Last Wednesday was a busy day for both the Prime Minister and Joseph Muscat. A Cabinet meeting followed by the Nationalist parliamentary group meeting to discuss the issue of the MPs’ honoraria took most of the government side’s day. The Leader of the Opposition also summoned his MPs to discuss and decide what stand the Labour Party would take on the matter. In the evening, I followed with interest the Prime Minister’s statement in Parliament regarding the issue as well as Dr Muscat’s arguments. What struck me most was Lawrence Gonzi’s convincing argument as to why the ministers deserve to receive the parliamentarians’ honorarium.
The Labour Party’s false campaign instigating that the ministers’ salaries were raised by €600 appears to have stuck in people’s minds. On the other hand, the truth on this issue does not seem to have reached out, yet. That is why I can understand why there was an outburst of anger among people and that is why the public ought to know the truth.
Up to a few years ago candidates who were public officers and who were successful in a general election had to relinquish their post with the civil service and lose the salary to take up their seat in Parliament. In most cases, the MPs’ honoraria were considerably lower than their salary. This was not fair and the matter was, rightly so, rectified. Now, an MP who is also a public officer can retain his full-time job in the public service and receive his honorarium from Parliament too.
The situation with ministers was the same. A minister has to relinquish his job or his profession to take up a ministerial post. Being a minister is more than a full-time job. I hope at least we all agree upon that much. Up to the last legislature, ministers received only their salary but not the honorarium. As with other MPs, on both sides of the House and who are public officers, the situation was remedied and now ministers receive their salary for performing their executive duties as well as their honorarium like every other MP. So what’s wrong with that? As the Prime Minister argued, ministers should not be privileged but neither should they be discriminated. They are, after all, not receiving some kind of bonus as a token for work which can’t be quantified but are receiving a salary for work they are performing.
So let’s call a spade a spade. The ministers did not receive an increase of €600 as Dr Muscat is conveniently claiming. They have received what was due to them and this came about rather late in the day as many a minister carried out parliamentary duties without getting paid for such work.
The issue could, however, have been handled better. First, ministers should have been paid the right amount of the MPs honorarium (50 per cent not 70 per cent of scale 1) from day one. Secondly, the decision was taken in May 2008, discussed in the Welfare Committee, recorded and reported in sections of the media. Apparently, that was not enough. This storm could have been avoided had the government communicated the matter better.
As for the party in opposition we are now getting accustomed to Dr Muscat’s tactics. The Leader of the Opposition has yet to mature politically if he aspires to become a Prime Minister.
Although having good attributes, he still lacks one important quality: fairness. Dr Muscat’s strategy is predictable.
He wants to win the next election at all costs and to achieve his ambition he appears to be compromising his principles and not being fair in his criticism. He seems to be taking only popular decisions, wrongly criticising the government for taking the right but painful measures, making promises he knows he cannot keep, failing to offer serious alternatives and taking every opportunity to score political points.
His declaration in Parliament last Wednesday that all his MPs will be contributing to a fund Labour is setting up is a case in point. His was simply an opportunistic vote-catching exercise. Since he made this declaration in an attempt to win the public’s support, we, the public, have a right to know whether this is yet another gimmick. Could Dr Muscat please enlighten us as to what his MPs will be contributing? Are they going to contribute all of their eventual honorarium increase? Are they free to contribute whatever they want? Up to now it appears Labour MPs agreed only to contributing in the same manner as we all do when attending a church service.
MPs, both in government ranks and in opposition, like ministers deserve a decent honorarium for their service to the country and so does Dr Muscat as Leader of the Opposition. Unlike his MPs who, at the moment, receive a modest honorarium of €19,000, the PL leader’s annual package is in excess of €52,000; €7,000 of which is tax-free. I am not here suggesting Dr Muscat does not deserve his package. My point is he and some of his MPs may be financially comfortable enough to contribute part of their honorarium. That is fine and such a gesture ought to be praised. However, Dr Muscat should not insist with his parliamentary group to make contributions simply to satisfy his power appetite.