Speaker rules resignation amendment admissable

The Speaker of the House Michael Frendo has rule that an amendment to a motion of censure against home affairs Carm Mifsud Bonnici, to call for the minister's resignation, is admissible.

Frendo said discretion on whether the amendment was valid or not was at the discretion of the Speaker, even if it called for the total rewriting of the motion. Consulting the Erskine May, Frendo said the his ruling was based on whether the amendment was relevant to the motion and concluded that it was.

He said that the censure motion implied no confidence, which implicitly meant that the minister should resign if the motion was approved.

Frendo said that the Standing Orders made it clear the House's approval was not required for such amendments and that it was well within the Speaker's discretion to approve such amendments.

Frendo cited examples from 1964, 1992, and 1998 in determining that a motion's original motive could be changed. "It is not enough to consider the word 'censure' on its own merits... the House is informed that the resignation is in itself implied, and therefore the specific amendment is an explicit request for resignation."

The ruling was demanded by deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg, who objected to a request by Labour deputy leader Anglu Farrugia to amend the original motion of censure so that it calls for Mifsud Bonnici's resignation.

Opposition MP Michael Falzon moved this amendment at the end of his speech in the first of nine sittings allocated to the motion debate.

Borg objected to this demand and asked for a ruling by the Speaker of the House, on the grounds that such an amendment could not be accepted because it changed the nature of the motion.

Borg's intervention was met with an angry outburst by Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono, who was seen calling out the minister for opposing the amendment.

Acting Speaker Censu Galea rebuked Debono and said he would not accept comments other than on the Opposition's motion for amendment. "Honourable Debono, you are not the be all and end all of this House," Galea told Debono.

To this, Debono angrily said: "I will do my best in speaking even if you interrupt me Mr Speaker... this parliament has been shamefully run by you [Borg] and the man beside you, the Prime Minister."