Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1529778
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR KURT SANSONE ksansone@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 • 24 NOVEMBER 2024 Why pointing a finger at PN MPs is just an attempt to muddy the waters Editorial CLAYTON Bartolo and Clint Camilleri are delay- ing the inevitable by refusing to step down from Cabinet, especially after parliament's Standards Committee unanimously adopted the Standards Commissioner's report. A half-hearted apology and obstinance to accept that they bungled the Amanda Muscat affair will do little to convince a very distrustful electorate. Bartolo and Camilleri awarded Amanda Muscat a lucrative consultancy job simply because she was the former's girlfriend. And to make matters worse, she did not even fulfil that job description but con- tinued working as a private secretary. The 'promo- tion' was only intended to bump up her wage. There is no way these actions can be justified and their attempts to do so are not only pathetic but an insult to every right-thinking person. Within these circumstances, Prime Minister Rob- ert Abela has no other choice but to kick them out. His reluctance to do so is inexplicable and exposes the level of moral decay in government. To make matters worse, the Abela administra- tion is taken over by a siege mentality. Honest, lev- el-headed criticism is often rejected, labelled unfair and interpreted as an attack on Labour. This men- tality renders everyone and everything an enemy at the slightest hint of dissent. A sure sign of this mentality was on display last week when Labour functionaries, including the Prime Minister, tried to dissipate the heat from the Bartolo-Camilleri affair by drawing into the fray Na- tionalist MPs who work with the public service and who purportedly do not turn up for work. Their ar- gument is, if Amanda Muscat is being criticised for not doing the work she was paid for, then so should the PN MPs. It was a pathetic and desperate attempt to confuse issues. If Labour functionaries are so outraged that a handful of PN MPs are not turning up for work in the public service they should direct that anger to- wards management that is responsible for ensuring that every single worker is giving their due. If the Office of the Prime Minister was closing an eye to the alleged abuse involving the PN MPs and only felt it necessary to raise the issue now because two of its own are being grilled there is nothing honest in the counter criticism. The outrage by Labour function- aries is just fake posturing in an attempt to muddy the waters. But it is worth noting that the issue concerning MPs who are also employed in the public sector and the work hours they put in, is not a new phenome- non. There have been many MPs from both sides of the house over the years whose day job was with the public service before they entered politics or were elected to parliament and every now and then the issue of workplace skiving crops up. This leader expects that people in the public ser- vice, whoever they are, should give their 100% at work. People who skive should be disciplined not only because the wages are paid from taxpayer money but because they are a disservice to their co-workers. Abuse should never be tolerated. But the matter involving MPs is more complex to deal with. While it is expected that MPs in these cir- cumstances fulfil their day job duties – after all they are still being paid their full-time salaries and perks – they should also be enabled to fulfil their parlia- mentary duties without hassle. And parliamentary duties are not only confined to the hours when par- liament is in session. An MP's duties towards their constituents requires them to meet outside parlia- mentary hours. They should also be able to carry out research so that interventions are meaningful. This is why a change in public policy is required for MPs whose ordinary job is with the public sector. Clear guidelines have to be drawn up that allow MPs to perform their elected functions, without causing unnecessary disruption to their place of work. If the guidelines exist, they should be revisited. In the absence of having full-time parliamentari- ans, the conundrum of how to deal with MPs em- ployed in the public sector will always remain. And if the intention is to make it difficult for them to perform their elected functions, we might as well have a parliament made up of lawyers and other self-employed professionals. Rather than claim false outrage, the Labour Party should take it on itself to reform the system so that MPs employed with the public service are helped to discharge their functions well. This requires a proper analysis of the situation and policy changes that are agreed by both sides of the House not political posturing to try and obfuscate a serious breach of ethics by two sitting ministers. Quote of the Week "We have a weak Prime Minister – weak with his ministers, weak in government, weak within his party." PN leader Bernard Grech on the Prime Minister's refusal to remove ministers Clayton Bartolo and Clint Camilleri after they were found guilty of breaching ethics. Grech was addressing supporters during a protest outside parliament. MaltaToday 10 years ago 23 November 2014 Inquiry that is set to give Labour's next resignation PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat has bowed to pressure to focus the crosshairs of an inde- pendent inquiry on Manuel Mallia's ministeri- al staff, and what happened on Wednesday evening to provoke the Opposition's allega- tions of a 'coverup' on the shooting incident involving security driver Paul Sheehan, a po- lice constable. Questions will be raised on the home af- fairs minister's chief of staff Silvio Scerri, who called MaltaToday on the night of the incident to 'correct' the newspaper's initial report and insist that the shots Sheehan fired into a vehicle were "warning shots" fired in the air. It was only on Thursday morning that pho- tos showing the bullet holes in the rear of Stephen Smith's vehicle corroborated the original report. Muscat has gone on record saying that Mallia, who at the time of the incident was at the Floriana police headquarters, was neither on the scene nor had he given any instructions to Sheehan, almost exonerating his minister from political responsibility. There is no doubt that the Office of the Prime Minister, irked at having had Budget 2015 totally eclipsed by the shoot- ing incident, will be looking for responsibil- ity to be carried at some level or other. While Opposition leader Simon Busut- til has insisted that Mallia should resign, with a magisterial inquiry underway Muscat yesterday announced a government inquiry to establish political responsibility into the incident. ...