Ministers had been receiving an increase of almost €600 a week since the decision was taken in May 2008, “behind our backs”, according to Nationalist MP Jean-Pierre Farrugia.
He told The Times yesterday it was “very upsetting” to learn in recent days that other MPs – including backbenchers like himself – had been receiving a lower honorarium than ministers for two and half years. “In Parliament we are all meant to be the same, so this can never be acceptable... this is not on,” he argued.
“Some parliamentary secretaries might not have realised they were being paid differently because they were new and had nothing to compare their salaries to. But others, who were in the Cabinet before, knew very well,” he said, adding he was “dumbfounded” by such behaviour.
The impression given so far, he said, was that the payment mechanism was still being worked out for all MPs and would be backdated accordingly. However, the frontbenchers were already receiving the increase and said nothing until it was announced last month that the rise had been decided during a Cabinet weeks after the last election.
Answering a parliamentary question in December, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech had said that, in May 2008, it was decided that ministers and parliamentary secretaries would receive their honoraria as MPs over and above their salaries for the office they occupied. It was also announced that the MPs honorarium was being increased to almost €27,000, backdated to the beginning of the legislature.
Mr Fenech had added Labour MPs were unaware of this so far because the payment mechanism was still being implemented.
However, this was not the case for ministers and parliamentary secretaries who started receiving the higher honorarium from day one, according to Dr Farrugia.
Dr Farrugia made his comments after an e-mail he sent to his parliamentary group was leaked. In the e-mail he accused “GonziPN” of shameful behaviour and poor leadership. The e-mail was also forwarded to party general secretary Paul Borg Olivier.
Dr Farrugia has already said he would donate his increase and “ill-timed” salary to causes close to his heart.
His e-mail comes less than a year after he sent a similarly vitriolic message, that had also been leaked, slamming Lawrence Gonzi’s Cabinet reshuffle and the proposed Health Reform Act, which he vowed not to support.
When contacted yesterday, he said he was “very sorry” another of his internal e-mails was leaked. “I would have thought this time round people would have learnt their lesson,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nationalist whip David Agius confirmed that ministers and parliamentary secretaries were receiving the increased salary but said this was because they were paid in a different way.
While other MPs were paid by Parliament, ministers and parliamentary secretaries received their income from their ministries, so their honorarium, which was simply added to their salary, was easily upped as soon as the decision was taken.
Mr Agius argued that ministers declared their income, so the information was there for all to see since at least 2009.
Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando had also criticised the poorly timed rise to MPs and ministers and said he would donate his share to his pro-divorce movement.