Speaking at the Rabat Labour Party Club last Sunday, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat accused the Nationalist Opposition of childish behaviour and of being negative. Looking back at the conduct of some of the Nationalist Opposition Members of Parliament, and in particular the Leader of the Opposition himself, since the March 2013 elections one could not agree more with the assessment of Dr. Muscat about the way the Opposition has been acting in and out of Parliament. Their attitude is reminiscent of the way that the Nationalist Party has always behaved in the past especially when in Opposition. Either they have it their way or they claim foul play.
This is what they did on Tuesday 1 October. During that evening’s sitting Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil walked out of Parliament, accompanied by his fellow MPs, some of them reluctantly, because he did not agree with the Speaker’s ruling that when he accused the Prime Minister of political interference in the police investigations regarding the John Dalli case, there was prima facie evidence that he was in breach of privilege.
To add insult to injury the Opposition Leader accused the Prime Minister of using the standing orders to gag the Opposition simply because Dr. Joseph Muscat used a Parliamentary procedure and raised a breach of privilege case against him to defend his integrity in the face of an unfounded allegation. What did Dr. Busuttil expect Dr. Muscat to do, sit back in his chair listening to defamatory statement in his regard and do nothing? The Italians say chi tace consente meaning he who remains silent would be consenting to what is being said in his regard.
But not Dr Muscat. He is known to be very tolerant and can face any political criticism provided this is constructive and not offensive. There were many instances, especially during the last electoral campaign, when Dr Muscat had to withstand blows, even below the belt, but took everything in his stride. But it is one thing levelling political criticism against your opponent and a completely different issue when accusing someone, and especially when this person is the Prime Minister, of political interference in police criminal investigations simply on the basis of a political judgement and without producing any hard evidence.
Moreover, rather than the Government gagging the Opposition it was Dr Busuttil who denied himself and his nationalists colleagues the opportunity to continue to press their case by leaving the House. They should have stayed in the Chamber to defend their corner.
By calling for a walk out from the Chamber, the Leader of the Opposition was not only behaving in a childish manner but acting in a politically irresponsible way. His action was an affront to the highest institution of the land. Moreover, when pointing an accusing finger against your adversaries you should be in a position to stand your ground and produce evidence to back your claim when challenged. Otherwise you have to face the consequences. One would expect that for Dr. Simon Busuttil, being a lawyer, this should be obvious.
But this is not how Dr Busuttil behaved when challenged by the Prime Minister to substantiate his accusation or be a gentleman and withdraw his statement. To everyone’s surprise, including his own MPs, instead of taking up the Prime Minister’s challenge, he simply walked out of the House and dragged the Nationalist MPs with him claiming that the Opposition was not being allowed to speak.
If anything, Government’s decision to debate the Opposition’s motion for the Speaker’s ruling to be withdrawn in a matter of days and not years as was the practice during the Nationalist Administration, goes to show that not only the Government has no intention of hampering the Opposition in doing its duty but that it is prepared to face it head on.
But for followers of the local political scene, Dr Busuttil’s childish attitude in walking out of the Chamber was meant to prove a point to those Nationalists sympathisers who have lost faith in him as the new Nationalist Party Leader because he is feeling himself isolated. He wanted to send them a message that he has the guts to stand up to Dr Muscat.
However it all backfired. When the next day he returned to Parliament without producing any evidence to back his accusation against Dr Muscat he completely lost face not only with the Nationalist supporters but also with the public at large. If he really believed that he had a case against the Prime Minister he should have come to the House with evidence in hand. But he did nothing of the sort.
This latest incident will go down in the history of local politics as another misjudgement by Dr Busuttil. This was another in a series of false steps and banal statements made by Dr Busuttil even before he took over the leadership of the Nationalist Party.
No wonder that the word is going round that the Nationalist Party is already looking for a new Leader.
Dr Ian Borg is the Parliamentary Secretary for EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds
Dr Ian Borg is parliamentary secretary