Monday, 3 February 2025, 17:06
Last update: about 6 hours ago
Opposition Leader Bernard Grech presented a motion of no-confidence vote in Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri, after a ruling rejected the PN’s request to immediately resolve Parliament to discuss a damning Ombudsman report on Corradino prison published last week.
Following a brief Parliament suspension, Speaker Anglu Farrugia ruled that Grech’s request did not satisfy the most fundamental requisite of the Standing Order, the element of urgency.
In his ruling, Farrugia said that when considering the element of urgency, the Speaker considers whether the matter is urgent enough that Parliament must urgently suspend its agenda and immediately start the debate, and that it cannot be held at an ulterior stage.
He continued that the Ombudsman report has just been published, with 14 recommendations, and at this early stage, authorities have not had the time to react.
Farrugia said that the Ombudsman may, if he sees fit, send a copy of the report and its recommendations to the Prime Minister, as well as the House, if after a reasonable period of time, no action is taken on the recommendations.
He said that it is only at this stage that the House can be informed of the report. Farrugia also considered that the report regards a period of time between 2018 and 2021, which is not the current, present situation.
The Speaker ruled that it did not see the element or urgency, and rejected the Opposition’s request on an immediate debate on the matter.
Farrugia also encouraged authorities to address the Ombudsman’s 14 recommendations, and should these not be addressed, the Ombudsman may refer the matter to Parliament according to procedures.
After the ruling, Grech presented a motion of a vote of no confidence in Minister Camilleri, signed by himself and PN MP Darren Carabott.
Earlier in the sitting, Grech presented a motion in Parliament under Standing Order 13 to immediately discuss the conclusions and recommendations of the damning Ombudsman report on the Corradino prison under the leadership of former Director of Prisons Colonel Alex Dalli.
Government representatives, however, said that the matter is not definitive, nor urgent.
In his request, Grech said that the Ombudsman report is dated 31 January of this year, and found maladministration at the Corradino Correctional Facility between July 2018 and December 2021, under the leadership of Dalli.
“During that period, there were systematic actions of bad administration in the prison, which led to the breach of prisoners’ fundamental rights,” Grech said, reminding that they are human.
Grech said that the Ombudsman was also “most shockingly” morally convinced that there was a correlation between the bad administration and the number of deaths or suicides which occurred in the prison in this period.
Grech continued that Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri is politically responsible, as not only did he support and defend Dalli, but Dalli now receives a €103,000 salary as a representative in Libya, and despite the damning report, Camilleri confirmed his absolute trust in Dalli in a comment to journalists.
“This is an urgent, important, and public matter,” Grech said, tabling the motion.
