Health minister says Franco Debono told him he wouldn’t file motion

Health Minister Joe Cassar has claimed Nationalist MP Franco Debono had told him personally he would never call for a vote of no confidence in him, in a meeting the two had in Valletta recently.

In comments he gave to the Malta Independent, Cassar reacted to Debono's intention to file a motion of no-confidence against the minster over several shortcomings he mentioned in his personal blog, saying Debono told him he would never file such a motion - an implicit warning, according to Cassar.

"When he told me so, my first thought was that Debono was contemplating it (the motion of no confidence)," Cassar said.

"There is no doubt the motion is against me as an individual, simply because there is no reason why the health minister should resign. The health sector has made great strides forward in the last years. The only, constant criticism we received was about the situation at the emergency department, and even here we took action to improve the situation."

Debono's threat to file the motion, which he posted on his blog in its full wording, came less than 24 hours after the PN executive confirmed his ban from running on the PN ticket for the next general elections.

Debono was banned from contesting after voting in favour of an Opposition motion that forced home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici to resign, after having also abstained on a motion of no-confidence the Opposition filed against transport minister Austin Gatt.

In a reaction, which he posted in a wordy blogpost this morning, Debono said he did not recall telling Cassar he would not file a motion against him.

"He should indicate if at all, when that happened [and] if it was before these recent scandals came to light. Secondly, he could listen again to my speeches in parliament where I criticised him harshly in last January's no confidence vote.

"Even if, for argument's sake I told him that I wouldn't file a no confidence motion in his regards... he should not be surprised since the Prime Minister says one thing and does another on a daily basis. The Maltese people are witness to this."

Debono also suggested that the health minister, a psychiatrist by profession, should seek help. "If he suspected I would file [the motion] just for suspicion's sake then he should seek help, because he is very unsure of himself and also smacks of paranoia. This attitude could say a lot about the government's siege mentality in the past years."

Debono's motion, whose text he posted on his personal blog, comes just a week after having filed a motion against his own government's energy policy, by calling on the House to demand that the Delimara power station ceases the use of heavy fuel oil from powering its new turbines.

"According to the doctrine of individual responsibility, and the prime minister's repeated declaration that everybody has to face the consequences of his actions, this House resolves that it has no faith in Minister Joseph Cassar who has to be censured for these shortcomings and must therefore resign," Debono's motion reads.

Debono's draft motion makes specific reference to several shortcomings in the health department, which comes hot on the heels of accusations by former oncology chief Stephen Brincat who claimed two patients had died from chemotherapy toxicity in Gozo.