I make reference to the editorial ‘Quest for constitutional reform’ (February 8) which dealt with two main issues, that of constitutional awareness and the person to chair the convention.
What it unfortunately failed to mention and could be a crucial piece of information is the fact that I am already chairing the Committee for Constitutional Awareness (which I had conceived and proposed during the last legislature), together with Martin Scicluna, Austin Bencini, Trevor Zahra, Oliver Friggieri, Veronique Dalli, Claire Bonello, Ray Mangion, Andrew Azzopardi and Saviour Chircop as members.
It also failed to mention that the same committee is doing its utmost not only to create and enhance constitutional awareness but also to kick-start the convention, and possibly could also be the convention in embryonic form.
Moreover, if one is to be correct one has to acknowledge that constitutional reform has already started through the enactment of the law on party finance and the Bill on the autonomy of Parliament currently before Parliament, two laws of a constitutional nature.
Furthermore, the committee is already working under the auspices, and in close collaboration, with the President, whohas publicly pledged her support, and therefore one can see that proposals from both government and the Opposition can work together.
Regarding the debate as to who is to chair, the editorial fails to omit a whole series of facts that cannot be left out of the equation if the reader is to reach an informed conclusion.
As soon as I was elected to Parliament, in 2008, as the PN’s youngest MP, I started making calls from the backbench for a new or updated Constitution proposing a two-thirds majority for the appointment of the President, inviting a discussion on the possibility of a smaller parliament of full-time MPs, besides a reform of the Broadcasting Authority, an organ established by the Constitution.
We must abandon the two tribe model
I proposed amendments to the method of judicial appointments, discipline and removal from office within the ambit of a wide-ranging and detailed justice reform in a private member’s motion about ‘Major reforms in justice and home affairs’ (2011) - the greater part of which constitutes the later so-called Bonello Report (2013). There were also included proposals to review the Attorney General’s dual role of public prosecutor and counsel to government and to also review theAG’s exercise of discretion in somecases, the removal of criminal libel, the strengthening of legal aid and a vast range of other issues.
The private member’s motion also paved the way for another fundamental change now cemented in our system - the split between the justice and home affairs portfolios, without which the other reforms would be harder to implement.
I also drafted and presented in Parliament the Bill on party finance that, while ignored by the previous administration, has since been unanimously approved by Parliament, proposed an overhaul to the outdated Parliamentary Standing Orders, campaigned for a greater autonomy and better communication facilities for Parliament and made a number of calls for ministerial accountability and responsibility to be shouldered and voted accordingly in Parliament.
I campaigned assiduously for the introduction of the fundamental human right of legal assistance for arrested persons, the introduction of the rule of disclosure and the upgrading of the same right, which right as it is today was only enforced in February 2010, after I abstained from a vote in December 2009 as a sign of protest for the fact that the law passed in 2002 was still not in force seven years later.
All this is recorded in the parliamentary debates themselves, where the issues are treated in greater detail, and various other proposals including those subsequently taken on board in the detailed and well researched document prepared by the Today Public Institute.
Finally, as I had said in a parliamentary speech in July 2011, when I called for an updated Constitution, it is a time to unite as a people and that we must abandon the two tribe model occupying the same territory and adopt the mode of a unitedpeople with different opinions.
When I recently stated that the PN and I are now on the same page in relation to constitutional reform, and that it would be unjust to take the ideas and discard the person, it was due to the fact that the PN has now embraced in its good governance proposals most if not all proposals I had made within the PN, and over which the differences had arisen in the first place.
Franco Debono is Law Commissioner.