Stop trying to silence us, new party says

Azzjoni Nazzjonali will kick start its "real" electoral campaign as soon as the government tables its budget, party leader Josie Muscat said yesterday.

The party is polishing an electoral programme that would overhaul the country from top to bottom, if implemented, Dr Muscat vowed.

"There will be a time when we'll grow to such an extent that we'll take to the streets," he told a group of about 40 people who gathered for a meeting at the party quarters in Sliema.

In a 45-minute speech peppered with attacks against the two main political parties, Dr Muscat repeatedly hit out at what he said were elements bent on trying to undermine and silence the AN.

While recalling that his party was only set up three months ago, Dr Muscat accused the Nationalist and Labour parties of trying to shut AN out of the system by cooking up lies.

For example, rumours were spreading that AN was an anti-women party, an absurdity for a leader who spent most of his professional career assisting women, Dr Muscat said.

He hit out at the state broadcasting station, which he said refused to air a single public AN meeting - but despite such opposition, nobody will stop the party from airing its opinion, especially given today's technology.

He said the country was being run by half a dozen rich people who kept funding the two main parties.

Dr Muscat urged the electorate to reflect and to realise the effect of once again electing one of the two main parties - a rotting Nationalist government reeking of corruption or a Labour government that promises the earth in search of votes and is burdened with a leader like Alfred Sant.

Dr Muscat said it hurt him to see the government selling the island to foreigners, citing as an example the SmartCity project. Though AN was not objecting to such a project, it was absurd that the government has not specified the need to give preference to Maltese workers.

It was even more absurd that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi travelled to Dubai to unveil the project, which had not been fully sanctioned by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa). On the other hand, local developers were treated like rubbish every time they resorted to Mepa.

The EU also came under fire as Dr Muscat said membership had reduced the Central Bank to a "lotto booth" dictated to by Brussels and that Europe's solution to Malta's immigration woes was merely through financial donations.

While pointing out that his party had nothing against immigrants fleeing wars, he said Malta should not be expected to solve Africa's problems.

On the other hand, he criticised the government's way of dealing with the problem by "putting immigrants in cages and when they were subsequently freed they become like lions..."

He said many of them were fleeing from the detention centres.

Dr Muscat's speech was preceded by interventions by property developer Anglu Xuereb and party president Charles Attard who spoke at length at what they defined to be a barrage of injustices imposed on Maltese entrepreneurs.

Mr Xuereb laughed off the government's plans to regenerate Grand Harbour when, in truth, it had failed to carry out a single project in 20 years.

He pointed out that the Valletta and Cottonera Waterfront projects were conceived by the Labour government.

After recalling his own personal input in various sectors, he suggested the setting up of a one-stop shop for businesses to do away with the bureaucracy and delays the private sector is burdened with.

Mr Xuereb claimed that the two main political parties were adopting AN's policies to drum up support and this was one of the main reasons why his party decided to publish its "radical" manifesto after the budget.

Mr Attard underlined that his party was pro-active and was not just a pressure group like Alternattiva Demokratika or a "Cana" party like the MLP, which only empathises with the electorate, without providing any solution.