More MPs yesterday joined the Opposition’s chorus of criticism of the government’s plans to increase the number of recipients of the Ġieħ ir-Repubblika national award, saying this would be diluting it and constitute an insult to those who had already received it.

A recurrent question was whether the government had already promised this honour to people who shared its politi-cal beliefs.

Kristy Debono said the “partisan appointments” one had seen to date did not auger well. One could not help but wonder what the motive behind this Bill is. Will we be seeing even more partisan manoeuvres to award people for their political beliefs rather than because of merit? Have certain people already been promised this honour?

She urged the government to desist from interfering in matters which were very close to the hearts of the Maltese, creating unnecessary confrontation.

Mario Galea described the situation as surreal because there were clear rules about who receives Gieħ ir-Repubblika, but the government would give citizenship to anyone who has money, with no rules.

The government should take heed of what the Opposition had to say, and accept its contribution to the debate. Removing the capping on these awards would be an insult to those who had already received it because its value would have been diluted.

Honours bestowed by the Republic, citizenship rights and high public positions were not commodities that belonged to the Labour Party but to every Maltese.

Antoine Borg said the exclusivity clause had been enacted with a purpose in 1975. This had to be respected.

He was disappointed that the government had wanted to sell citizenship to attract talent to the country and was now saying that there was so much talent in Malta that it wanted to remove the exclusivity clause in this Bill.

He feared that the government was dissolving what was dear and prestigious for the country instead of increasing its dignity.

Michael Gonzi said that the Bill changed four criteria in bestowing such honours. The title of the Bill should be changed to “No Limits to Republican Honours”.

Giving this honour to too many people necessarily meant it would devalue the honour itself. He equated such frequent ceremonies with an annual show.

Referring to the Order medals, Dr Gonzi said that currently only a limited number of people could be awarded such medals. There was a capping of 15 medals for the Companion of the Order, 25 medals for the Officers of the Order and 125 medals for the Ordinary Members of the Order. He said he did not agree with the removal of these limits.

The government was dissolving what was dear and prestigious for the country instead of increasing its dignity

Marthese Portelli said the government should not change the value of the honour. Drastic amendments would only serve to change the value attached to it, while minor changes would be more beneficial.

She said she agreed with bestowing the Ġieħ ir-Repubblika award posthumously but could not understand why the government chose to remove the capping. Former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici and Alfred Sant had objected to similar plans when proposed by the Nationalists in government.

Ryan Callus said the award was based on meritocracy. The current list of recipients was “stained” by the presence of Kim II-Sung. He agreed with PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami that the former North Korean leader must be removed him from the list.

The Bill proposed many things but did not propose any changes in the allocation of the Distinguished Service Medal. The armed forces and the police could not be recognised as a group but a medal should only be awarded to qualifying members, he said. It could really make sense to amend this part of the law to make it possible for departments to be awarded and not necessarily single officers.

Concluding, he said the government needed to realise that presenting this high honour as proposed was not right, and the limit should not be removed.

Clyde Puli said he did not agree with the proposed removal of the capping because this government had in the past nine months giving out rewards based on political affiliation rather than meritocracy.

He cited as examples the promotions in the Armed Forces of Malta and the Police Force. Handing out Ġieħ ir-Repubblika to an increased number of individuals necessarily devalued it.