GUEST POST: Simon Busuttil takes the right stand
This is a guest post. I did not write it, but I share the same view precisely. And no, it is not ‘just an opinion to which everyone has a right’. In this particular case, it is an informed view rooted in fact. I would go beyond that and say that it is not even an opinion at all, but a statement of fact.
Simon Busuttil’s firm ‘no’ to an executive role for Opposition MPs is perfectly judicious and legitimate.
The Opposition’s core role is to question the government and to hold it accountable and answerable to the public at all times.
It is the separation of powers that prevents an oppressive government. The three powers of government are held by separate bodies—the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary.
With a parliamentary government the legislative and executive functions overlap, as the members of the Executive Government – the Ministers – are drawn from the Parliament. It is only the scrutiny of the other Members of Parliament led by an officially recognised Opposition that must bring about the proper checks and balances.
The prime minister’s proposal to nominate members of the Opposition to government boards and other entities would create a serious conflict of interest within our Parliament and must at best be construed as a sign of immaturity or at worst as a telling warning of an impending threat to democracy.
I do not think Joseph Muscat is amateurish in his decision to target Opposition MPs individually (rather than approaching the party leader and thereby making a general overture to the Opposition, however misguided).
He will no doubt have selected these individuals already on the basis of their weakness, their exposed Achilles heel of vanity, and their likelihood to go down like skittles at his flattery. It is the exact same method he used to target the vulnerable, by seeking out their Achilles heel, when he needed testimonials from ‘switchers’ in Opposition.
Beneath that disingenuous exterior, he a conniving individual working to some pre-ordained plan.
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Excellent comment.
I seem to remember a friend on this blog who uttered an important phrase, ‘NO SURRENDER’.
The head dwarf must be thwarted.
“Bhal meta tkun ghaddej, tara binja mitluqa, u tghid xi darba nohodha f’ideja, u nbiddila’ u nirranga…”
Joseph Muscat said that, likening Malta to a derelict building, in reply to an interviewer’s question as to what led him to a take up a career in politics.
Fair enough. The readings for his doctorate however seem to have missed out the following:
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
While Joseph Muscat’s comparison had some validity in his early days under the disastrous Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici Labour Party governments, Joseph Muscat’s personal ambitions have blinded him to the fact that, over the years, Malta had long been repaired and excellently embellished by successive PN governments.
The changes now under way are all part of Joseph Muscat’s great plan to distort and destroy a well run and stable country to fit into the attainment of his boyhood dream – spoilt child par excellence.
Muscat didn’t do much reading for his doctorate. I doubt he did any at all.
Let us give Muscat the benefit of the doubt about his statement referring to a derelict building. The Malta Labour Party was broken, and it needed fixing. But I think it is still fundamentally broken, and they need to go back to the foundations. It is not clear at all what Labour stands for nowadays – they have lost their soul as a workers’ party, but did not develop a new identity as a replacement.
The decisions taken in the first few weeks by Joseph Muscat show precisely this. The Great Leader is not driven by what is right. He is driven by divide and rule politics aimed only so that he can increase his grip over the machine of power.
Iva, kif jghidu ‘ser jirrangana ghall-festi kmandati’
If Muscat were genuinely interested in forming a shared executive he’d approach the PN to propose a coalition.
Preferably before the election, voters deserve to know who and what they’re voting for. I suppose Simon fully understands this.
If he needs the Opposition’s support for any changes to the constitution he’ll have to do the same.
The decent thing to do in this case is to see which issues enjoy both parties’ consent. It’s called political dialogue.
When he goes after Opposition members with a 9 seat majority, he comes across as someone who not at home in his party.
The pattern iin his behaviour and motives has been clear, Muscat looks and feels like an outsider.
Pity he doesn’t have JPO, Mugliett and Franco in parliament then.
Joseph Muscat should be further told, in no uncertain terms, that he will not be ‘bribing’ the members of the Opposition by giving them a handout in the form of a position on a government board where their say would still be a minority and overturned by the arrogance and incompetence of his government.
Joseph Muscat had himself dismissed the salary increase offered to him as Leader of the Opposition by the previous administration as a ‘bribe.’
Moreover, we expect him to respect the role of the Opposition which is there to hold him accountable to us.
Dak biex dawk li jaraw biss sa mnehirhom jghidu li qed jaghmel minn kollox biex jinkludi n-nazzjonalisti taht l-ghajta ta Malta taghna lkoll
My feelings exactly. I just wrote something similar on this blog elsewhere. Muscat is a dangerous, scheming individual. He has been underestimated.
He is slowly but surely seeking to control everything. His style is even worse than Mintoff’s.
You could see Mintoff coming a mile away. With this guy, he flatters, woos, is deceitful, saying one thing whilst meaning something altogether different.
Mintoff himself instructed Joseph on who to mould himself on. Joseph has become the snake-oil artist par excellence. He has had over 10 years of practice in honing the method and style.
Truth will be fashioned according to convenience, until it’s time for a new truth to take its place. And so on, and so forth.
A snake-oil artist’s worst nightmare is public exposure and traceability.
That is why the bases were covered and are so very lame.
There is only one person who can stop him, but he’s been handed his silver mine: for the moment sufficient.
In any case, the lion in the den has been left hungry.