Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/509499
14 PERHAPS the most innovative as- pect of Renzo Piano's design for the new Parliament was the colour of the seats. As Nationalist Party whip David Agius ushers me into the plenary chamber for this interview, I remark to him that the Greens can no longer complain about be- ing denied a seat in parliament. In fact they now officially have all the seats, including the Speaker's… Agius has just given me a lightning tour of the new building, including a practical demonstration of how the telecommunications devices work – 'you insert your card, and the micro- phone automatically comes on, etc.' – and the adjustments that had to be made to certain seats and desktops, so that the taller of our 69 MPs might actually fit in their places. (Renzo Pi- ano must have read somewhere that we are on average the shortest popu- lation in Europe, so he designed a plenary chamber for hobbits.) Soon we find ourselves seated at a table in the precise epicentre of the hall. As it happens, my first ques- tion for David Agius concerns pre- cisely the seats he has just displayed to me… or at least one of them. The one occupied by Giovanna Debono, the former Gozo minister who has now resigned from the Nationalist Party while retaining her position as an MP. This is not the first incident of its kind: in 2012, MP Jeffery Pullicino Orlando similarly resigned from the PN parliamentary group, which could only hold onto power by en- tering into an uneasy 'coalition' with the renegade former Nationalist. The circumstances are different to- day, and Debono's resignation does not have immediate repercussions on the PN's ability to function as an Opposition. But to an outsider it may be inter- preted as an act of defiance against a party leader who allegedly pres- sured her to relinquish her seat as well. David Agius is the party whip, and the matter therefore concerns him closely. In his opinion, should Giovanna Debono have also stepped down from her position as an MP, given the nature of the charges her husband faces in court? "No," he promptly replies, "because her seat in parliament is her own. A member of parliament is elected by the people, and the decision to resign that seat or not is something only he or she can take. It is true that MPs are elected on a party ticket, and there have been discussions in the past as to whether the seat belongs to the candidate or the party. But the way our laws work at present is that effectively, people elect candidates, and so the seat belongs to the elected candidate, not to the party. No party whip, no form of party discipline can force an elected representative to give up a seat." That may well be correct from a le- gal point of view, but there is also the issue of good governance. The con- troversy that led to Debono's resig- nation from the PN concerned alle- gations of misappropriation of funds, and works given out for free by the Gozo ministry, on her watch. Is her position as an MP still tenable under those circumstances? And was there any pressure by the party on Debono to relinquish her seat? "I was not involved in any way in her decision… until afterwards, nat- urally, when she approached me as party whip to tell me that she would no longer form part of the National- ist parliamentary group. But obvi- ously we still speak to each other. As an independent MP she has every right to speak in parliament, so the party whips have to see to it that she is given space to speak, during the adjournment, for instance, and so on. Giovanna Debono will carry on with her work as an MP, the only differ- ence is that she is now an independ- ent MP and not a Nationalist one." As to whether Debono should have resigned on principle, Agius prefers to withhold judgment. "I'll have to wait to see the outcome of the court case. I have no evidence today that the allegations are true. There is a case before the courts, and if it reaches a guilty verdict, then your question would be valid. But if the verdict goes the other way, the allegations become of mud-slinging. And I don't want to be an accomplice in that. What I can say is, let's hope the Maltese police take steps against all allegations: including allegations today about things that are still hap- pening in Gozo… and I'd say in other localities, too…" Before turning to these allegations: Debono's resignation may also have ripple effects on the Nationalist Par- ty's public image. Until this develop- ment, things seemed to have been looking up for the PN for the first time since March 2013. The local council elections were interpreted as the beginnings of a turnaround in electoral fortunes. Suddenly, we were reminded of at least part of the reason why the PN lost so heavily in 2013. Is the party concerned that this interlude will have an effect on its ability to recover in time for the elec- tions? "If you look at the local council election results, you will see that there was a considerable shift. If I take my own district: Attard, Mosta and Balzan. We had three local elec- tions in