An awful event in the House

The Richard Cachia Caruana debacle that took place in the Foreign Affairs Committee and in Parliament will not be easy to forget.

Never and in no other Parliament in the democratic world has a public servant been censured in such a manner and a parliamentary vote taken to oust the employee from the public service.

It appears that someone in this country made a faux pas to allow MPs to present a motion against a public service employee. Public service employees may be criticised in Parliament under Parliamentary Privilege but for someone in the House to present such a motion has undermined the whole civil service. How this motion was in fact accepted by the Clerk of the House and eventually by the Speaker is still a mystery.

Had these holders of their respective offices consulted and taken advice about this matter, I am sure that both of them would never have accepted to have this motion eventually be brought to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and, more so, to be discussed in Parliament.

Any motion being presented to Parliament should always be in regard to members of Parliament. Public service employees fall under the rules and regulations of the Public Service Commission. Any misbehaviour should fall under the discipline of this commission.

Allow me to ask a simple question. Were the above queries raised by any high office holder to see what the position of Mr Cachia Caruana was?

There is a saying regarding ambassadors: They “do not carry the guilt”. They may be censured only by the Administration of the day and if there is a concern they would be asked to resign.

From now on, any high official in the public service will come under parliamentary scrutiny. This is of concern to all public servants. No matter that their decisions would be taken in the interest of the Administration, the door is wide open for any MP in the House to present a motion asking for the respective employee to resign from the service.

This is the situation that has been brought about following this Labour motion approved by government members who voted in favour or abstained.

I spent over 40 years in the public service and I fail to remember a more awful event taking place in this country.