Stephen Spiteri's conscience tells him to vote No and skip parliamentary sittings
Who would have thought that Stephen Spiteri has a conscience? But he does.
It has been revealed that Stephen Spiteri, the Nationalist MP whose conscience tells him to vote against the divorce bill, has skipped 52 of the 64 parliamentary sittings so far this year.
His conscience apparently fails to tell him to do his duty and go to parliament because that is what he has been elected to do, what he is paid to do.
So really, I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that a man who takes his parliamentary duties so lightly should think nothing of discarding and disregarding the people’s vote in a referendum. How can this man face his constituents in 2013 and ask them to elect him as their representative once more, when we now know that he rarely bothers going to parliament?
The situation is made worse by the fact that Stephen Spiteri is something called a ‘parliamentary assistant’, a job created for irritating backbenchers who felt left out of the loop and spent their time backbiting and moaning. These ‘parliamentary assistants’ are paid a little bit more – around 6,000 euros – to help ministers with their parliamentary work.
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It would be interesting to have a full schedule of House attendance actually, with the subjects (not) tackled – an enterprising journalist could have some fun…
Preferably including Opposition members; nice to know who is in for a free lunch.
Good idea. One wonders why parliamentarians who are skiving their duty to parliament and their electors are getting a salary increase? This smacks of privilege very much in the manner of Charles I (English king). Noblesse oblige please!
Perhaps this proves once again (after the divorce controversy) how archaic the PN has become.
Totally agree with you and I look forward to seeing a list of attendances by parliamentarians. Let us then stop the hypocrisy of ‘conscience’ – to be used as and when it suits us.
Stephen, do your job in parliament please – that is why you were elected.
I would also include another parameter in the investigation.
Double check with Jose Herrera’s attendance record.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the journalist were to find that the two are absent on the same dates. I say this because it is not the first time that the two have been seen together at the Kazin (Malti) sipping a whisky and cracking a joke.
Didn’t Joseph Muscat say, earlier on in the legislature (was it when Justyne voted yes and/or no?), that he was denying the PN government the pairing arrangement?
Not surprised at all. Surprised the PN picked him up as a candidate.
It also comes down to leadership. Why is the party allowing him to get away with it? His behaviour will also have an impact on the party as a whole.
There’s nothing wrong with that – 52 of those sittings must have dealt with issues that were in conflict with his conscience so he had to ‘abstain’ from them.
Tajba!
Now I ask, why should Dr. Spiteri bother to vote No when he can abstain by not attending the Parliament sessions yet again during the debate on the divorce bill?
And shouldn’t Dr. Spiteri be asked to refund the increase in the honorarium on a pro-rata basis for not attending Parliament sittings?
Good to see that Kristina bears me out on the subject of male baldness and how (not to) deal with it.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110612/opinion/A-bit-about-baldness.370163
And Facebook advertising is really amazing, isn’t it? So targeted. The last time I looked, an advertisement for hair extension spray had popped up on Joseph Muscat’s profile.
But back to Stephen Spiteri’s conscience….
I have always voted for the Nationalist Party. Will continue to do so as I strongly believe that its policies are far better than those of the PL.
However, on coming to know facts like the one in question, I long for the party to go and spend some time in opposition. It urgently needs a clean up. The party definitely does not need persons of this kind.
Wash your hands and leave it to others to do the dirty work for you, right?
Typical PN mentality, especially with regards to the divorce legislation issue!
The Labour Party has been in opposition for about 25 years. Did it clean itself?
So your reasoning is that in order to ‘clean up the Nationalist Party’ we should inflict disaster on the country in the form of a government led by Joseph Muscat and Anglu Farrugia. I would say that the far better and wiser course of action would be to vote PN and choose your candidates really carefully.
If someone could guarantee that a PL government would collapse after 20 months or so then I would probably consider voting PL. The shock of being in opposition for a few months would knock some sense into the PN as I believe it did thanks to Alfred Sant’s short adventure in government a dozen or so years ago.
On second thoughts make that 10 months rather than 20, so as to limit the damage(to the country) to a more acceptable level.
Can’t agree with you more. However, since Labout cannot be trusted within miles of Castille, we, as voters, can certainly do the cleaning up if the party doesn’t.
I must admit that I never particularly paid attention to how my preferences went, sometimes not even knowing of the existence of some of the candidates before I read the ballot paper.
Next time round, I definitely want to do some homework beforehand to weed out the incompetent, the arrogant and the useless. And yes, there WILL be some left over who are deserving of our vote.
