force for the Maltese people, then they should protect all of us and not just Joseph Muscat’s government”.
“If they don’t take action, then we will arrive at our own conclusions”.
Dr Busuttil then turned to a call which was made to Radio 101 earlier in the week, regarding a man who has been trying to contact the Prime Minister for three years, yet was never given a meeting.
“I followed you, I left the PN and followed you as you promised to listen to me. Don’t worry, another election comes around,” the man said in the recording that was played.
This message shocked everyone,” Dr Busuttil said. “This is large scale deception on a national level, with the Prime Minister promising everything to everyone, even if a person does not have a good reason for the request”.
"People ask - 'why did you make me that promise, was it to take my vote?' As he did with this person, he did with everyone else".
The Opposition Leader highlighted the failure of the public transport system. “This system will cost this country €430 million. Imagine what we could have done with this, how many schools could have been built. These funds will be used on a service that is worse than Arriva”.
“We used to purchase diesel €0.61c per litre when international prices were as they are now. Today, we pay €1.22. I was in Brussels recently, and saw diesel selling for €1. What a hoax, being elected on the pledge to reduce bills.
He mentioned the free childcare service. “It’s not free. If children are sick and are not sent, then parents receive a bill. What kind of service is this”?
Lastly he said that the Monti situation is as it is as government promised everyone to everyone. “The castle build by Joseph Muscat is crumbling as it is built on lies. They betrayed people, it is a castle that cannot remain standing long-term”.