Motion defeated by Speaker’s casting vote ‘means there is no stability’ – Muscat

Opposition leader catalogues failures of government in speech preceding no-confidence vote.

26 January 2012, 12:00am
by Matthew Vella

4 min read

Opposition leader Joseph Muscat

Lawrence Gonzi's assured declaration that he would go for early elections if his government does not overcome a no-confidence motion, may have taken some of the wind out of the Opposition's sails as the mood was set for an abstention by rebel MP Franco Debono to give the government a fighting chance to live another day.

Opposition leader Joseph Muscat said that even if the motion does not pass with the support of the Speaker's cast vote, there would still be no stability.

But if Lawrence Gonzi's MPs paid tribute to his success in the past four years with a slew of figures and statistics of achievements in business and education and social policies, Joseph Muscat's speech alone was a back-to-back collection of government failures that rivalled the speeches that preceded his.

The Opposition leader's hit-list of government's shortcomings did not spare Lawrence Gonzi from his catalogue of unfinished projects and botched policies: Smart City, White Rocks, the dismal service at ARMS and public transport reform, the suspension of laws for whistleblowers' protection and IVF for childless couples, the exploitation of the hunting lobby during elections, the hiked energy bills and the €500 ministerial salary increase Gonzi gave to Cabinet ministers.

The list was exhaustive as it even delved into the €3.8 million spend on the temporary offices for Malta Enterprise chairman Alan Camilleri at the former St Luke's hospital site.

And he hit out at Lawrence Gonzi's double-standards, for being the last Western leader "to hug Gaddafi" while the prime minister held himself up high for disowning the Libyan leader; and for claiming to w

Referring to Lawrence Gonzi's speech, Muscat accused the prime minister of crying crocodile tears, and abdicating his duty to give the country stability.

"This is a 'wait-and-see' prime minister but this country is not a wait-and-see country'... the prime minister abdicated his duty, and preferred to be a radio commentator to the people, instead of having this crucial motion televised for the people to hear."

Muscat also mocked Gonzi as a 'one-liner prime minister', saying he invokes problems taking place in Iran and Greece from his Sunday sermon in the Zebbug party club.

He accused the prime minister of having ignored the victimisation of citizens through the use of personal data in government hands, and of employing double-standards with MPs that are not in his favour.

"This motion is a vote that has come about because of the arrogance of the prime minister's clique and inner circle that has hijacked the PN... a PN that is no longer the Nationalist party."

"This government is an ostrich sticking its head in the sand, ignoring the problems of this country."

Muscat accused Gonzi of peddling misinformation throughout his speech: he said the European Commission had belied the government's budgetary targets by ordering €40 million in spending cuts, and that the International Monetary Fund's latest review was not a flattering picture of the economy. "You must tell us where you are going to carry out these spending cuts. How can you say you will cut €15 million from projects and initiatives, many of them social programmes, and then say this is not going to affect anybody?"

Muscat said the government's deficit targets had been the work of an accountant who looked at a desired outcome and worked his way backwards: "He scrounged on the pennies by cutting back on capital expenditure."

Muscat took finance minister Tonio Fenech to task for mocking his humble Burmarrad farmland origins. "I may be of humble stock but I have never seen a finance minister who made such a mess of the economy. He bankrupted the Mosta council as a mayor and now he has bankrupted the economy. You are an accountant who managed to get his home renovated by soliciting a favour," Muscat said, in a clear reference to the contractors who sought Fenech's influence in brokering a hotel deal for them.

On Enemalta, Muscat listed its €500 million in debts and the hidden inquiry into the burning of the Mercaptan gas; he chided the government on how it could finance the €80 million parliament and City Gate project; and then compared the extravagance of government spending with its unwillingness to build a pedestrian bridge over the Qormi bypass because a few people crossed the thoroughfare.

Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...

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@man in the street. You may find this strange but I have never watched Net TV in my life, nevertheless this shouldn’t give me more credibility which is why I would rather appeal to more objectivity from your side. What is obvious to me, is that Dr Debono’s proposed constitution reforms will not find favour with any of the 2 big parties. Haven’t you wondered why the PL has deliberately not taken any position at all on these issues. Of course, they are not against but not once have the PL endorsed any of Dr. Debono’s motives, let alone his actions. Their strategy was simply to wait on the fence, hoping to pick up some offal, which is a typical trademark of opportunistic partisan politics. In his eagerness for an overkill, Joseph Muscat overlooked that this is exactly, what Dr Debono is campaigning against which is why he was forced to abstain rather than become a puppet of the opposition. The PL leader has been advocating a different, more mature way of doing politics. Just hope this will serve him as a lesson to start practicing what he preaches.

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I hope Mr Martin Bugelli will do his duty and submit a faithful report on today's political events to the EU.

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@ not amused. What makes it obvious that under a PL government the reforms being proposed by Dr Debono would have been dismissed out of hand? You made it very evident that you only watch Net TV and read PN papers only. @ B Agius. The Speaker's vote or not, the motion did not gather enough votes in the House to gain a majority, so it did not pass. In my opinion, the Speaker's casting vote was not necessary, but he quoted Erskine May, etc, so he must be right. The Speaker normally votes for continued governance, and the problem now lies with Gonzi who cannot possibly go on like this, relying first on Franco Debono to abstain, and then on the Speaker to save his government.

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Muscat should not have called the vote of no confidence = why do Labour always have to put their foot into it, somehow..??

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This was all about a Nationalist MP commenting and complaining ad nauseam about his Prime Minister, cliques, mistakes by inept Ministers, no resignations after mistakes, democracy or the lack of it in Malta, Constitutional reform etc etc etc . What can an Opposition do in such circumstances. It was not its doing. What responsibility does Franco Debono accept for this whole debacle now? What's changed from his point of view? What happened to all his high principles etc? Of course Gonzi is trying to turn it on the Opposition. What else could he do as, again, he was saved by the Speaker by the skin of his teeth! ALSO, everyone everywhere was saying in the last week that if Debono abstains, then the speaker cannot vote. Well the Speaker has voted yet again to save his master! Who is right or wrong? Or it doesn't matter in Malta?

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Joseph Muscat should never have called for a vote of no confidence, period. Unfortunately his opportunism has been exposed by an overzealous reaction in trying to landing a coup... for entirely the wrong reasons. The PL, by overplaying their internal harmony, should have never given their leader a free hand to decide rather than discussing pros and cons of such a move. After all that is not what a democracy is all about, which is the ongoing issue anyway. In this dispute between Dr. Debono and the PN hierarchy, the PL got involved for the wrong reasons and certainly not because they shared Dr.Debono’s points of view. It is obvious that under a PL government the reforms being proposed by Dr Debono would have been dismissed out of hand which basically forced an abstinence vote from the PN Backbencher. On the other hand, the PM may have scrapped thru the day but his biggest test is ahead of him and his alternatives are going to be even more restricted.

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My mother-in-law had a chicken house, The floor of this house was COVERED with the likes of Debono.

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The ball is now squarely in Gonzi's court. he will have to backtrack on his much-vaunted speech on the three conditions set earlier this week. He will have to toe Franco's line and adopt his recommendations, otherwise……….If some are banking on gentlemanly behaviour by Gonzi and hope he will call on the President and call elections, i would say forget it. It is not in his DNA.