Labour MPs walk out amid uproar

A sitting of the House of Representatives last night was suspended in uproar at 12.30 a.m. this morning after Parliamentary Secretary Mario Galea made a mistake during the voting on an opposition motion which condemned the government over the way the contract for the power station extension was granted.

As the sitting was suspended for the Speaker to hear the recording, the opposition walked out, insisting it had won the vote.

In a comment to The Times early this morning, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said it was shameful for Labour Leader Joseph Muscat to lead the opposition out of the House simply because of a genuine mistake by Mr Galea. The opposition’s reaction was unwarranted because they did not even have the decency to await the Speaker’s ruling, Dr Gonzi said.

Also early this morning, Labour Party whip Joe Mizzi said that the events in the House had shown that the government was intent on undermining parliamentary democracy.

Speaking on One TV, Dr Muscat said the electorate was not going to forget what had taken place in the House last night.

The vote was taken at 12.18 a.m., three hours after Dr Muscat maintained that Nationalist MP Charlò Bonnici should not be allowed to vote because he had a direct pecuniary interest.

After the suspension, the Speaker allowed Mr Bonnici to vote, but during the voting, as each MP was asked to stand to declare his vote, Mr Galea by mistake said “yes” when he was expected to say “no”, amid much shouting in the chamber.

When the voting was over, during uproar and repeated calls for order by the Speaker, Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said that Labour MP Justyne Caruana had said “no”.

Furthermore, whenever somebody made a mistake in voting they had a right to correct the mistake, should they so wish.

Mr Mizzi said that in terms of Standing Orders, the Chair had to declare the vote and no one could interpret the vote.

The Speaker said he would listen to the recordings, but when he returned, he said that the recording had been inconclusive and another vote would be taken. As the opposition had walked out, the result was 35 votes against the motion and none in favour.

Earlier in the evening, after the debate was concluded Dr Muscat asked for a ruling from the Speaker about the position of Nationalist MP Charlo’ Bonnici who, he claimed, according to the Standing Orders, could not take part in the division as he had “a direct pecuniary interest”, being a senior manager in Care Malta Ltd as HR Manager. His direct superior was the CEO, Alex Tranter, who was also chairman of Enemalta. The Speaker ruled that Mr Bonnici could vote.

Dr Muscat’s original motion said the new plant was a prototype and the people of Marsaxlokk and its environs would be acting as guinea pigs. The choice of plant would raise costs for the people and the House was therefore urging the Prime Minister to remedy the situation.

Dr Gonzi said the report by the Auditor-General on the tender process confirmed that the government had made the right choice for the country when it chose the proposal submitted by Danish company BWSC. The opposition’s claims, identical to those made by BWSC’s rival bidder Bateman, were not sustained by the Auditor’s findings. The government would respect the Auditor and address the administrative shortcomings he had pointed out.

Dr Muscat said that, throughout the debate, the government speakers had done nothing but defend the status quo and attack the Auditor-General’s office – a parliamentary institution – and whistleblowers.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said the contract with BWSC was such that, should there be non-compliance with the established emission limits of major pollutants, “Enemalta reserves the right to reject the plant outright”. Should the power station be close to reaching the maximum emission levels, it could easily be switched to diesel.

Introducing the motion at the start of the morning sitting, PL deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia said this was a “corrupt contract” and any vote in favour of the government in this debate would be a vote against the Auditor-General’s report. The government had no sense of shame or pride.

Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt said the opposition was conveniently ignoring a declaration by the Auditor-General that the BWSC bid for the power station extension was the “cheapest by far” and used proven technology, even if gas technology proposed by Bateman was more advanced. He also called on the PL to explain its political contacts with Israel over the power station extension, Bateman being an Israeli company.

The opposition spokesman on the environment, Leo Brincat said the Delimara power station extension was a shameful telenovela that led one to believe it was not possible for BWSC’s agent in Malta, Joseph Mizzi, to have been acting alone.

Environment Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco said the government was making choices in favour of the environment, spending a total of €740 million on projects that would mean better air quality. He said €220 million were expected to be spent on an undersea cable link to the European power grid, €165 million on the power station extension, €300 million on a large wind farm and €55 million on new buses.

The opposition spokesman on finance, Charles Mangion, said the House Public Accounts Committee, which he chairs, would very much like to see the transcripts of the Auditor General’s investigation to see who had failed to give him information. This was lack of public accountability, he said.

Nationalist MP Franco Debono said that in view of the findings of the Auditor and the need for energy security, he wanted to appeal to the government to revert to gas oil as quickly as possible, so as to safeguard the environment and public health. This option, he said, should be considered, especially if the power station extension came close to reaching the maximum emissions threshold.

Labour MP Evarist Bartolo said it was very clear there was corruption in the tendering process. He hit out at the local BWSC representative who had boasted that he had high-level contacts in Enemalta and the political field. He was of the view that the agent was only the small fry in all this and bigger fish were involved.