Franco Debono: ‘Ministers must be accountable to parliament’

Nationalist MP Franco Debono is defending his decision to abstain on an Opposition motion calling for transport minister Austin Gatt’s resignation over the public transport reform, saying this is "what happens in normal parliaments everywhere."

Debono is generating a new controversy from the backbench with his planned abstention after giving comments to The Times saying that if Gatt does not shoulder his political responsibility for the public transport reform, he would abstain on the vote.

Speaking to MaltaToday, Debono said that his abstention must be viewed in the light of his many calls for constitutional reform. "Malta is a country that has a strong executive but a weak parliament. We must give parliament its dignity because we are representatives of the people. Ministers are accountable to parliament, and not just once every five years."

The direct consequence for Lawrence Gonzi’s one-seat majority would mean that the Speaker of the House, Michael Frendo, would have to give his casting vote.

It is unlikely that Gonzi loses the motion, leaving Austin Gatt 'intact' while Franco Debono would have made his political statement heard. "I am reacting to the public's criticism and I am a representative of the people who elected me. This is what happens n normal parliaments. And it is fundamental to democracy," Debono said.

Asked whether he was saying Gatt must resign, Debono said it was up to the minister to decide.

In a reaction to The Times, Gatt was reported as saying that "everybody was free to act according to his own conscience."

Debono shrugged off suggestions that his effrontery was only meant to roil the candidature of Austin Gatt’s right-hand man Manwel Delia – the architect of the public transport reform – on the fifth district.

A party source said Debono was exploiting the public transport fiasco. “Manwel Delia is already campaigning on the fifth district. But he has had to contend with the public transport fiasco during the summer."

Other party-backed candidates touted for the fifth district include parliamentary secretary Jason Azzopardi and former candidate Herman Schiavone.

In an elaborate comment to The Times today, Debono said: “Since the element of accountability, together with other essential elements of democracy seem to be seriously lacking in our country, and since I have been calling for the urgent need of attention in strengthening democracy, therefore if the minister responsible for public transport reform is not going to shoulder political responsibility and do the honourable thing, I will be abstaining in the vote regarding motion in parliament.”

Debono was elected on the fifth district where his vote count directly led to the ousting of Nationalist grandee and veteran minister Louis Galea.

His surprise election haunted Gonzi when the young MP deliberately absented himself from crucial parliamentary votes and handicapped the prime minister’s one-seat majority. Debono claimed backbenchers were not being valued and stayed under the radar for a week before Gonzi and his wife Kate made a personal visit to his home to attend to the matter.

But his rebellion led to a contagion of the PN backbench with Gonzi quelling the insurrection with the creation of parliamentary assistants, a paid role for MPs to assist government ministers.