The electorate is tired of this circus. It’s watching football instead and discussing next Sunday’s match, excited about the free to air digital Italian stations which started to transmit lately and grumbling about the heat wave.

Or rather, in Malta: “You scratch my back and I’ll f * * * yours”

More like I sniff your backside whilst you suck my noodle.

As things stand the PM is presiding over a government that is fast coming apart at the seams. In addition as party leader he is presiding over a party that is split between religio et patria conservatives who are hogging the government’s microphone and bully pulpit and liberals who feel excluded and sidelined and are voting with their feet. It is not hard to see the writing on the wall – a landslide victory for the Labour Party of historic proportions.

Meanwhile the PM remains hunkered down in his bunker with the same old cabinet, the PN executive condemns the three dissenting MPs, you are suing one of the MPs and contributing to the circus. And nobody seems to be listening to the electorate that simply wants the government to get its act together and show that it has what it takes to lead the country.

“A very worrying aspect, he said, was how the Attorney General had discretion to decide whether an accused person should appear before a magistrate or a judge, with huge differences in the sentence which could imposed. There was no law to direct the AG. His discretion was absolute, and he was not even required to motivate his decisions.”

I’d love to know what on earth Debono is smoking. Although prima facie, it seems as if he’s right, in reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

The law, as it stands, is pretty clear.

If the offence which the accused is charged with falls under Article 370(3) of the Criminal Code, i.e. it is an offence falling within the extended competence of the Court of Magistrates as a Court of Criminal Judicature, and therefore the accused is liable to a sentence between six months and ten years imprisonment (although it must be noted that this article is subject to the provisions of Article 370(4)), the Attorney General has the option of filing the bill of indictment or sending the case to be tried before the Court of Magistrates after the inquiry has been held.

Hence, till this point, one could argue that Debono is indeed correct in what he’s saying.

However, the consent of the accused must also be sought before the case proceeds before the said Court of Magistrates. If the accused does not consent to his case being tried summarily, the case goes before the Criminal Court.

It must be noted that the AG often gives his consent for the case in question to be tried summarily in such an instance, simply because trials by jury are incredibly resource intensive and time consuming.

Therefore, the ultimate discretion, it can be argued, lies with the accused, and not the Attorney General.

It must also be noted that Article 370(4) of the Criminal Code has directed that the Court of Magistrates as a Court of Criminal Judicature must decide a case whereby the accused is subject to a period of imprisonment between six months and four years.

Here, the Attorney General has given his written consent for the said court to hear the case, and the accused must also give his consent for the case to be heard summarily.

And about f**king time, too.

Trouble is, the threads were there but got lost in translation, particularly Franco’s shenanigans.

Just as well to wonder if Franco did not receive some inspiration (instigation?) from JPO and Mugliett. And not ruling out others.

The strategy seems to be to work on personal weaknesses such as envy, vanity, megalomania, etc and use these to weaken the government. All’s fair in love and war, I suppose, but what goes around comes around.

Trouble is, it may take time and we shall have to groan heartily for it.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080429/local/mlp-hits-out-at-new-pullicino-orlando-comment.206095