As the world talked about addressing the global crisis which threatens to engulf us all, Malta’s parliament was locked in a debate over a motion of no confidence in Transport Minister Austin Gatt, presented by the Labour Party.

Unfortunately, our printing deadlines do not allow us to wait for the outcome and feature a leader about it, however, we are still bringing you some thoughts on how the debate went, and what we thought of the content.

We will not speculate about Dr Gatt’s future in this article, we left that for our front page. However, we will talk about the warped sense of perspective that some of our MPs have. The issue, was whether Austin should have carried the can, or not. Yet the whole debate (while Europe and the G20 shuddered) was completely overtaken by parochial speeches by the MPs.

The House of Representatives was supposed to convene to speak about the way a particular minister handled the situation, and whether he should be forced from his post, if he was found to be in the wrong.

Let us be clear, there were some valid contributions, which were to the point and discussed the matter which was supposed to be discussed. Yet there were others who were so appallingly poor, both in content and delivery, that it is no wonder that the state of politics in Malta today is so terribly poor. It really was a case of empty vessels make most noise. This does not take anything away from those speakers who did make valid contributions.

But to be talking about each and every locality (represented, of course, by the politician speaking at the time) was simply poor and bereft of any respect towards the House, the supreme authority in the country.

Some of the speeches made were beyond irrelevant. Some had absolutely nothing to do with the matter at hand and some points were just so petty, inconsequential and banal. We ask what street lighting has to do with faith in Austin Gatt, and that is just one of a great many examples which we could pick from yesterday’s poor show.

This was supposed to be an exercise in democracy. It could have been an unprecedented parliament sitting where a minister could have been taken to task. But no. It was just like any other sitting. A session of “look at me, and all I want to talk about is the people who put me here, because if I don’t, I might not get elected again and will lose this cushy post”.

And this is what it boils down to. Not only are our politicians not focusing on the potential catastrophe across the Med (we could have forgiven that if the sitting was used as it should have been), they are actually lobbying for votes in parliament. It truly is beyond belief and one has to wonder just how some of the specimens on the benches actually managed to get there! We talk about making parliament more relevant and stronger, yet the very people who compose it, bar a few, are content to make a mockery out of the Highest institution in the land. This publishing house respects parliament, and we respect the seat of parliament. The very least we expect is for the House members to do the same. Yesterday’s sitting was shameful, and that’s putting it mildly. At the same time, we commend those who did make a real effort to do things in parliament as they should be done. One must literally shake his head in disbelief.