The code of ethics for Members of Parliament is being taken lightly and nothing seems to happen when it is breached, Partit Demokratiku said in a statement. PD hopes that the Office of Public Standards will strengthen the integrity and enhance the nation’s trust in its Members of Parliament.
“The duty of the backbench, which includes the non-executive members on the side of government, is to scrutinize the workings of the Executive. Parliament is dysfunctional. We have a broken system to fix,” stated MEP candidate Martin Cauchi Inglott.
Party Leader Godfrey Farrugia has this week written to the Commissioner of Public Standards George Hyzler to investigate all the backbench members of the House namely those representing: PL, PN and PD. Its receipt has been acknowledged.
“We cannot have the highest institution of the state carrying its objectives by part-time MPs and who depend on a salary which is boosted by the Executive or government entities,” stated MEP candidate Anthony Buttigieg.
It is evident that a number of backbenchers are not always accountable to the people of Malta and do not always conduct their work in the interest of Maltese citizens. They have various conflicts of interest: parliament, party, and their public service or public sector job. “This is why our environment is in such a debilitated state,” declared MEP candidate Camilla Appelgren.
Mr Speaker Angelo Farrugia has fostered a culture of an open parliament to society and has made its administrative procedures autonomous from government. This is an achievement, but is deterred as parliament is still hijacked by the dictated agenda of the Executive, PD said. To make matters worse the Parliamentary Standing Orders require considerable fine tunings. These issues are further compounding the broken system where representative democracy is not delivering.
Partit Demokratiku said it will continue to represent all those who aspire for clean, meritocratic governance committed to work for the common good, which would help Malta and Gozo to reach their full potential.