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Counter Statement by the Minister of Justice and the Arts to put Government's records straight and rebut allegations made in recent statements by the Socialist Party's main Spokesman on Justice
PR1621
11/10/1996
11/10/1996
| The Socialist Party's spokesman for justice has lately issued a | number of partisan statements commenting on what he sees as the current situation at the Law Courts. He limits himself solely to mentioning needs and deficiencies without ever proposing practical solutions in this regard. |
| Those who follow the subject are fully aware that the Socialist | Party's spokesman for Justice has been a Member of Parliament for a number of years and therefore also know that throughout this time he has never moved a private member's bill to set out in definite terms the Socialist Party's legislative proposals for the better administration of the Courts of Justice. |
| There is also no need to remind that in l994 and 1995 Parliament | approved a number of laws and amendments designed to ensure that cases of litigation and other procedures are dealt with expeditiously and in a more orderly manner. Each and every legislative enactment was prompted by the Nationalist Government and measures taken are now beginning to show some results. |
| One must also recall that during the Parliamentary debates on these | laws the Socialist Opposition endorsed the measures suggested by Government and did not move original or alternative proposals. |
| Court delays are not a phenomenon which has become apparent during | these last years. It is however only relatively recently following the publication of the White Paper on "Justice within a reasonable time" that a Government has dealt with the problem and proposed solutions in a comprehensive and serious manner. |
| The general public is also aware that there is currently the | highest ever complement in place of judges and magistrates in office, the largest number ever of trained officials and employees deployed at the Law Courts and that the most advanced information technology systems have been installed. All this has helped to give a better and quicker service to all those who use the Courts. |
| While all this has been happening Socialist Party's role has been | solely that of a spectator. |
| The Socialist Party's spokesman on Justice seems to have forgotten | that the Ministry of Justice covers a vast number of other areas and departments and not just responsibility for the Courts of Justice. Among these are the Office of the Attorney General where the professional and administrative complement has been strengthened, the Public Registry and the Lands Registry which have both been equipped with state of the art information technology systems, and many other departments about which the Socialist spokesman on Justice has never commented. |
| In recent years the remuneration of Judges and Magistrates, staff | at the Attorney General's Office, at the Law Courts and in other departments, as well as conditions of work have been improved. The Socialist spokesman on Justice makes no comment on these positive changes. |
| He did not raise his voice in protest when the Socialist Government | dealt dictatorially and crudely with the members of the bench; remained silent when the Constitutional Courts were suspended for a long time by the Socialist Government - which made it impossible for Maltese citizens to ensure the protection of their human rights; he remained silent when during the Socialist administration party thugs laid waste to the Law Courts building and repeated the outrage in the first weeks of Nationalist Government in June 1987. |
| As the Socialist spokesman for Justice is so anxious to debate the | subject I challenge him to ensure that his party chooses as a subject for debate in the MBA's current political broadcast services "The Administration of the Courts of Justice". I am ready to meet him and debate any issue at any time and also to concede that the Socialist Party has the last word. |
| The Socialist Party's main spokesman on justice now has two | options:- either to accept this challenge for a TV debate to enable the general public to decide which party deals seriously with the administration of the Courts of Justice and which party limits itself to empty talk and promises; or to maintain his record of silence on all fundamental issues and allow the Courts and the course of justice to proceed, seriously, quietly and without interference. |
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