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2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 JANUARY 2021 The cost of political cynicism Editorial AFTER Gavin Gulia's lightning resignation from Par- liament this week – preceded by the elimination of Charles Azzopardi, during the by-election to fill Ed- ward Scicluna's vacated seat – all the political pieces now seem to be in place on the chess-board. What remains to be seen, though, is how the La- bour electorate will react to what many will perceive – not least, Gulia's constituents – as a cynical ploy to guarantee an outcome wanted by the Prime Min- ister… but not necessarily by the voters themselves. Having said this, there is no argument as to the validity of CRPD chairman Oliver Scicluna, and the talent and experience he now brings to the House as an MP. As a disabled rights activist, Scicluna is expected to fulfil his own appeal, made in 2019, of seeing more disabled people in the House to con- front the erroneous preconceptions of the disabled, and to correct ableist prejudices. Even if his ascent seems to have been pre-ordained, it does not lessen from the merit of the ultimate vic- tor. But there is, of course, more to be said about the political manoeuvring of Robert Abela and his allies, and the way the Labour backbench is being shaped according to the Prime Minister's whims, rather than by the democratic process. All along, Labour sought to manipulate the dem- ocratic outcome of the casual election by scotching the prospect of the seat being lost to a former can- didate it had expelled from its list; as well as to pre- vent one famous former Nationalist MP who, after 2013, served Labour and Joseph Muscat as a vocal supporter: Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando. To prevent Charles Azzopardi, widely believed to be next in line for the seat vacated by long-time finance minister Edward Scicluna, Labour fielded both Gulia and Pullicino Orlando to contest the casual election. As it turned out, Azzopardi – who is now a PN member, and was expected to take the seat over to the Opposition – was the first to be eliminated, se- curing the seat for a Labour candidate. What Pullicino Orlando did not know, until just the day after, was that the winning candidate, Gavin Gulia, had kindly consented to vacate the seat his constituents elected him to, within less than 24 hours of his election; undoubtedly by the high de- cree of Abela himself, whose plan all along was to install Oliver Scicluna into the House. But while the move may make sense, from the per- spective of a Prime Minister eager to set his own stamp on government… there may be consequences at grassroots level. For Gulia, a former Labour minister and long-time MP who failed to make election in 2017, the humil- iation is clear for all to see. If he consented to such a charade willingly, he would have duped his own electorate by ignoring the will of those who voted for him in the seventh district. But it is more than clear that he did so at the behest of a government that had already 'persuaded' Ed- ward Scicluna to bow out of the House, so that the Prime Minister's former chief of staff, Clyde Carua- na, could be co-opted and be made finance minister. And now, within minutes of taking his oath, Gulia himself has resigned; and, to be allowed to retain his post as Malta Tourism Authority chairman, he will now have to sit for a public appointments commit- tee grilling. All in the name of Labour's political manoeuvring; and, perhaps, of a more cynical nature still. One question that arises is: would Labour have been pleased to see Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando in the House at all? After his years of proselytizing in the name of Labour, it seems that Abela's inner coterie was still suspicious of having a former Nationalist MP (who, in 2009, did not vote in favour of having the PM's father George Abela appointed President) make it to the Labour backbench. This seems to ce- ment the stereotypical perception of 'once a Nation- alist turncoat, always...' In the process, however, Labour has left the sev- enth district without its rightful MP, aided by the spinelessness of its own men, to co-opt Kalkara man Oliver Scicluna in the House. What do Cabinet min- isters, and their constituents, think about that? They will surely see it is as a Byzantine game of chess that leaves them none the wiser. Except to satisfy the whims of the Prime Minis- ter's political decree, the tokenism of the co-option serves no other purpose than to leave Labour con- stituents befuddled at the brazen cynicism of ig- noring the democratic process. And this will surely come at a cost. 16 January 2011 MP to 'veto' honoraria bill NATIONALIST MP Jean-Pierre Farrugia has warned his party that he will veto any financial bill that would finance the in- crement to ministers and parliamentary secretaries. Farrugia made himself clear with PN parliamentary whip David Agius during last Tuesday's sitting, that was sum- moned to approve a long list of estimates that were scheduled for vote under the 'miscellaneous' title. Speaker Michael Frendo and the Clerk of the House were also engaged by the Nationalist MP, to ensure that the minis- terial honoraria increase was not includ- ed in any of the financial estimates that were to be voted on. The vote was eventually postponed to another day, as parliamentary secretary Mario Galea was indisposed, but Jean- Pierre Farrugia made sure to remind the party whip that he wants to be briefed on the content of every 'miscellaneous' list when involving a financial vote. That same evening, Jean Pierre Farru- gia – who is relinquishing a €7,000 hon- orarium increase and two years' arrears to medical charities sent an angry email to the Prime Minister and party leader Lawrence Gonzi, which was also copied to the PN parliamentary group, ostensi- bly after learning that ministers had been receiving an increased honorarium since May 2008. MPs are paid 50 of the civil service's Scale 1 salary, but since 2008 ministers began getting paid an honoraria equiv- alent to 70% of Scale 1 over and above their ministers' salaries. Previously they were not paid the MPs honorarium, but the salary increase was never officially announced. In his email, Farrugia said that it was a shame for 'GonziPN' that ministers and parliamentary secretaries had been receiving their higher honoraria while other MPs were not paid the raise for the past two year and a half years. ... Quote of the Week "Nobody believes that Robert Abela and Gavin Gulia did not plan out today's charade in full disrespect of the will of voters." The PN reacting to Gavin Gulia's sudden resignation from parliament, leaving Abela free to co-opt someone of his choosing MaltaToday 10 years ago