The Government is willing to hold discussions with the Nationalist Party to find ways of involving it in executive roles, possibly resurrecting the Opposition Nominees Act.
The role of scrutiny cannot be compromised
A Government spokesman told The Times: “There are various ways of implementing these proposals and the Government is willing to discuss.”
However, he did not reply to a question on whether it favoured re-introducing a law that gave the right to the Opposition to nominate people on public boards.
This legislation was originally enacted in 1996 by the PN Government but then revoked by the Alfred Sant Government in 1997.
Three of the four contenders vying to become PN leader believe more details are needed about this proposal, saying they are willing to discuss ways of involving Opposition MPs “in the national interest”.
Outgoing deputy leader Simon Busuttil said that the legislation should be the framework for holding discussions with the Government.
“I am insisting on the re-introduction of this law as it strengthens the role of the Opposition.
“This law provides the framework for cooperation between the two sides, in stark contrast with the divide and rule offer made by Dr Muscat to certain members of the Opposition,” Dr Busuttil said when contacted.
He said the Prime Minister’s offer would give him the prerogative of choosing who to appoint and where, without the Opposition having any say.
Mario de Marco said many details were missing from Dr Muscat’s proposal.
“The devil is in the detail of the Government’s proposal and we do not know as yet what this detail is.
“The underlying principle is that the Opposition cannot be in bed with the Government.
“We cannot have this situation because we will not be able to function properly and carry out our duty as a watchdog to scrutinise the Government. There is nothing wrong with both sides working together in the national interest,” he said.
Francis Zammit Dimech insisted that the Opposition was “not up for sale” and called for more clarifications .
“The Government has been given the mandate to govern and we were given the mandate to be in Opposition.
“The role of scrutiny cannot be compromised. The Opposition Nominees Act is one of the options that could work to involve the Opposition but we need to see what the Government has in mind with the executive role,” he said.
Dr Zammit Dimech said members of the executive were ministers and parliamentary secretaries forming the Cabinet.
“I don’t think Joseph Muscat wants to enlarge this Cabinet, which is already composed of two football teams and a referee,” he said.
For the other contender, businessman Ray Bugeja, the issue is the segregation between the Government’s role and that of the Opposition.
“The Opposition has an institutional role and cannot be part of the Government apparatus in any way because the role of the Opposition is to supervise Government in whatever it is doing.
“Whatever the Government proposes that is of interest to the country, we will support,” Mr Bugeja said.
He added that the kind of politics he wanted to conduct was “collaborative and constructive” in the country’s best interest.
However, he stressed that any future role the Opposition might have, had to remain distinct from Government.