Publishing the names of those who buy citizenship
Published:
March 26, 2014 at 1:59am
A big debate in parliament, on the Opposition motion to repeal the citizenship scheme – obviously defeated 39 votes to 30. The Opposition said that if the government does not publish the names of those who buy Maltese citizenship, the Opposition will publish them instead.
I think the Opposition should publish them regardless of whether the government does so or not. Publication by the government will be in the usual list in the Government Gazette, along with all the names of those who have acquired citizenship by the usual channels of Maltese parentage, marriage and so on. We won’t be able to tell them apart from the rest.
So the Opposition should publish a separate list.
18 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140325/local/minister-rate-of-applications-for-citizenship-scheme-satisfactory-opposition-says-it-will-publish-names-of-those-granted-citizenship.512140
Have they stopped transmitting live broadcasts of parliamentary sittings? I can no longer pick them up on the car radio on the usual TenSixtySix and neither can I find them streamed online on Tune-in Radio.
They are there on some radio station. Yesterday I was listening to the radio in my car and, you will not believe this, to the tune of “L-ahhar bidwi f’Wied il-Ghasel,” there was an announcement of a “Kollegament mal-kamra tad-Deputati.” Mr. Speaker started with a prayer and then there were some questions.
Bubu they have changed the frequency without advertising it at all. You can follow parliament on 105.9FM now.
Aha! Found it. Thank you Lorry. Very much obliged.
Come to think of it, why do we have 69 MPs? I thought the number was meant to be 65 except when more MPs were needed to prevent a majority of votes being translated into a minority of seats. Shouldn’t it be something like 36/29 or 37/28?
No. If the opposition garnered 30 seats, then you cannot take away any of those seats.
I think that in the last couple of elections, there has been a constitutional rule on proportionality, which gives the government a pro-rata number of seats based on the extra popular votes it has.
Since the government has a majority of 36,000 votes, then, using a quota of about 4,000 votes per seat, the government takes an extra 9 seats. I think it is something like that.
Thanks, Ciccio. Looks like we, The People, will be stuck with the wastage of extra MPs forever then. As though 65 weren’t double what is needed.
The Opposition should ACT now. How about starting by meeting the EU commissioner responsible for EU citizenship and making their strong objections with her? In my opinion, the EU commissioner was too hasty in “accepting” the scheme as presented by Muscat and the PL. The residency clause should have been binding for five years and not one year. The Opposition needs to act now.
Why set them apart? Wouldn’t that be discrimination? Once they acquire citizenship then they’re citizens in the same way as the rest of us or as the ones who obtained citizenship through other means. One cannot have second class citizens.
[Daphne – With your reasoning, why publish any names at all? Of course the names of those who buy their citizenship should be separately identified. It allows other citizens (electors) to see what is happening. You have rights too, you know, as an elector.]
Then we know how much money Henley have held for us.
Alex, it’s true that one cannot have second class citizens but thanks to the IIP now, they have created differences between millionaires who acquire their citizenship within months (or I dare say instantly upon payment) and common mortals who have to wait and live for years before being even considered for application.
So in all fairness as long as they chose to differentiate between millionaires and common people, even when published they need to be at least printed in a golden type of font.
“One cannot have second class citizens.”
But that is exactly what a person who buys a passport is.
Except that in our case they will be ‘persons of calibre’.
How would the Opposition get the names though?
Excellent, but we want more.
Now that the Opposition will be sitting on the Committee – or is it a Board – of the entity that will supervise the granting of citizenship – including the citizenship that will be sold on a commission basis by Henley & Partners – the Opposition has the duty, and the right, to access a copy of the contract with Henley & Partners.
It would be unfair of the government to demand the Opposition to do its duty on such Committee unless the Opposition knows precisely the obligations and rights, and the terms generally, that Henley & Partners has contracted with the government for its services.
Once those terms are available, the Opposition should proceed to publish them as well.
“It would be unfair of the government to demand the Opposition to do its duty on such Committee unless the Opposition knows precisely the obligations and rights, and the terms generally, that Henley & Partners has contracted with the government for its services.”
Hear, hear.
I agree with you Daphne that the Opposition should publish the names -. The Opposition members should show more grinta.
They definitely should publish them accompanied with a biography so we can all fully understand who our esteemed co-citizens are.