If the government thinks for one moment the ruling given by the Speaker of the House in the BWSC issue means a vindication of its argument, it is very well mistaken. For, even though House Committee members could well object to the summoning of people to give evidence before them, in this case at least the government’s and the country’s best interest would have been better served if the government members on the Public Accounts Committee agreed to the opposition’s call for witnesses to be heard.

Instead of doing this, thereby showing the government’s willingness to leave no stone unturned to be completely transparent on the matter, the government side chose to do the opposite and blocked the opposition’s move. This will prove to be one of the most serious mistakes ever made by the Nationalist government members of the PAC. The sooner the government members see common sense and correct their stand, the better it would be for the party and for the country.

The matter at issue, the award of the most controversial contract for the extension of the power station at Delimara, is not a light one, first because of the huge amount of money involved and the allegations of corruption made and, second, because, unless the government members on the PAC reverse their stand it would reflect badly on an Administration that has been pontificating so much over the years over the importance of transparency in government transactions.

The Times has not quibbled on its stand over the issue and, whatever one minister chooses to accuse it of in a fit of apparent anger over questions posed to him, it does not plan to let the matter go before the government side sees the contradictory stance it is adopting in this case when considered against the government’s declared commitment to ensure transparency. Since the government side is in the majority in the committee, four members to three from the opposition, the Speaker’s ruling could well spell the end of the opposition effort in the committee to bring the matter to greater scrutiny. No wonder the committee’s chairman, Charles Mangion, has said the Speaker’s ruling has weakened the committee’s function.

However, the Speaker has gone further than giving a ruling, arguing that the basis for the efficient running of the House committees was not the rule book but common sense and cooperation between the members. Stressing the importance of the PAC for parliamentary democracy, he urged the members to act by consensus so that the ultimate aims of the committee were achieved.

That is precisely what the PAC should have sought, common sense and cooperation. That is also what the people outside Parliament would have thought was the logical way forward. Instead, the government members brought up all manner of excuses to stop the course the opposition wanted to take in the effort to clarify, through the calling of witnesses, what it believed were outstanding points in the Auditor General’s report. The argument this would have meant lack of trust in the Auditor General’s work was most unconvincing. Opposition leader Joseph Muscat was, therefore, right when he said the government’s stand amounted to a travesty of scrutiny and that it rendered PAC impotent.

The government side would need to think hard about its stand again and see the committee does its work in the way the people expect it to.