@ Ta’ Marzu – To clean up a party all you have to do is vote for the new faces, careful not to end up with a serpent in an egg.
Political parties should screen their candidates better.
Stephen Spiteri is a specialist in diabetes. He never misses his 10 -minute weekly early morning slot on TVM’s Bongu with Josef Bonello.
Our parliament is part-time, and the voting pattern of an MP has nothing to do with his/her attendance.
I agree with you 100%.
So far I don’t know if I will vote come next election. The PN of today has nothing to do with PN I’ve known for so many years, having MPs who are ready to vote against the people’s will after the Yes vote for divorce.
Others said that the Madonna was crying.
And also MPs missing so many parliamentary sittings after being elected by the people.
I don’t even see a strong character in our PM.
Up till now, come next election, my conscience is telling me to abstain.
If you abstain, Joanne, you will leave others to decide for you. What if you’re told that your right to vote will be taken?
Abstaining means that you are not able to choose the best of two evils.
Let’s put it this way. If the NO won, in two years’ time we would have voted for Joseph Muscat and he would have ‘given’ us divorce, gay rights and what have you…Then what? Would the economy attract more investment or scare away the little we have with scarecrow policies like the family wage or subsidies?
We already passed through something similar in 1996: in no time Sant froze our EU application, got us out of Partnership for Peace and a bit later replaced VAT with CET, doubled the size of Mater Dei Hospital and brought our economy to a standstill.
I am fed up with the tantrums of certain prima donna MPs (we can deal with them come next election), but I would rather have Malta’s economy run by Gonzi & his bella compania, rather than have it run by Joseph, Leo, Mangion, Anglu and Refalo.
I bet he is seriously pissed off that one of his colleagues brought this to light. He must wish he could crawl into a hole now.
The PN should sanction him but they must be aware already of who shirks their responsibility in Parliament (as must Labour).
I wish I could also give him “Nul Point” a lá Eurovision in the 2013 election.
His school report: “attendance-poor, must do better”
His mother must be great at writing sick notes.
I could go on and on with this one (but I will not).
Now here’s an interesting quote from a link to a BBC article in the previous blog-post :
“A small percentage of Filipinos are already allowed to divorce – the 5% of the population who are Muslim, and also some Filipinos married to foreigners.”
We were worse than the Phillipines !
At least there, it seems if one isn’t Catholic, divorce is granted.
They didn’t give a toss here one way or the other.
I didn’t even know there was an MP called Stephen Spiteri.
Somebody, anybody, please tell me this guy did not get a raise.
Of course he did. Not only he had a raise in his honorarium, but the Prime Minister appointed him as a “parliamentary assistant”, which comes with a renumeration package of its own.
Funny how everyone seems to have missed the fact that out of 35 Nationalist MPs, around 30 are involved in the government executive, in one way or the other.
So much for a “less costly” Cabinet, Dr Gonzi.
I have not seen the attendence sheet of the other 68 MPs.
Having lived mostly in the UK for the past few years I am convinced that all this unnecessary upheaval about the divorce issue is mostly due to the intolerant nature of my fellow Maltese citizens.
Quite clearly everybody knows precisely what is good and proper for everybody else.
What should have been none other than a few parliamentary sittings with an agreement between the two parties that it is time to introduce divorce for whoever needs it, has turned out to be the most divisive issue with some of the most unbelieveably undemocratic statements heard in a long time.
What an absolute shambles and disgrace.
It is as if we thrive on the most insignificant issues, thrashed out long ago worldwide, just for the sake of it.
Our MPs, having kicked off an almighty struggle by renouncing their parliamentary duties, are now hiding behind their conscience when the electorate clearly responded to their inability to legislate calmly and quickly. The whole mess could have been avoided and we could have done the Roman Catholic Church a massive favour simply by having the law enacted, done and dusted within a month.
Instead there has been nothing but interference in people’s lives, insults, religious fundamentalism, intolerance, backbiting and waving the conscience banner.
Is my country a nation of control freaks?
Stephen Spiteri deserves 52 lashings of the Nationalist Parliamentary whip.
Isn’t there the party whip? I would have thought that he is there to keep everything moving as it should? You know, like in the circus, to keep the wild beasts in their place, behaving properly, and keeping the show going.
I hope the whip is not being used for other reasons, like shooting some films with a totally different viewership, but surprisingly associated with the same colour of the P.N.
Does this clown or any other that behaves like him still gets paid his parliamentary honoraria in full.
There is a very easy solution for abstentions: chop off his salary and perks by three times of the pro rata.
