It is not the first time that parliamentary sessions are abruptly halted with a quorum call that leads to the suspension of the sitting just because there are not enough MPs in the House at the time.

The opposition – and here we are speaking in general, and not specifically referring to the opposition in this particular term – often uses such tactics to disrupt the workings of Parliament and, as such, those of the government. It uses this strategy at times when there is an ongoing dispute, sometimes unrelated to what is actually going on at the Palace, to put pressure on the government of the day, and to put it in bad light if its quorum call is successful.

When a quorum call leads to the suspension of the sitting, the issue of the MPs’ responsibilities towards the House, and also towards the constituents who elected them as their representatives, comes to the fore. Rightly so, people wonder why MPs are absent from the House when they are supposed to be there.

It must be remembered that MPs are paid for their services, and not cheaply too, considering the small amount of hours that they have to attend parliamentary sessions. MPs get e1,200 a month for their “part-time job”, as many of them consider it to be, and when one considers that their total time in Parliament is supposed to be just 10 and a half hours a week, spread over three days, it is quite a hefty sum.

Added to this, they get many more holidays than others do, as Parliament stops for Christmas, Easter and summer. All in all, being a Member of Parliament is not such a tough job.

And therefore it is quite unnerving and irritating to find out that many times MPs are not where they should be during parliamentary sittings. While the absence of MPs who are on parliamentary, government or opposition work abroad is justified, what is not is that they do not attend sittings when they are in Malta.

The Malta Independent reported that when the vote to approve George Abela as the eighth President of the Republic was taken, five MPs were not present. It is not normal for the media to report how many MPs are present at the various sittings, although there are occasions when the official count of votes taken after a division is called is mentioned.

This time, however, it was felt that the occasion – the approval of the Head of State – warranted the naming of those MPs who were not present in the House at the time. Labour MPs Alfred Sant and George Vella, incidentally Labour leader and deputy leader when Dr Abela was also Labour deputy leader, were officially excused, as Labour whip Joe Mizzi said when asked to justify their absence, although it is known that both were not in agreement with the nomination. Similarly, Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando was not present either, and even he was known to have not supported Dr Abela’s appointment. Another MP, Mario Galea, was absent for valid personal reasons – he was in hospital as his family struggled with the tragedy of Mr Galea’s two-year-old nephew.

The fifth MP who was not present, Silvio Parnis, said he had a TV show to conduct at the time.

We do not want to single out Mr Parnis, because there are many MPs, from both sides of the House, who have their own excuses not to be present in the House, but his example exposes the fact that MPs do not take their parliamentary work as seriously as they should. While some are absent for whole sittings, others simply turn up to register their presence with the Clerk of the House and leave after a few minutes.

All MPs should remember that it is their duty to represent the people who elected them, and not only be present in Parliament when there are television cameras during the presentation of the budget, or for an activity such as the swearing-in of the President.