Serving the people is a privilege. Personally I have had this privilege for more than eighteen years; first in the Zejtun Local Council and from October 1996 onwards in Parliament.

I can say that I participated in a good number of debates. I also had the privilege to be the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives for seven years. I believe parliament can do a better job. This does not only depend on us members of parliament, but also on a number of other issues.

So, we supposedly are the servants of the people, regardless of whether our political party is in government or in Opposition. Last week, the debate on the motion presented by the Opposition to censure a particular minister, asking him to shoulder political responsibility and to resign from his post came to a conclusion after a number of sittings, which in my opinion was, quite frankly, excessive.

I followed the debate for most of the time and from the government side, I heard a number of comments which really shocked me and confirmed that the democratic credentials of the PN are in swift decline.

The PN speaks about democracy, but preaches democracy according to what is convenient to the party. The GonziPN clan expected that the Opposition does not present a motion for debate in parliament, when the Opposition has every right to do so in accordance with the standing orders of the same parliament.

Before the vote, we heard a lot of criticism with talk of the Opposition wasting time when presenting such motions. But is this the case? Certainly it is not. Not only because, as I said, the Opposition has every right – not to mention an obligation – to forward motions whenever it deems fit, but because it is the government that is wasting time. For example, the GonziPN clique opted for a four week Easter recess. If there was something pressing and needed to be debated urgently, the recess could have been shorter. Also, we ended up debating the Opposition motion over nine sittings. This was because the government requested a number of sittings and the Opposition had to do the same. Now on the agenda, we have legislation waiting to be debated and as we know, summer will soon be with us and the House will adjourn for the summer recess too. After that, the government did not acquire the majority of the House after the January vote and the PN tried to avoid other votes in parliament by stringing out debates as long as it could. If it was the Opposition doing so, they would have accused us of filibustering.

Returning to the CMB motion debate, we heard colorful speeches from GonziPN accusing the Opposition of lacking democratic credentials in presenting this motion. They also accused the Opposition of immorality, as well as of not having the country’s best interests at heart. When they spoke, they referred to their involvement in politics because they want to serve, but then accused us, their counterparts in Opposition, of being thirsty and eager for power. So according to GonziPN they are in politics to serve, while we are in politics in search for power. How low and trivial they can be! The GonziPN clique is so obsessed with power, that they are ready to do everything to keep it.

How can someone believe that the politicians of the political party in Opposition are in politics solely for power and those who actually are in power are in politics only to serve the people? This is cheap political talk and hopefully, no one believes GonziPN’s blatant lie. I also ask of anyone who is aware of any political party in Opposition that does not aspire one day to be in government. Of course, those political parties that are in government are very reluctant to go into Opposition, as is the case here in Malta. This was confirmed by one PN speaker during the debate, who said that it is always difficult for a ‘front bencher’ to resign and go to the back bench. I add that it is even more difficult for the government side to go into Opposition. Of course, I hope that this will happen one day, for the sake of democracy and the country in general. Hopefully, the GonziPN clique will accept this and will not try to obstruct the government of the day with its undemocratic methods.

Carmelo Abela is Labour Main Spokesperson for Social Policy

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