‘If PN wants to abdicate from its responsibility, it is up to them, we will not’ – Bedingfield
The public grilling of the Police Commissioner will still take place and “if the Opposition wants to abdicate from its responsibility it is up to them, we will not”, PL Whip Glenn Bedingfield told The Malta Independent.
Following the Cabinet’s decision to have Police CEO Angelo Gafa’ as their choice for the post of police commissioner, the Opposition said it will not participate in the process to appoint a new commissioner, saying that the Prime Minister is being hard-headed (regarding the form of selection process that the government has moved ahead with), and nothing has changed.
“Being as disjointed as they are, the PN is making itself irrelevant with a huge problem of credibility which is being reflected in every public opinion survey.”
The PN said that, in such a delicate moment, the PM should not be hard-headed and should seek consensus from the Opposition in the choice of a person who can lead the police force to win back the trust of the public.
During an interview, Opposition leader Adrian Delia had also said that the Prime Minister has already made the decision of who is to be Police Commissioner and said that the government continues to abuse the laws. A spokesperson for the PN told this newsroom that the reason behind this boycott is the lack of attention the government gave to the Opposition’s request to appoint the next Police Commissioner with the approval of two thirds of the members of the house.
The spokesperson reiterated Delia’s comment saying that: “PM Robert Abela decided to plod on creating a system of nominations which basically leaves us with a situation where the PM shall hire and have a right to fire the next Police Commissioner. As an opposition we shall not be part of this charade because the bottom line is that Robert Abela has already chosen his appointee and all he wants now is that the Opposition rubber stamps it. We shall not be part of this.”
In light of this boycott, The Malta Independent contacted PL Whip Bedingfield to see if the next step of the appointment process – the public grilling – will take place even without the Opposition.
“Yes, we are bound to do so since it is part of the process to appoint the new Police Commissioner. If the Opposition wants to abdicate from its responsibility, it is up to them, we will not,” Bedingfield said.
Asked for his opinion on the Opposition’s decision to boycott the public grilling, he said that the Opposition will lose an opportunity to ask all the questions they want to ask directly to Gafa himself.
“I believe they prefer not to face him and would rather keep on raising doubts about him and the new appointment procedure adopted by this government, which I must say has already seen the participation of two members of the Public Service Commission nominated by the Leader of the Opposition” he said. “Hence I cannot understand why the Opposition is taking this stand at this point in the appointment process.”
Bedingfield believes that Opposition leader Delia is being led rather than leading the party, since his appointees participated in the first selection process but the Parliamentary Group wants to abstain.
“Being as disjointed as they are, the PN is making itself irrelevant with a huge problem of credibility which is being reflected in every public opinion survey.”
Asked about when the public grilling will take place, Bedingfield said that no date has yet been set since at this stage as the Committee is waiting for Gafa’s reply to the written questions put forward to him. “This procedure is adopted for every candidate to any public appointment who appears in front of the Committee.”
At the start of this year, the Opposition had expressed its dissatisfaction with the proposed police commissioner appointment system that was tabled in Parliament following the Venice Commission report, as it believed that the Police Commissioner should be appointed by a two thirds majority in Parliament.
The Opposition’s request was not put up to the Venice Commission by the government while the government’s mechanism was approved by the commission.
This new mechanism saw a public call for applications to which eight potential candidates had answered to.
The applicants were then screened by the Public Service Commission. The Commission then judged each candidate and whittled the shortlist down to just two people - Gafa’ and Assistant Commissioner Alexandra Mamo.
From these two, the Cabinet chose Angelo Gafa for the post of Police Commissioner and the next and final step of the process is meant to see him scrutinised by MPs from both sides through the Parliament’s Public Appointments Committee, yet the Opposition is opting out.