Speaker Michael Frendo on Monday prevented a ridiculous situation sliding uncontrollably into the even more ridiculous. He sensibly ruled that the Opposition’s motion requesting that the Government withdraws plans to privatise 34 car parks does not require urgent discussion, as Labour was requesting.
Many would say, of course it didn’t. For several reasons: one, because after a long recess of some three months, Parliament has much more pressing issues to deal with. If time is precious, and it is, then, time in the House must be used wisely. It is Dr Frendo’s job, within the ambit of his role, to see to that.
Two, how could a motion possibly be urgent if the Government had already announced that it was effectively suspending the plans?
We said in a leader last week that the manner in which Transport Malta chose to rush through the privatisation process was at best defective and at worst bizarre. We added, however, that the decision to suspend it was a victory for common sense over insensitivity to ordinary people’s concerns. It also meant that, for the time being at least, it was a non-issue.
Enter into the equation Franco Debono and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, two MPs who have made every attempt – quite successfully – in recent months to hijack the parliamentary agenda, aided and abetted, or vice versa, by the Opposition.
Dr Debono, who has made it his personal mission to politically assassinate his targets on the premise that he is acting in the national interest, wanted to turn the Opposition’s move on car parks into a motion of no confidence in Transport Minister Austin Gatt. This after he managed to down former Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici and amid a publicly declared intention that he will subject Health Minister Joe Cassar to the same treatment.
Dr Gatt, being no shrinking violet, came out with guns blazing. Though the minister can at times be justifiably accused of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, the statement he made on this occasion was one of timely defiance.
He said: “We have been through far tougher times than those which Dr Debono is now seeking to create and we will still be there after Dr Debono’s tantrums have become a thing of the past – whether he will is exceedingly doubtful.”
Dr Pullicino Orlando’s remark that the minister should step out of the way to ensure the Budget can be presented was, by comparison, a mild whimper.
Some, including ourselves, have argued that given the prevailing scenario of unrest within the Nationalist Party, the best course is for the country to go for an election as soon as possible.
But if the Prime Minister chooses not to go down this route – and it is ultimately his prerogative for as long as he can retain control of Parliament – then the most productive thing Parliament can do is receive whatever programme the Government has left (this includes Bills on cohabitation and regulating IVF) before waiting for the presentation of the Budget, which Dr Debono has said he will vote against thereby forcing an election.
That Joseph Muscat yesterday reacted to the Speaker’s ruling – notwithstanding his disagreement with it – by saying he will not be moving a vote of no confidence himself and that he will wait for the presentation of the Budget, is a sign that he has understood the needs of the country at a time when political maturity has been in woefully short supply.