Bruised government seeks confidence vote

Government was bruised last night after a no-confidence motion in Transport Minister Austin Gatt was defeated only with the Speak­er’s casting vote prompting the Prime Minister to ask for a vote of confidence next week.

All government MPs voted against the motion except backbencher Franco Debono who abstained after declaring he was voting according to his conscience.

With 34 votes in favour, 34 against and one abstention, the Speaker was forced to cast the decisive vote saving Dr Gatt’s skin in line with parliamentary tradition and rules. Soon after the voting was over, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi went to the Clerk of the House and gave notice of a motion of confidence in his government to be debated as early as next Tuesday.

Dr Gonzi said the motion of confidence was crucial to show that the government enjoyed the backing of all its MPs and ensure stability in the country.

Asked whether Dr Debono will retain his position as Parliamentary Assistant in the Office of the Prime Minister after this embarrassing moment, Dr Gonzi said that was a matter that will be decided in due course.

When contacted after rushing out of Parliament, Dr Debono said he would support the motion of confidence adding he had proposed such a strategy during the PN’s executive meeting on Monday.

But for Labour leader Joseph Muscat the fact that the no confidence motion in Dr Gatt had only been defeated with the Speaker’s casting vote was an indication of government instability at a time when the country needed certainty.

“The Prime Minister should reflect well on this vote and do what is right for the country, not for his party,” Dr Muscat said without spelling out what he expected Dr Gonzi to do.

He reiterated that the government’s problem “was not Franco Debono but Lawrence Gonzi” and accused the Prime Minister of lacking leadership when it was most needed.

After 11 hours of debate, MPs had to stand up and be counted during voting time with parliamentary officials calling out their names.

Jesmond Mugliett and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando on the government side created a brief moment of uncertainty as they stood up very slowly when the Speaker asked those who were against the motion to declare their vote.

In his only comments after the vote, a visibly relieved Dr Gatt said he was “satisfied” with the outcome. Outside Parliament he was greeted by a sizeable crowd of supporters who cheered him on and compared him to a lion.

Dr Gatt’s ministry officials were present all day in Parliament in a show of support. By the evening, the usually empty Strangers Gallery in Parliament was full of people, mainly government officials and Dr Gatt’s supporters. They followed proceedings silently.

The debate was also held in the shadow of a protest organised by youth organisation Reboot on public transport inefficiencies.

In line with the reputation of tardiness that the new bus service has earned, the protest ironically set off 15 minutes late but quickly gathered steam with the 100-odd protesters more than doubling and the refrain “Get out! Get out! [Inżel minn hemm]” reaching a crescendo as the activists reached St George’s Square.

“Reforms have been a joke,” Chris Schembri of Reboot said. “We don’t care who is to blame, we just want every locality to have a public transport service that works.”

His fellow protesters were in a less forgiving mood. The mere mention of Transport Minister Austin Gatt’s name brought with it a cacophony of boos and jeers.

One protester, Sean, said he would rather the minister remained in power. “He messed it all up, he should stay and fix the mess,” was his frank remark.

Another was almost resigned to having a poor bus service. “At this stage,” she sighed, “I would be happy if we only got one bus running every hour but being reliable. At least I’d know what time I’d get to work.”

The protesters dispersed before the vote in Parliament was taken.

Additional reporting by Bertrand Borg

Lawrence Gonzi is the problem – Muscat

Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat held the Prime Minister to account for the failure in the public transport reform and accused him of dragging the government from one crisis to another.

“The government knows it has a problem and the problem is not called Franco Debono but Lawrence Gonzi,” Dr Muscat said in a 30-minute speech that kept up the pressure on the Prime Minister.

Dr Gonzi “lacked leadership” he added, listing a number of controversial issues that cropped up since the last election. These included the power station extension and the development of an underground museum at St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta, which was withdrawn on the eve of a parliamentary vote where the government did not enjoy a majority.

At such a sensitive time for families and in such critical times for Europe, Dr Muscat said the Prime Minister was more concerned with his party’s internal problems.

He reiterated that Dr Gonzi was “irresponsible” when he did not accept Transport Minister Austin Gatt’s resignation and accused him of being “a hostage” to the situation.

He questioned the reason why Dr Gatt was being protected by the Prime Minister.

Dr Muscat said that, before the 2008 election, former Transport Minister Jesmond Mugliett had promised bus owners that talks on a just agreement for a 10-year arrangement would be concluded. “After the election Dr Gonzi allowed the new Transport Minister to renege on that agreement at a cost of €52 million to taxpayers,” he said.

Dr Muscat said the government lost its bearings and what the country needed at the moment was “prudence and stability”.

‘The buck stops with me’

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi took the load off his Transport Minister saying he shouldered responsibility for the public transport reform.

“The buck stops with me... I will not wash my hands,” Dr Gonzi said in a 30-minute fiery speech in Parliament in which he criticised the opposition for failing to acknowledge the positive aspects of the bus reform.

Dr Gonzi said the reform was an electoral promise and a tender was issued with Cabinet approval after analysing a detailed memorandum.

He explained why he did not accept Dr Gatt’s resignation referring to comments by Labour MP Charles Mangion on television, who said that Dr Gatt should offer to resign leaving it up to the Prime Minister to decide.

