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[Video] Footage reveals tense moments after Franco Debono’s abstention
Amateur footage received by MaltaToday reveals the tense aftermath outside parliament’s chamber soon after Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono abstained from voting against a Labour motion that called for transport minister Austin Gatt’s resignation.
5 November 2011, 12:00am
Karl Stagno-Navarra
Karl Stagno-Navarra
1 min read
The footage shows a crowd of government officials, and Austin Gatt’s ministry officials outside Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s office in parliament.
As the camera tilts, one can see that almost nobody is saying a word, as ministers and MP’s enter and exit the office. Parliament’s corridor lights are low and just murmurs are heard.
At one point, Austin Gatt emerges from the Prime Minister’s office and walks to his officials and can be heard telling them “Allura...?” (so how’s it going...?).
As the officials gather around their minister who has just survived a no confidence vote with the Speaker’s casting vote, the camera pans back to focus on Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi who is leaving his office and is stopped by his deputy, foreign minister Tonio Borg who whispers to him that he had just informed the Speaker that a vote of confidence in government had to be summoned for Tuesday. The Prime Minister nods and walks off through the dimly lit corridors that led him to the television cameras around the corner.
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Did the persons in the video know they were being filmed?
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Nobody feels safe.
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Erosion of democracy.
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The Speaker should investigate
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@ Antoine Vella
Have you heard Dr Debono saying many times how long he has been telling the prime minister that PBS is not being run how it should be .
Are you happy how the vote for Dr Gatt to resign ended,saved by the bell?
Now how are you finding Arriva because I think that you use public transport frequently
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@Antoine Vella
Whoever told you we have a secret service in our midst?. Don't you know that we live in the mother of all democracies and such busy bodies and eavesdropping are simply unheard of! Didn't you hear what Dr Debono had to say about democracy in Malta?
Saved by the bell, oops by the Speaker, an ex-PN Minister and backbencher. But goes on without saying that we have a hiccups government.
Jon Sciberras •
@A Vella, no need for secret service, today you could buy recorders in the shape of a pen from amazon and ebay. What is there to hide.
Jon Sciberras •
Of course they were tense, they were all cowering away, scared and humiliated, and maybe even an early elections. Boy oh boy, that would certainly be good bye to their new wage increase and all their perks, and back to some real work. Saved by the skin of their pants by another PN loyalist Michael Frendo, what a joke.
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How was this footage obtained? Was it hacked? Is this the work of that parallel secret service we've been hearing about?
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By groove, it was really frightening to be in there at that moment. The air must have been as heavy as a concrete block. And I'm sure that the main concern was not the reason that the Maltese had to bear for so long a half baked 'reform' in the transport system which, after so much patch work and hiccups and money spent down the drain, is still in its experimenting phase.
