“A vote taken soon after a ruling given by the Speaker on whether a government MP had a conflict of interest or not triggered a chain of reactions from the opposition. One of these involved me directly and I have since resigned from my post, which I occupied for the last seven years, that of Deputy Speaker of the House. I must admit that it was a difficult decision which I felt I had to take after what happened in Parliament.”
After last week’s UK elections the terminology ‘hung parliament’ was used. Indeed, the situation as it emerged from these elections was so. However, it is admirable how the three political parties got out of it in typical British style. The three leaders took note of the result and not only; they also acted accordingly. Gordon Brown first resigned as leader of the Labour Party to give his party time to negotiate with the Liberal Democrats. However, since it was the Conservative Party which had the majority of seats and votes, the Lib Dems felt that they should try and form a coalition government with the Tories. This is all history now and it will be interesting to see if and how this coalition continues for the next five years. But what struck me was that from a hung parliament, democracy in the UK emerged. I add that maturity prevailed.
Funnily enough, while we were following events in the UK our parliament experienced some trouble after the debate on the motion presented by the Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat on the shameful contract awarded to Danish company BWSC for the extension of the Delimara power station.
The debate in itself was interesting, and I believe that the opposition emerged very well from it. The government was weak in its arguments and was in a very awkward position to give answers to questions on this mess of a contract that those involved managed to negotiate. This contract is not only a clear example of how things should not be done, but also of how to pose a serious health problem to Maltese citizens. And I reiterate, this is going to be bad both for our health and for our finances.
What happened in Parliament almost 10 days ago is probably known by many. A vote taken soon after a ruling given by the Speaker on whether a government MP had a conflict of interest or not triggered a chain of reactions from the opposition. One of these involved me directly and I have since resigned from my post, which I occupied for the last seven years, that of Deputy Speaker of the House. I must admit that it was a difficult decision which I felt I had to take after what happened in Parliament.
From all this, we might say that at present we are politically hung. I am not sure whether this terminology can apply to our case after the now famous vote where a government member voted with the opposition. In the past, when these things happened, Parliament moved on and after debating at length the minutes of the sitting, as was the case in 1997, Parliament continued with its business. This time round, due to the attitude of some government members, things happened differently and this led the opposition to take some measures.
I always believed that Parliament belongs to the people since it is up to them to decide who to elect to represent their interests in this institution. This means that Parliament should not be controlled by the majority (party). The majority has the right to govern but not the right to dictate. And when this happens, it is quite obvious that the minority will retaliate and act in a different manner. And this is a brief explanation of what happened in these last sittings in Parliament. The question is, will this continue until the end of this legislature? Will our parliamentary democracy benefit from this attitude or will it lose? I do have my opinion of course but I prefer to raise the questions for you dear readers to answer on your own.
In this situation it is up to the government to make the first move. The opposition felt aggravated by the attitude of the government or some of its members. I do not know whether the government will be ready to make an unreserved apology, but if it does, it will be a sign that the majority believes in parliamentary democracy and would like the opposition to contribute and fully participate in all parliamentary work.
Physical education in schools
The National Audit Office recently published a report on Physical Education and Sport in state primary and secondary schools. It is an interesting report and one should give credit to this office for this. I have been talking about this issue since the time when I was first elected to Parliament, that is since 1996.
Today I will not delve into the details of this report but in brief, the findings of the Auditor General put a simple but radical question: “As a country, are we ready to give the right priority and attention to physical education and sport in schools?” If the answer is yes, then the implementation of this report is crucial. May I also add that as a Labour Party, we also had our plan in this area. It is very much on the same lines as that of the NAO. I suggest that those concerned take action and implement measures to instil in our youngsters a culture in favour of sport and physical education. As always, action speaks louder than words.
Carmelo Abela
Labour Main Spokesperson for Industry and Foreign Investment
Email: [email protected]