which we increased votes in all three localities. Plus, we increased a seat in Attard, while Labour lost a seat. In Balzan we are now four [councillors] to one, and there was a 600 increase in number one votes. And in Mosta, where we were very close the last time, we won with a 52% majority. This shows that we are taking strides; that we are still there, and that we might have a good chance ahead of the next election..." That is precisely why the reminder of cases like this may have come at a bad time for the PN. One thing the case seems to illustrate, for instance, is that the culture of political patron- age is still very much alive and kick- ing. The PN itself is currently finding fault with the government over very similar issues… so doesn't this dam- age its credibility as an alternative government-in-waiting? Agius acknowledges that the PN's inability to tackle issues such as po- litical patronage may have contrib- uted to its defeat in 2013. "The reality is that political patron- age has decreased, but it is still there. As a party that spent a number of years in government, we decreased the level of dependence on politi- cians. But it has not been eradicated. The problem is that nowadays, it is on the rise again. The fact that you have over 4,000 people employed by the government; the fact that you have a Labour Party MP telling you, 'listen, employ my good friend'… these are worrying indicators. "The number of promises made before the election, and the number of people who now expect delivery… the signs are there. We're beginning to see a trend whereby these things are escalating. Don't forget that in the last local election, 7,000 voters inval- idated their vote. 7,000. Why? What was the reason? And when you have a number of ministers who change their mobile number, or don't take calls… why is that? It's because there is pressure from people, so that they deliver on promises made before the election..." Earlier he mentioned allegations that should be investigated today. Could he give any examples? "I can tell you… and in the near future we'll have a lot of informa- tion about this… about the things we found in the St Paul's Bay local coun- cil. In the first days since the council switched from a Labour to a Nation- alist majority, we saw the executive secretary step down. He no longer wants to carry on with his work as secretary after losing the council… the question arises: why?" From the information given so far, there could be many reasons, and not all of them necessarily suspicious… "In time, we will bring out the rea- sons. There were a number of things that were not at all to my liking when these were brought to my attention. I have requested that everything is put in order, and that reports are made to the police where necessary…" Agius alludes to abuse of council data, and "people who were paid when they shouldn't have been". But he is reluctant to go into any more detail. "Very soon we will be inform- ing the media, and also the residents of St Paul's Bay, of exactly what's been going on in that council." Meanwhile, all this merely adds to a growing popular perception that it doesn't really matter who wins elections, because the same pat- tern inevitably unfolds regardless of whether Labour or the PN is in gov- ernment… "But you have to remember what the Labour Party had promised be- fore the election. What did Joseph Muscat say then? That all the bad things that happened under the Nationalists would not happen on his watch. He promised meritoc- racy, transparency, accountability… 'Malta Taghna Lkoll'… that 'you can disagree with us but work with us all the same'… "Look around you today. Has any of this materialised? Has Malta really become 'taghna lkoll'? Is there meri- tocracy? In some areas, perhaps. But look at what's happened in just two years. You have the Café Premier scandal. AFM members who get promoted several grades. The Police Commissioner was changed three times. You had the case of former minister Manuel Mallia. 4,000 em- ployed by the government. We've seen all this in a very short time. The Nationalist Party spent 25 years in government. These have only been in power for 25 months. And already people are beginning to see through the government. What they were promised has not been delivered. The vision conjured up by Joseph Muscat has not become reality… Agius however concedes that the aura of disappointment may not be all-pervasive. "Some promises have been kept. There have been positive Interview By Raphael Vassallo maltatoday, SUNDAY, 10 MAY 2015 We have learnt from 'GIANNA BORG' Gianna Borg, who is a Nationalist, must help us to win the next election. And she has to feel it. If Gianna Borg doesn't feel it, then we're lacking. If Gianna Borg feels like we can win, then we will make it The Nationalist Party spent 25 years in government. These have only been in power for 25 months. And already people are beginning to see through them. What they promised has not been delivered. The vision conjured up by Joseph Muscat has not become reality… VISION VERSUS REALITY