Leader Of The Opposition Keith Azopardi’s Political Broadcast
Below follows the text of the Leader of the Opposition’s Political Broadcast which was aired on GBC yesterday evening:
What has unfolded over the last few weeks is very grave.
Mr Picardo who faces serious allegations about his conduct has, with his Government majority, passed a law which he can now use to protect himself in the very Inquiry investigating his conduct.
If he seeks to use it he will tell you that he is doing so in the public interest – your interest. But that is such a facile thing to say when most people see precisely what is happening.
The sequence of events has been as swift as it has been staggering. Without warning the Government published an Inquiries Bill on 7 March. This Bill would give the Government new and deep powers over public inquiries. Powers they did not previously have. The law that had been in place for more than 130 years did not expressly allow the Government to end or suspend inquiries, to withhold evidence or restrict public access to an inquiry. All those things were decided by an Inquiry Chairman. So what was the urgency to change that law now when the McGrail Inquiry Chairman had not asked for it and hadn’t even been consulted on it.
It took the GSLP/Lib Government 18 days to rush that Bill through Parliament. The Chief Minister certified that it was too urgent to wait and by a majority of one (his own conflicted vote) the Bill passed Parliament and was given assent by the Governor.
This is a Government that says it doesn’t have time to pass new laws or to roll out new policies when it’s criticized for housing delays or for obstructing the publication of the Principal Auditor’s report. Yet it had time to pass the law Mr Picardo’s defence team suggested in 18 days. The Anti-Corruption Authority Act which was a manifesto commitment since 2011 was only passed 14 months ago (12 years late) but hasn’t yet been commenced. But it is possible to commence the Inquiries Act in 2 days.
Introducing a new Inquiries Act wasn’t in the GSLP/Lib manifesto for the election held last October. Mr Picardo says it was suggested by his defence lawyers in the McGrail Inquiry so it must be relevant to something he fears within it.
He is a core participant in that Inquiry; so are the Government. The conflicts of interests are obvious. But that has not stopped Mr Picardo.
He’s given himself new powers to influence the Inquiry or sidestep the Chairman (an experienced High Court Judge). These new powers can influence what evidence comes before the Inquiry or the public access or consumption of the issues.
What he’s done is not in the public interest. It’s in his narrow self-interest and the question is – why? If he’s prepared to put up with such public criticism it must be because whatever he fears in the Inquiry is so much worse.
We have said this is a constitutional outrage and an assault on good governance. And unfortunately, it is one that is owned not just by Mr Picardo but by each and every Minister. They were all given the opportunity by Mr Picardo to vote against this if they wished but none of them did and must now forever carry the political responsibility of what has been done.
These manoeuvres have undermined public confidence in the McGrail Inquiry. It has also shown in translucent clarity that Mr Picardo and his GSLP/Lib Government are willing to use the power you have given them not in your interests but in theirs. Ministers are not elected to pass laws to protect themselves. Ministers are not elected to cover things up or hide these from the public gaze because it is inconvenient to them personally. Ministers abuse their power – the power they hold on scared trust for the people – if they think and act as if they are beyond the law; as if they can dupe you into thinking they have your interests at heart when in fact they have theirs.
All of this could’ve been avoided. The law did not need to be passed now or applied to the McGrail Inquiry. If Mr Picardo was genuine that this was not a self serving act he had the opportunity to show it. But his actions, so far, have confirmed the reverse. This whole episode is nothing short of a scandal and he has caused huge damage to Gibraltar’s international reputation.
The McGrail Inquiry starts on Monday 8 April and we hope that the Government will reflect on the public clamour and mounting criticism and hold back from using any new powers that undermine the work of the Inquiry or the public consumption of it.
They are still in time to back away. If this process is to have any credibility the investigation of the issues needs to be seen to be thorough, unhindered by the
State, as intensive as the Inquiry wishes and witnessed by the public. Anything less will call into question the whole process.
We have been very vociferous in our criticisms of Mr Picardo’s actions and those of his Government. Equally we have been very careful about not making any value judgments on the evidence. That is a matter for the Chairman and it is important that the Inquiry is allowed to do its work as it wishes.
But if any step is taken by Government from now till the time that the Inquiry’s work is concluded that in any shape or form curtails the process or affects it so as to hide or obscure the light of truth we will call out such practices clearly and robustly.
We will not allow the Government to bury the truth of what they have done or what they do in future.
