Backbenchers not being muzzled - PM

The decision to assign backbenchers to individual ministries was not to muzzle them or keep them under control but rather for MPs to contribute more and make the government more effective, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.

Dr Gonzi explained that the idea behind the twinning of backbenchers in a new role called parliamentary assistants was based on a practice adopted in the United Kingdom and Canada.

After days of speculation, the government yesterday officially announced the list of Nationalist Party backbenchers and the ministries to which they were being assigned.

Franco Debono will be parliamentary assistant to the Prime Minister's Office; Frederick Azzopardi will serve in the Gozo Ministry; Charlo Bonnici will serve at the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry; Stephen Spiteri at the Education Ministry; Philip Mifsud will be assigned to the Resources and Rural Affairs Ministry; Robert Arrigo to the Finance Ministry; Beppe Fenech Adami to the Justice Ministry and Peter Micallef will be assigned to the Health Ministry.

The work of the parliamentary assistants will be coordinated by group whip David Agius, who will be assigned to the Foreign Ministry.

Dissenting PN backbencher Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando was missing from the list but Dr Gonzi said he was being assigned to the Malta Council for Science and Technology. Details of the assignment were not divulged but Dr Gonzi said it was related to research and development.

Backbencher Jean Pierre Farrugia, who recently threatened to vote against the proposed Health Reform Bill, which included proposals he deemed unacceptable, on Tuesday announced he had declined Dr Gonzi's invitation to serve as parliamentary assistant. He said he wished to be free to be able to offer loyal criticism of the government.

The Prime Minister refuted claims that the appointments were made to keep his backbenchers quiet, including those who openly criticised the government and, in Dr Debono's case, walked out before a parliamentary vote was taken.

He said the code of conduct for the assistants precluded them from publicly criticising the ministry to which they were assigned but gave them a free hand to criticise anything else done by the government.

The decision was taken following consultation with the PN Parliamentary Group, with the Cabinet and with the individual backbenchers.

The idea was to maximise on the enthusiasm of the backbenchers by involving them in a more direct manner.

Dr Gonzi said a number of backbenchers had preferred retaining their chairmanship of parliamentary permanent committees, such as Michael Frendo, who heads the Foreign and European Affairs Committee, Edwin Vassallo, who heads the Social Affairs Committee, and Francis Zammit Dimech, who heads the Consideration of Bills Committee.

He said Joe Falzon, the government's representative on the Malta Environment and Planning Authority board, also preferred retaining this appointment.

When asked, Dr Gonzi said that, unlike those in ministerial positions, parliamentary assistants would not be obliged to abandon their professions as the appointment was on a part-time basis, for which they would receive an allowance. The quantity was still being discussed, he said.

Dr Gonzi said the government was not reinventing the wheel because such parliamentary assistants existed in other countries.

"With these assistants and such a small Cabinet, the government will be more effective in its work," he said.