The Nationalist opposition in the 1996-1998 period had criticised the government without restraint and without giving medical issues at the time any consideration, former PL leader Alfred Sant said this evening.

In a passionate speech during the debate on the motion calling for the resignation of Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, Dr Sant said he had not intended to speak about the motion as he respected the minister and his father and there were others who were far more involved in the subjects being debated.

However, he had been disgusted listening to certain speeches by government MPs, including ministers George Pullicino this morning and Austin Gatt this evening.

Their speeches had been full of arrogance and had worsened Dr Mifsud Bonnici's case. They took an attitude that they had the divine right to remain in power, that they considered those who did not see history from their point of view as being wrong, if not criminal.

Government MPs had accused the opposition of disloyalty, moral and psychological violence, vindictiveness and personal attacks.

The opposition, Dr Sant said, had the right to move the motion and it was the government that delayed the debate polarising the issue, maybe because it was afraid of losing the vote.

The Prime Minister also made Dr Mifsud Bonnici leader of the house after the motion had been moved making him seem as he was the one keeping the motion from being debated.

Dr Sant that the government in opposition had continuously criticised the government without cutting corners, it had failed to inform the government that President Emeritus Eddie Fenech Adami, then Opposition leader, had been sick when a motion he presented had to be moved in Parliament and later criticised the Opposition for insisting that he should move his motion.

In this case, Dr Sant said, the current opposition took its time to move this motion because it knew the minister was sick and because of this it moved a motion that was much less strong than it wanted.

Nationalist MP Franco Debono was healthy and he was acting according to his conscience. One could also argue he was manipulating the opposition.

But in 1996 and 1998 the government had faced problems similar to those the government was now facing.

There had also been problems of a medical nature which the PN used to its benefit.

He said that when in 2007 he was diagnosed with cancer and needed blood, all the information had been passed on to The Times underhandedly. This had badly affected his family.

Following his operation and during chemotherapy, which was leaving him with black patches on his face, GonziPN had published big photos exaggerating these patches.

Dr Sant said that the power of incumbency was again being used without scruples and public broadcasting was being used to the benefit of the government in a much worse way than could have been done in the eighties.

Earlier, Transport Minister Austin Gatt said that the motion was very transparent but not for the right reasons. It was transparent in a way that was shameful for the Opposition.

It was another attempt at destabilising the government, at satisfying Labour’s thirst of power which had been blatant since June last year. Labour did not want the election to be held in its time but as quickly as possible in hope that it would be elected before the gap between the two parties was closed further.

The motion was vile and this could also be seen in the amendment which was changing the motion from one of censorship to one of resignation.

While moving this amendment, the opposition failed to amend the motion to remove issues which were no longer relevant to the ministry, such as that justice and home affairs were the responsibility of the same ministry.

This further highlighted the opposition’s want for power. To criticise the government was normal and the opposition’s duty but, in this motion, the opposition was using Carm Mifsud Bonnici as the sacrificial lamb to bring down the government before time so as to prevent further closing the gap between the two parties.

Had the opposition not wanted to be personal it would have criticised the ministry and ministerial behaviour and not Dr Mifsud Bonnici personally and they have the cheek to say the motion was not a personal attack.

The motion was presented just a month after a vote of confidence in Dr Mifsud Bonnici was taken during the budget debate.

This, Dr Gatt, was the fourth vote of confidence in eight months, all of which the government had won.

Education Minister Dolores Cristina described Dr Mifsud Bonnici as a cautious, patient man with whom she had worked on several social issues.

In the past years she could see a change of attitude by the police towards social issues with members of the force going over and above their call of duty, some even doing the jobs of social workers. Behind all this, there was the hidden hand of Dr Mifsud Bonnici whose direction to the force was for more sensitivity to be shown in such matters.

Mrs Cristina said she also worked with Dr Mifsud Bonnici on immigration and she could appreciate the phenomenal change in open centres since he had taken over their responsibility.

Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono said that the opposition was using each and every opportunity for political advantage and the motion being debated was one such opportunity.

It was just a political manoeuvre which did not intend to rectify the situation but only to be used for political aims.

She referred to advancements made in Gozo in the justice and home affairs sector, noting that improvements were carried out at several police stations including that at Victoria. A new station, she said, was also to be opened in Kercem. All this had helped reduce criminality rates.

Labour MP Marie Louise Coleiro referred to a 2008 Council of Europe report on the prevention of torture which had raised concerns on the lack of trained staff and lack of profiling of inmates.

She read from a letter from 45 prisoners in division 13 - the division of punishment which the prisoner said they had been sent to from outside and not because they had misbehaved in prison.

The prisoners criticised the food they were given, their beds, and noted that they were not given the opportunity to work, as prisoners in other divisions were.

The prisoners complained that prisoners were treated according to who they were.

She read from another letter from 50 foreign prisoners who complained of lack of contact with their families. They asked to be deported to their countries or to other countries in Europe noting that the prison was full to capacity and as a result they were being denied their human rights.

The people, Dr Coleiro-Preca said, were paying close to €70 a day for the rehabilitation of each inmate and they deserved and wanted to know what was being done.

Dr Coleiro-Preca also spoke on the family court saying this left much to be desired. The mediation area was more akin to a market, children had no voice and were being used by certain couples. The legal aid office was in shambles and the means testing to access legal aid one had to have less than Lm3,000 in assets.

Labour MP Helena Dalli insisted that the motion was not personal in spite of what government MPs were saying to appeal to the people’s emotions.

The buck, she said, stopped with the minister and when Charles Mangion had resigned because of an administrative mistake no one had said he should not have.

It was important to separate emotions from facts and speak on administrative responsibility. The motion was not on Dr Mifsud Bonnici’s personal life but on the administration of his ministry.

She noted that when the Labour government had internal problems, the Nationalist opposition had voted against a tourism law they had drafted. This was opportunism, she said. The Labour opposition was, on the other hand, substantiating its motion.

Dr Dalli spoke on the office of the Ombudsman and said that when people from this ombudsman was given other appointments by the government, the people lost confidence in the institution, which had to be seen to be independent from the government.

Dr Dalli said that Dr Mifsud Bonnici was first censored by the Prime Minister when he removed his responsibility for justice.

Justice Minister Chris Said said that the motion was another attempt by the government to destabilise the government.

He noted that irrelevant of how much was done in the justice and also in other sectors, there always remained what needed to be done.

The courts’ biggest challenge, he said, was and still is that of delays and this government had worked to address that challenge introducing several initiatives which led to thousands of cases being avoided.

The government strengthened the judiciary which now had 42 members. It also increased court staff for work to continue. Work on new offices for the judiciary was also being carried out.

Dr Said said that the government was now speaking about problems in the sector but when it had the opportunity to suggest ways of how to improve the situation, the opposition, except for MP Louis Buhagiar, hindered the process of justice by voting against the impeachment motion of a judge who had failed to turn up to work for years.

He said that the majority of members of judiciary carried out their duties well and decided cases in a reasonable time.

Dr Said noted that the backlog in court cases was continuously dropping and said this was all due to the government’s work in the sector.

He said that one of the revolutions in the sector was the placing online of Maltese legislation. This service was improved to also include regulations falling under the several laws.