Government drowning in incompetence - Mangion

In almost two decades in office, the Nationalists had simply squandered public funds through their money no problem policy, rendering the country's economy unsustainable, Labour deputy leader Charles Mangion said yesterday.

Dr Mangion was addressing the general conference which convened to approve plans on health, industry, education and Gozo. The documents, which were extensively discussed with civil society over the past months, are expected to form the basis of the MLP's electoral programme.

The Nationalists were to blame for the problems faced in pensions, health and the social sector because when they were in office, the country had made a negative economic turnaround from a surplus to a huge debt and a growing deficit.

This was the reason why families were hard up and why health centres were closing, Dr Mangion said, explaining why the MLP was compelled to propose plans that would bring the country back on its feet.

Employment was following the fate of tourism as the number of gainfully employed was on the decline. It was not surprising that Malta's unemployment rate was rising fast, he said.

The same could be said for taxation, as the Maltese were the most taxed people in the European Union, Dr Mangion said.

Money was indeed becoming a problem for the people, but this did not seem to bother Nationalist ministers who squandered thousands of liri on consultancies and had no qualms spending exorbitant amounts on trips abroad.

The government was drowning in its incompetence, Dr Mangion said, adding that the MLP had understood that industries with a major investment in Malta were facing problems, and this had motivated the party to draw up a plan for industry. Labour's vision was that the country needed to identify niche markets where it could excel and make a name for itself to compete on a global level.

Education was another vital sector, Dr Mangion said. The plan dealing with this sector dealt with illiteracy among school leavers. The causes of this problem in primary and secondary schools should be identified and tackled properly. The plan was also intended to increase student participation at the tertiary level.

Another important issue to be tackled was health. With the Mater Dei Hospital venture, which had ended up costing almost Lm250 million, investment in basic health services were suffering, Dr Mangion said, promising that under a Labour government, health would be accessible to everybody and not be restricted to people who could pay for it.

On pensions, Dr Mangion said the MLP had never said pensions are not a challenge. But a reform could not be carried out piecemeal as the Nationalists wanted to do.

He said that after 10 years of documents and endless consultation, the PN government had worked out a way to increase its revenue for pensions. This would enable it to make up for tax reductions it planned to introduce to create a feel good factor in the run up to the election, while it would still be able to meet the Maastricht criteria necessary to adopt the euro.

After approving the health document on Thursday, the conference approved the plans on education and industry during yesterday's session.

The general conference will wrap up this evening at the Victoria Sports Complex when the party delegates will review the plan on Gozo. Labour leader Alfred Sant will deliver the concluding address.