Government whip Carmelo Abela this morning denied that the PL Parliamentary group had not discussed the Enemalta Bill, which will turn the corporation into a plc, before yesterday's vote.
In comments to this newsroom, Mr Abela said it was "absolutely not true" that the issue was not discussed. "The PL parliamentary group meets every Monday. We only skipped a meeting on Monday 14, when the Prime Minister was abroad in China. I can assure you that we discuss every issue, including this one."
Mr Abela said that "if some did not attend that particular meeting then that is another thing entirely." When asked if Marlene Farrugia - who did not turn up for the vote yesterday - had attended the parliamentary group meeting, Mr Abela said that she was abroad for a number of days and she did not attend the meeting "with his approval."
Mr Abela said, however, that he was not aware that Dr Farrugia was not going to attend for the vote.
Out of 39 PL MPs, three were abroad. These were Ministers Evarist Bartolo, Joe Mizzi and Leo Brincat. The three ministers were paired with three PN MPs who could not attend, on a request by PN Whip David Agius.
However, there were also three other government MPs who did not attend. The government was informed that Silvio Parnis and Franco Mercieca would not be attending, but PL Whip Carmelo Abela confirmed that, in the case of Marlene Farrugia, he had not been informed that she was not going to attend the sitting.
In comments to this newsroom soon after the vote, Dr Farrugia said that “unless proven otherwise by the publication of all the relevant documents, I am under the impression that a foreign government is acquiring substantial control over the only power generation entity in the country. This it will do by acquisition as well as by operation of our generating power plant. The fate of the workers is also still unclear, since nothing in black and white was presented for our perusal, to prove otherwise. Therefore, I felt that a decision on my part to confirm or otherwise the wisdom of this turn of events can only be taken after I have been made privy to what the actual MoU and agreements really hold, for the present and future of my country.”
Earlier, Dr Farrugia criticised the government in a Facebook post and noted that the PL had “vehemently protested” in a similar case concerning the Enemalta’s BWSC plant some years back. “I strongly believe in the government’s good intentions to save Enemalta (and the country) from financial ruin, but why aren’t the relevant documents on the table for perusal by the public and for a worthy debate based on facts and conjectures? When the PN did the same thing with regards to BWSC, we protested vehemently. Is this country doomed to another five years of shady governance?”
When contacted today, Dr Farrugia conceded that the subject might have been discussed when she was abroad, but insisted that this was beside the point: the relevant documents were still not published, neither in Parliemant nor in the Pariamentary Group.