Forsi kien “bis-sick”.
” Dear Mr Whippy, Stephen cannot attend parliament today ghax bid-deni” .
Sorry couldn’t resist.
On the Malta Today website there was this message:
Submitted on Fri, 06/10/2011 – 12:14.
A Catenian network – covering up for friends, as well as friends of friends – all united in the faith…
chevalier de la Barre
Do please excuse my ignorance: but what is a Catenian network in the Maltese context?
In a word, a Catholic freemasonry :) http://www.thecatenians.com/
Not surprised at all! If you say what they will tell you to say, you can do what the xxxx you want. PN needs to go to opposition. They lost it completely. People will not forgive them this time!
Stephen Spiteri entered Parliament through casual elections as he was the only candidate there to fill the seat vacated by Lawrence Gonzi on the second district.
It seems he’s never anywhere as his bio is still missing from the parliamentary group list on the official PN website… http://www.pn.org.mt/home.asp?module=content&id=73
Lawrence Gonzi is listed twice on this list, and look how some faces have changed in three years!
If he had not attended any sitting whatsoever he could have used the excuse “nobody told me I was elected” at least
Actually nobody has told him yet. The few times he attended was because he ended up there by mistake, after losing his way to Cafe’ Cordina.
Not Cordina! But the Kazin Malti…
Is it possible that our casual elections are a little too…..’casual’?
Dear Stephen, there are two very valid points why I will not vote for you in the coming elections.
1. You are overworked and your medical practice is suffering.
2. Your conscience is at the moment a bit dicey and I expect you of all people to vote for a YES vote in parliament.
I always thought of you as a liberal with a strong love of democracy. I also thought of you as independent-minded.
I think MPs have no conscience at all. I will not comment but I will just quote verbatim from a report in The Malta Independent on Sunday:
The Prime Minister “again pointed out that the decision to give MPs a raise in their honoraria had been taken in April 2008, and had been agreed upon by the Cabinet a month later. The Prime Minister stressed that since all MPs are annually obliged to publish an account of their earnings, they knew they were getting an increase in honoraria in 2008, 2009, and 2010.
“If you failed to notice the rise, you were either asleep or you were playing to the Strangers` Gallery while twisting the real facts,” Dr Gonzi said, constantly waving his forefinger in the Opposition’s direction.”
Mr. Joe mIzzi says the following, and I quote:
“Whereas the honoraria of the MPs of the last legislature had stood at 16,000 euro, Dr. Gonzi had upped the sum to 26,000 euro for all MPs, a few weeks after winning the last general election.”
Looks too greasy for my liking, and does not look terribly clever either.
The “battery chicken” look so typical of the Maltese.
Be precise. The style is favoured by Super One presenters. This one is an aberration.
Looks like a Nationalist version of Silvio Parnis.
Hmm. Not quite. Silvio Parnis appears to affect that Maltese “P ‘n’ Z” look (pecs u zaqq), while Stephen Spiteri looks – how shall I put it – like the wheezy kid from school who skived PE. Only he skives parliament.
They both, however, look like hicks. We’ll have to breed thousands more Tiffanys to dilute the prevalance of bad genes in the Maltese population. Le le ma nichdek qatt ja art twelidi? Tridx tmur.
I mean, I do not blame Stephen Spiteri for not attending Parliament when he sees his boss, the Minister of Health, take a question like the following from a Health Department Assistant:
“Jista’ l-Ministru jara għaliex hemm nuqqas ta’ endoscopy fil-ward S4 tal-Isptar Mater Dei? Jista’ jgħid kemm hemm pazjenti jistennew biex jużaw dan l-endoscopy ? Meta se jasal Malta? Kemm ilhom neqsin? Kemm ġew ordnati?”
France bestowed the Legion d’Honneur on Dr Fenech Adami. One of that country’s greatest political achievements is ‘Laicite’.
The laicite’ was a great blessing in disguise for French Catholics, a departure point, and if I may say, a metamorphosis’s from the distant conversion of ‘pagan’ Rome to Christianity, and what is now ‘any’ confessional Institution.
However, though ‘distanced’ from secular power, and far from the state platform, myriad of French Catholic intellectuals are still playing an active role in forming opinions and inspiring people, in a very highly secularized multi ethnic community.
Despite years has lapsed since coming into effect (1905) the Laicite is still vibrant. In a still expanding globalized world, it is still that formidable prophetic foresight.
Dr Fenech Adami, need not be afraid that his integrity, or valor will be challenged or doubted but it’s time for him to ‘render to Caesar what is to Caesar’, and as far as ‘what is to God’, many would never doubt his honest Catholic convictions. Thus he will remain in our hearts, for years to come.
