Weren’t they supposed to be paid according to how often they turn up?
Government whip Godfrey Farrugia
An exchange of emails between government ministers and Labour MPs, on which the Opposition whip was mistakenly copied, includes this very cross missive from the government whip, Godfrey Farrugia, to Labour MPs who failed to turn up to parliament on 19 May.
There were just nine government MPs in the House, and they were outnumbered by the Opposition’s 13 MPs (hardly a good showing either).
Dear Collegues, I would like to thank K. Mizzi, Aguis Decelis, E. Mallia, O. Busuttil (Bonnici), S. Buontempo, E. Zammit Lewis, Deborah Schembri for being at Parliament when the opportune time arose. We were only 9, including me. Circumstances arose such that Government asked for a Speaker’s ruling. The Opposition counted 13 members. The time was 20.20. This indicates that the opposition was prepared for this maneuver that took place in a Permanent Committee and spilled over to the Chamber.
Shame to all those who were supposed to be there and failed to do so. This is intolerable.
The quorum list for the 19th reads as follows: Aguis Decelis, Michael Farrugia, Stefan Bountempo, Owen Bonnici, Joseph Sammut, Joseph Farrugia, Deborah Schembri, Godfrey Farrugia, Franco Mercieca, Michael Falzon, Silvio Parnis, Konrad Mizzi, Edward Zammit Lewis, Emmanuel Mallia.
I thank D. Debattista for sitting in for M. Falzon as the latter had a TV Appearance at a late hour.
It is indeed unfortunate that I had to resort to this email.