“It will be ridiculous for me to say Austin Gatt should shoulder responsibility for this reform. We will shoulder it altogether and our challenge as a government is to see this reform through,” Dr Gonzi said in defence of Dr Gatt.

With reference to the modern bus fleet, the Prime Minister said the Labour Party motion was not honest with reality because the reform was a positive leap forward in terms of air quality and accessibility for disabled people.

However, Dr Gonzi acknowledged there were problems and the government was “humble enough” to accept these.

He said there were five changes to the route network since the reform was rolled out in July as a result of the problems identified by commuters.

Describing the reform as “a work in progress” he insisted the government was committed to improve the situation.

“Instead we are being criticised,” Dr Gonzi said in a veiled jibe at Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono’s claim that the numerous route changes undertaken since the new bus service was introduced was a sign of failure.

It was the only indirect reference to Dr Debono as the Prime Minister stuck to the line adopted throughout by Nationalist MPs in concentrating their attacks on the opposition.

He reiterated his offer for the setting up of a cross-party parliamentary committee to oversee the bus service similar to the black dust committee and regretted the opposition’s refusal to participate.

In a rousing end, Dr Gonzi insisted the government was determined to see that the bus reform was brought to a successful end, adding it was a major part of the government’s change programme.

Gatt puts blame on Arriva

While admitting responsibility for raising people’s expectations on the reformed bus system, Transport Minister Austin Gatt yesterday shifted most of the blame on the contractual obligations Arriva had not respected.

In an hour-long speech closing reactions from the government’s side to the opposition motion of no confidence in him, Dr Gatt repeatedly conceded it was too much to expect to change a 40-year culture in four months.

More than 50 entities had been consulted and all 68 local councils were sent a CD with all the information, including the route network and bus stop names, but only eight replied with their feedback.

There was a contract on what Transport Malta expected from Arriva and what the service provider had to deliver. This contract established routes, fares, subsidy amount, maximum waiting time for commuters and a full list of fines if these are not met.

Referring to the €57 million spent on compensation to bus owners, representing three years’ income, Dr Gatt said this was the amount saved in subsidies and a new fleet of Euro V buses.

The interchange system would have been accepted more had Arriva given a good service from day one. The fact that 182 drivers did not turn up for work in the first week did not help and the aftermath of this incident was still being felt today. Arriva received 16,400 complaints when it carries an average of 62,000 people a day. Sixty-eight per cent were on the service aspect.

The Transport Minister, who later survived the no confidence vote with the Speaker’s casting vote, said he had turned down the resignations of his head of Secretariat, Manwel Delia, as well as those of Transport Malta chairman and CEO, Mark and Stanley Portelli.

Dr Gatt repeatedly said he wanted a transport system in Malta to work in the same way that it was working perfectly in Gozo.

Arriva’s challenge was punctuality and regularity and the introduction of the promised off-bus ticketing system which would help hasten the service.

Dr Gatt said this was the fourth vote of no confidence he was facing this legislature, “maybe because of the reforms I piloted”.

However, he felt comforted by support he was receiving. “What keeps me going is the trust the Prime Minister and the parliamentary group have given me on a daily basis... Even though I will retire, I will militate to the very end because my ultimate aim is to see the Nationalist Party in government,” he said to a roar from the opposition benches.

Debono digs into minister

Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono delivered an impassioned speech in Parliament yesterday rejecting his party’s line while insisting he could not vote against the opposition’s no-confidence motion.

In a 50-minute speech (rather than the five the party Whip originally meant to give him), Dr Debono’s voice sometimes quivered with emotion as he dug into the public transport reform and spelt out his reasoning why Transport Minister Austin Gatt should shoulder political responsibility for its failure.

There was no letting up on his incessant attack on the transport reform, which he said was going back to square one with the route changes that are to be introduced next week.

While the Transport Ministry has described the major network changes as a sign of a government that listens, Dr Debono yesterday interpreted them as a sign of failure that did not exonerate Dr Gatt from his responsibility.

The bus service would succeed by “trial and error”, he said, but ministers did not have the luxury of trying things out unlimitedly.

“The change on Sunday, if it succeeded, would further confirm how wrong the original reform was,” Dr Debono said with reference to three years of planning that went into the reform.

He said it was a mistake to inflate an issue of individual ministerial responsibility as the motion called for to the collective responsibility of a government.

“In all real democracies, a public officer who failed in his performance stepped down... This is how mistakes are acknowledged,” he said.

Party loyalty, Dr Debono said did not mean a minister could ride roughshod over everybody else.

He criticised the PN executive’s motion approved on Thursday, which Dr Debono said acknowledged that the routes were wrong but still urged the minister to stay on and get things right. He felt this violated the constitutional obligation of ministerial responsibility.

Towards the end of his speech, Dr Debono addressed the Prime Minister personally, cautioning him about the state of public broadcasting, which he said, “returned to the 1980s”.

The reference was to Thursday’s Bondì+ programme, which Dr Debono said he did not want to attend and instead ended up being at the centre of the programme host’s questions to the other guests.

Dr Debono was applauded by members of the opposition.