Pullicino Orlando lashes out at Cachia Caruana

During tonight's discussion programme Dissett broadcast on TVM, Nationalist MPs Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, Franco Debono and Jesmond Mugliett  who were this week "condemned" by the PN executive council for voting against the government in parliament, vehemently defended their positions.

Meanwhile, Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono said that the Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had nothing against him contesting the next general election but added that he will take a decision when the time is ripe. Debono however said that the final decision lays with the party's executive.

Pullicino Orlando voted in favour of a motion that called for the resignation of Malta's permanent representative to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana, while Mugliett abstained on this motion.

The MP said that if the government had taken a vote in Parlaiment over the Partnership for Peace membership instead of doing it behind Parliament's back it would have received the full backing of both parties.

A spirited Pullicino Orlando said that if Cachia Caruana "took umbrage at the outline permit I obtained for the nightclub in Mistra, many other should have taken umbrage at Cachia Caruana's permit for a swimming pool in Mdina which is an area of archaeological importance. He was involved in a more controversial Mepa cases then the Mistra case."

"I was, am and will remain a "bicca" MP but it is laughable to hear Cachia Caruana speak as if he was a common civil servant or a "bicca" ambassador...if we want to speak about political influence or trading in influence we should see who holds the real political influence in this country."

Asked whether he had voted for the motion because of personal reasons, the MP said that if Cachia Caruana had acted in the same "cowardly and devious" way against another government MP he would have voted against Cachia Caruana who has "proven that he does not respect democracy."

He also said that PN officials were informed of former Labour leader Alfred Sant's intentions to attack Pullicino Orlando before the 2008 election before the attack happened and Cachia Caruana had approached Pullicino Orlando and told him that Sant must be portrayed "as a bully."

Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando stood by his claims that up to 10 government MPs backed the Opposition motion calling for the resignation of Richard Cachia Caruana and added that one MP expressed a desire to vote for the Opposition's motion in the presence of other persons.

Asked why none of the 10 MPs voted with him, Pullicino Orlando repeated that these MPs had informed him that they supported the motion and one MP had done so in front of two witnesses.

Pullicino Orlando said that he remains a Nationalist MP and "feels comfortable" being a government MP.

The MP also said that there were no personal reasons behind his decision to vote for the motion "otherwise I would not have invited Cachia Caruana in my own house. I would never invite anyone I hold any kind of animosity against."

On the PN executive condemnation, the Zebbug MP shed doubts on the democratic credentials of the Nationalist Party and said that neither he nor Muglett and Debono were informed of the meeting. He added that such condemnations "only happen in totalitarian countries."

Pullicino Orlando stood by "every word" he said in parliament and explained that he had been telling the Prime Minister the same things for the last four years.

He repeated that he reluctantly decided not to contest the next election with the party he has been militating in since he was 16 years old because he does not feel comfortable working within a party that practices "apartheid politics."

The MP said he "never was a yes-man" and noted that he opposed a number of projects backed by Nationalist administrations including the Mnajdra and St John's Co-Cathedral cases. He said MPs should not rubber-stamp government's decisions and Parliament should not be turned into a "talking shop."

Pullicino Orlando said the party has sidelined a number of prominent politicians including EU commissioner and former PN leadership contestant John Dalli, former minister Louis Galea and government backbencher Robert Arrigo.

Another guest on Dissett was Nationalist MP Franco Debono who said that he could not contest the PN's executive condemnation because he was in Parliament and similarly to Pullicino Orlando and Muglett was not informed about the meeting.

Debono said that while the Prime Minister has no objection to his candidature, he has not yet decided whether he will be contesting the next election on the PN ticket. The Ghaxaq MP added that when the the time is right he will decide but the decision will be finally taken by the PN executive.

The MP said he will not discuss whether the executive was the right organ to condemn his actions in Parliament but insisted that "the decision was not listed in the party meeting agenda and I was unaware of the discussion... nobody can take a decision on a person without being present for the meeting to defend oneself."

The MP, who was condemned for voting against former minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, explained that he has not received a reply to the  letter he sent to executive asking the PN to revoke the condemnation. Debono contested the decision on a procedural nature and said he hadn't been given the opportunity to make his submissions under basic democratic principles and principles held by the PN.

Jesmond Mugliett who abstained on the Cachia Caruana motion said that he did not justify his vote in Parliament because he only decided to abstain in the last minute.

The former minister explained that his vote was motivated by the way the country is governed which "deeply concerns him."

On the PN's executive decision to condemn his abstention, Mugliett said "once again the executive was swayed by the hard-liners in taking a wrong decision."

Asked to comment on Cachia Caruana he said that "without taking away anything from his validity, the problem in this country is that certain individuals become indispensible."

Mugliett said that he expected the party's executive to condemn attacks he and other persons suffered from Daphne Caruana Galizia and other bloggers.