You do use a terribly elliptical writing style, but you’re more or less right: the French have shown that it is possible to be culturually Catholic but politically secular, rational, and thoroughly European.
French intellectuals who are also Catholic are however as rare as French virgins. As in many European countries, Left Wing is fashionable, and the glitterati will naturally have left wing views (albeit living a completely right wing lifestyle complete with racial and social segregation).
Bizzejjed qeghdin sew, why bring in the French?
Because their wymmyn are far better looking than ours.
What a disgrace. Clearly the rot in the PN has set in.
I put most of the blame on the inadequacy of a good secretary-general and possibly even Dr Gonzi’s leadership.
How could two new parliamentarians, elected for the first time in the last general election, get away with such poor attendance?
I can’t believe that 3 years after a victory against all odds, it’s just all crumbling so badly.
Dr. Stephen Spiteri is the best doctor in the South and even if he skips all the parliamentary sittings he still will be elected in the first count. PN can’t afford to lose this pearl from the Cottonera district.
What an insolent claim to make! Have you been treated by all the doctors in the south to make such a claim? I am sure that there are plenty of doctors ‘in the south’ that strive to do their best and manage to.
Lawrence Gonzi (in the photo) is probably thinking to himself “lil dan nafu x’imkien”.
Do any of our parliamentarians – following their conscience – return the money they got when they didn’t turn up for the sitting? According to the what I was taught this is stealing and they should return the money they got if the sin is to be totally forgiven.
Perhaps their conscience works full time just for the divorce issue.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110613/local/Other-MPs-just-clock-in-and-leave-S-Spiteri.370309
“others are doing it too, so why shouldn’t I?” <- Paraphrased
Just have a look at what the Hon.Stephen Spiteri had to say in The Times today. The cheek of it all.
What it boils down to is money. He can’t make enough of it by just being an MP and a parliamentary assistant, so he devotes most of his time to seeing patients (that’s what he said).
Talk about speaking without engaging the brain first. It’s worse than I thought.
I feel nothing but utter contempt for Dr. Spiteri and a massive disappointment from the PN party in general for the past 3 years of disservice. And this coming from a PN loyalist. Don’t coming a-knocking my door for my vote.
If he were faithful to his wife then maybe, just maybe, I could listen to his talk about conscience.
What is this new half-baked asinity by David Agius trying to justify Dr. Spiteri’s poor attendance? Don’t they know when to stop digging their own hole?
How did these bunch of amateur, parochial, bible-bashing, hypocritcal and offensive individuals ever come to represent me in Parliament? I am disgusted beyond words.
It seems that Andrew Borg-Cordona’s introductory wishful comment was answered by the Times on Wednesday:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110615/local/MP-misses-90-per-cent-of-sittings.370603
The twelve worst offenders (six from each PL/PN, with over 50% recorded non-attendance), although we don’t know what happens to our part-time parliamentarians after they clock in and possibly leave (from January to June 2011), in rank order are:
Adrian Vassalo (PL) — 90% (District 10)
Stephen Spiteri (PN) — 81% (District 2)
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando (PN) — 73% (District 11)
Peter Micallef (PN) — 70% (District 6)
Joseph Sammut (PL) — 69% (District 5)
Michael Gonzi (PN) — 67% (District 12)
Karmenu Vella (PL) — 66% (District 5)
Luciano Busittil (PL) — 64% (District 1)
Jesmond Mugliet (PN) — 63% (District 4)
Chris Cardona (PN) — 52% (District 8)
Mario Galea (PN) — 52% (District 3)
Michael Farrugia (PL) — 52% (District 12)
I will make only one more specific observation, regarding the good Dr. Adrian Vassalo, who is from my voting district (I have never voted PL) and who tops the list. From his absenteeism, Dr. Vassalo has obviously been a disgruntled “player” for a long time. He is well-known for his attention to patients and his remarkably low fees that he charges for the long line of patients who queque to his door. He is a natural vote-magnet, but he doesn’t belong in parliament with his fundamentalism (where he represents his own conscience, or his understanding of Jesus Christ).
Ecumenism in parliamentarians is essential in a democracy, but is absent in Dr. Vassalo. I would hope that he resigns from parliament, and that he would return to being a 100% full-time doctor where his heart is, rather than continuing as a populist parliamentarian. The PL would hate to loose the votes he brings to their cause.
Correction: Chris Cardona is PL, not PN (as listed above).