Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg said that it was a shame for the opposition to move the censure motion against Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, because by doing so it was making serious accusations against law enforcement agencies, particularly the Police Corps.

Motion is unjust, based on false premises, full of hypocrisy and should be refused

He criticised Labour MP Evarist Bartolo for turning what he called “a human tragedy” into a political case against the Minister and the Commissioner of Police.

The case referred to an accusation that a person had died while in police custody and went back to 2008, when the minister had just been given responsibility for the ministry.

Dr Borg said that two independent inquiries – one by a magistrate and another by a judge – had concluded that the police were not to blame for the death.

He said that the MP was showing disrespect to members of the judiciary. This was an attack on the independence of the judiciary.

The Foreign Minister accused the opposition of hypocrisy when speaking on individual rights, adding that the first law that the PN government enacted in 1987 was the European Convention on Human Rights. The government had made a number of reforms regarding the arrest and the rights of persons under interrogation.

He said that in instances where the court ruled a legislation anti-constitutional, there was no need to go to Parliament if no new amendments were required. It was unjust to blame Minister Mifsud Bonnici for such matters.

The Nationalists in opposition had supported the Labour government when it introduced forced arbitration for condominium squabbles but Labour MPs opposed the same action by a PN government for minor traffic accidents, where no one suffered injuries.

Minister Borg said that the courts had created uncertainty when two different courts gave contrasting judgements on similar issues.

He called on the opposition to join the government in finding an agreement at instituting a full-time Constitutional Court.

But the worst accusation in the motion was that on court delays. The PL’s motion blamed this on the minister, when all reforms carried out by the PN in government had been resisted by the PL tooth and nail.

One such reform was that of the official letter in non-contested cases making this as valid as a judgement. When the PN government introduced it, it had been accused of attacking the independence of the judiciary. This had now become a regular feature in Maltese courts and its biggest critic José Herrera was now in its favour. This had been another measure to reduce burdens from the court and reduce the people’s expenses.

The opposition had systematically resisted any reform the government had proposed.

In the 1990s, when it had been proposed that the Commission for the Administration of Justice could take steps against judges with a two-thirds vote, the opposition had forced through a diluted version that the commission could draw attention to less-than-efficient procedures. It had also been against the impeachment of a judge who had stayed away from work for seven years while still getting paid.

In the past four-and-a-half years, Minister Mifsud Bonnici had been responsible for 18 pieces of legislation, some of which could be described as huge reforms, including in the area of drugs for personal use and the protection of children. But the opposition only opposed.

Dr Borg said the war against criminality made foreigners feel safe in Malta, and the prison population had swelled from 150 to 500 serving sentences.

The prisons were a tough nettle for any administration, but the government had introduced the segregation of the younger inmates from the older. The present conditions of prison cells in Malta were nothing to be ashamed of.

He said that in the 22 months of Labour administration, a lot of mistakes had been made, including that of granting an amnesty to prisoners who committed theft and murder but not to those who just committed murder.

On a point of order, Nationalist MP Franco Debono said that Labour MP Charles Mangion had resigned as Justice Minister under Labour.

Dr Borg concluded that the motion was unjust and should be refused as it was based on false premises and was full of political hypocrisy. Minister Mifsud Bonnici, he said, worked hard and deserved the support of the House.

Other government speakers yesterday were Peter Micallef, Chiarlò Bonnici, Joseph Falzon and Jean Pierre Farrugia.