Marlene Farrugia: If Mizzi loved his country, he would have resigned

Independent MP Marlene Farrugia, the former Labour MP who filed the motion of no confidence against Konrad Mizzi for having opened an offshore company in Panama, likened the minister’s action as an act of ‘marital betrayal’ that had tainted the national honour.

Farrugia was the last speaker in Wednesday’s confidence motion, recalling her participation in the embryonic ‘movement’ of Joseph Muscat and her role in encouraging her partner Godfrey Farrugia to join the party.

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“Today, you MPs are being asked whether you will rubber-stamp a norm that this country does not want. It is not normal to open an offshore company in Panama,” Farrugia told the House, during which Konrad Mizzi was not present to hear the MP’s address.

Farrugia hit out at the fact that Mizzi had resigned from the Labour Party as deputy leader, but was still retained as minister. “How can he be good for the country but not for the party?” she said to the Opposition’s acclaim. “How can he be a minister when he has presided over so many privatization contracts,” Farrugia said, listing a recent Projects Malta tender for the land occupied by the ITS having been awarded to a sole bidder.

“If he truly loved the country Mizzi would have resigned as minister and never passed the buck to the prime minister. The fact that he hasn’t shows that his love of power exceeds that for country.”

Farrugia was unrelenting in her address to the House, lauding the spirit of service of MPs and singling out Konrad Mizzi as having tarnished the name of the Maltese parliament.

“I remind you of the oath you took as MPs… if it won’t be us to condemn this wrongful action, that has harmed Malta, history will chide us for not having heeded a national call to act in the moment. Today there is an indelible stain on this government’s work... and this is unacceptable.

“I call on you, in the name of the patriots who built this party, to send a clear message, that these are not acceptable norms… Viva Malta.”