The Budget 2008 estimates for Justice and Home Affairs were yesterday approved by parliament after a session used by the government to highlight the progress achieved in this field, and the MLP mostly banking on the morale situation within the Police Corps.

Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg highlighted a string of measures related to the Police Corps, retention numbers, new equipment, a lower crime rate, additions in the AG’s Office and new legislation in the areas of compensation for land expropriation and Maltese citizens abroad.

The MLP on the other hand spoke of the need to improve morale within the Police Corps, less police officers, rising crime, lack of funding, the need to improve the systems in place at the law courts and treatment of the judiciary by party and independent media.

Opposition spokesman for Justice and Home Affairs Gavin Gulia kicked off the debate and focused on three main areas – the application of funds from the European Union to tackle irregular immigration, the police and crime.

Dr Gulia said that the government was simply accepting what was being allocated from a EUR10 million fund, but was not pushing for further allocation of funds. “They are simply taking what is on the table and that’s it, there has been no effort to apply for extra funds so as to tackle the problem,” said Dr Gulia. He also questioned the announcement of a new police training centre to tackle irregular immigration.

“We already have one in Valletta. It is good to see that there will be a new building, but how can the government say that it is going to tackle irregular immigration by building a centre?” asked Dr Gulia. He also said that it was shameful to announce this measure when no funds had been allocated to the construction and finishing of the building. “But I know what will happen, the government will now turn round and say that it has allocated Lm250,000 to the police in its budget, but is that fair?”

He pointed out that the police budget had decreased from the Lm300,000 figure allocated two years ago. “Now it stands at only Lm250,000 and then people wonder why the police are demoralised. And I know that they are demoralised, I speak to them. They are overworked and their conditions are not good. We should ask ourselves why police officers are not completing their 25 years of service,” he said.

Dr Gulia said that the government was even having a problem in recruiting new officers because people were simply not bothered to apply. “This year there were two calls for recruits, but there were two because the first round was not enough to fill the gaps that are emerging due to the fact that so many are leaving,” said Dr Gulia.

He also spoke about the growing crime rate and said that this was evident in every field, violent crime, sex crimes, theft, drugs and others, including murders. “What is the government doing to tackle this phenomenon? Is Minister Tonio Borg going to give me the same excuse as before? Is he going to tell me that these crimes are thefts of mobile phones?”

Dr Gulia closed by saying that it was also shameful to have left police stations deteriorate to the state most are in today then to embark on a refurbishment exercise due to Malta joining the Schengen agreement.

Opposition MP Anglu Farrugia spoke about the law courts next and said that the situation there for workers was not a good one. “We know, and I know for sure because I practice as a lawyer, that there are a large number of employees in there who are simply not up to the job.” He said that any form of court work required a degree of specialisation, but several people were being employed as rewards. “There are some really good exemplary employees, who are not getting their contracts renewed when others, who are no good, get new contracts,” he said.

He also said that the Malta Labour Party, once in government, will embark on wholesale reform of the law courts so as to offer incentives to employees to perform better, resulting in a better service for the whole country. He also mentioned what he called absurd, the amount of directors in court.

He also spoke of the attacks by the Nationalist media on Magistrate Antonio Mizzi and Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco for holding posts in sporting associations. He said that he would not go into the matter at hand because it was under the jurisdiction of the Commission for the Administration of Justice, but said that the attacks in the Nationalist media were a disgrace.

Opposition MP Chris Cardona spoke about local councils, pointing out that although the government boasted about the amount of feedback it got to the budget, it did not bother replying to the points put forward by the Association for Local Councils. He also spoke about the need for the government to apply for more EU funds in relation to local councils. He also said that local councils, with all the new responsibilities they have, have not had any increases to their fund allocations in the past few budgets.

Government MP Mario Demarco said that he enjoyed Dr Cardona’s speech for the simple reason that it now seemed amply clear that the PN had managed to convince the MLP that local councils are actually a good thing.

Parliamentary secretary Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici said that the government was committed to giving people a better service in the law courts, particularly in regard to the length of time that a case takes to be processed in court as well as reducing the backlog of pending cases. He pointed out that between 2004 and August this year, the amount of global pending cases still in court had been reduced by some 25 per cent.

“We had a goal of any case not taking longer than three years to be concluded and we are getting closer to achieving that,” said Dr Mifsud Bonnici. He said that one of the determining factors in this was the introduction of official judicial letters. “The MLP had criticised us a lot on this measure, but it has saved magistrates and judges a lot of work that was extra and ‘a waste of time’,” he said. Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that about 7,800 of these letters have been presented so far – meaning that all these cases had been saved from going to court.

Another important measure was the Small Claims Tribunal, which drew criticism from the MLP, he said. This tribunal, he said, was set up in 1995 and has had some 20,500 cases presented to it. “And it has dealt with 19,200 – 94 per cent,” he said.

Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said he could not understand how the opposition claims that crime is on the increase when statistics show that it is 11 per cent down on figures from three years ago. He said that among others, the Drug Squad had fared very well with the largest haul of heroin – 11 kilos of it – had been seized at one go. In addition, he said that four kilos of cocaine, two kilos of cannabis, 30k ecstasy pills, and a total of 14 kilos of heroin had been seized in over 500 raids.

He also referred to claims that the corps is getting smaller by pointing out that in 1997 and 1998, 67 police officers left per year. In 2006, he said, 36 left because most of them had reached the end of their service. Dr Borg also said that the police ranks had swelled to number 1,839 officers, reminding that officers previously taken up with duties at immigration and the CPD were now back on the streets. He said that very soon, the police corps would be getting some 20 new vehicles for the mobile squad and that 130 recruits would shortly be joining the corps.

He said that more equipment would be arriving in the form of superior breathalyser testing kits. “We can also announce that Malta will be joining the Schengen area a few weeks earlier than we thought, before the New Year. That’s not a bad achievement for a small country,” he said. Dr Borg explained that as from this December passengers arriving by sea from within the European Union, ingoing and outgoing by sea, will not have border checks. This will hold true for air travel as from next March.

He spoke about the Corradino Correctional Facility and said that it was the PN that had modernised the system and the building itself, adding a whole new wing that gives prisoners their own cell and sanitary facilities – something, he said, you do not find in every European country. Speaking about the land expropriation system, he said that the rules were now the same for everyone, meaning that everyone was on a level playing field.

He asked the MLP whether they would be prepared to hand over MLP clubs which preceding socialist governments had “stolen” from private citizens. He also spoke about changes at the Attorney General’s Office, citing the employment of nine new prosecution lawyers and substantial pay increases to offer competitive salaries as examples of progress under this government.

Dr Borg added that this government had allowed 12,000 Maltese heritage emigrants the chance to become Maltese citizens even though they do not live here.

The estimates were approved with 32 votes in favour and 25 against.