Nationalist MP Edwin Vassallo in an impassioned speech in Parliament today said the Opposition censure motion against Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici was immoral and a case of moral political violence.

The Opposition was out to destroy the man and his family just to embarrass the government, he said.

However he wanted to urge the minister and his wife – who is attending all the parliamentary sittings – to hold firm to their faith and their values – sound in the knowledge that they had always acted correctly.

Mr Vassallo said this was one of a string of motions aimed, not at improving a particular  sector, but at tripping up the government.  

The opposition was bent only on bringing down the democratically elected government. This minister had worked hard and effectively and it was only now that the Opposition was bringing up matters it never spoke about before. The reason was obvious after Nationalist MP Franco Debono, as he had a right to do, voiced disagreements with the minister and then moved his own motion, which, however, was a positive motion.

Suddenly, what was a sin had become a sacrilege for the opposition.

This was not seriousness and the motion lacked moral validity. It was a motion which ridiculed Maltese politics.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici had long had a cordial relationship with most members of the opposition and he hoped, Mr Vassallo said, that some of the Opposition MPs were not being forced or had been deceived into backing this motion while, in their hearts of hearts, being against it.

Interjecting, one of the movers of the motion, Michael Falzon, said the movers had not been deceived and Mr Vassallo was mistaken in everything he was saying.

Continuing, Mr Vassallo said that what the House had before it was political moral violence. In the past, politicians had their homes and cars attacked and they also suffered physical violence. Now the Opposition was out to destroy this person in a manner which was immoral and low.   

Malta, he said, never had a situation where, in order to win power,  an Opposition tried to destroy a person. This should be an eye-opener to the people, who should be wary of what could happen to ordinary people if today’s opposition became tomorrow’s government.

Mr Vassallo said that whatever the outcome of the vote on this motion, the minister should continue to work. This was not a government of individuals. The attack on Dr Mifsud Bonnici was an attack on the government, but this was a case of ‘one for all and all for one’. Whatever the outcome, the minister should not consider this motion as morally valid.  The minister enjoyed the confidence of the democratically-elected government and he should continue to serve.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi congratulated  Mr Vassallo at the end of his speech.

Other speakers this morning included Labour MPs Silvio Parnis and Luciano Busuttil.

Mr Parnis spoke of problems of public order and the police. He said many elderly people felt unsafe in the streets, and  even in their own homes. A similar situation existed in AlbertTown, where residents felt like they were living in a third world control with no police control.

At the same time, he said, the police were working long hours in difficult conditions. A case in point were traffic policemen who were exposed to harmful traffic emissions for long hours without protection.

He said he had asked the minister to help in a case where a prison inmate had a baby in prison, but no one knew what had become of the baby(Mr Parnis later said it was a fetus).

Dr Busuttil said that however difficult a ministry was to run, ministerial accountability was important.  

It was a disgrace, he said, that as a major fight developed in Gzira two days ago, those involved found the police station closed. It was also worrying that a veritable arsenal of weapons were found in the prison’s forensics unit at Mt Carmel Hospital.

Dr Busuttil said that inefficiency was continuing to persist at the law courts, and a body was needed to hold everybody to account. Most judges worked hard, but it was unacceptable that some repeatedly started work late, and then went on break early. It was unacceptable that a case was not appointed for five years, or other cases had been awaiting judgement for six years.  

At the same judges, were lacking basic facilities. Yesterday a judge ended up working in a magistrate’s office.

 Dr Busuttil also raised questions about how mediation services are being run, saying they were sometimes causing a repeat of proceedings in separation cases.  

Karl Gouder (PN) praised Dr Mifsud Bonnici for his hard work in various sectors, notably the police. He also praised him for the opportunities he gave ordinary people and for the compassionate and humane way he went about his work.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said the opposition’s motion to censure Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici was opportunistic, cheap and superficial.

He pointed to substantial investment in the police force over the past four years, despite a difficult economic situation. The police were now better geared to fight crime than ever before. The same could be said of the Civil Protection Department, whose role it was to rescue people in distress.

Mr Fenech referred to Labour leader Joseph Muscat’s claims about people ending in prison for not paying VAT and he accused Dr Muscat of defending people who breached the law to the detriment of the honest businessmen.

Lands Minister Jason Azzopardi described Dr Mifsud Bonnici as a hard-working, disciplined and strong minister and criticised the way how he was attacked even while he was on a hospital bed.

The opposition’s criticism was cheap, superficial and opportunistic.

On a point of order, Nationalist MP Franco Debono said he had also criticised the minister. Was Dr Azzopardi criticising the opposition or also himself, as the criticism directed at the minister was definitely not cheap and opportunistic?

Dr Azzopardi said he was addressing the opposition’s criticism as was his duty. The reforms carried out by Dr Mifsud Bonnici in court had resulted in less bureaucracy and more efficiency for the benefit of the people.

In a two-and-a-half hour diatribe, Opposition spokesman Michael Falzon, did not say anything about  the debt recovery legislation which the Opposition had said would bring about disaster but which had actually reduced pending court cases by several thousand. 

Another major reform was that on restorative justice.

Dr Azzopardi noted that while until a few years ago 60 per cent of prisoners at Corradino were relapsers, of the 54 prisoners being jailed in drug related cases in the past four years only 14 returned.