Street demonstrations in the pipeline

Street demonstrations will be organised by the Labour Party in future to show that people deserved more than they were getting.

Opposition leader Joseph Muscat told supporters this morning that the people were very patient “but nobody should tell us that when the time has come we should not demonstrate in the streets”.

The people deserved more than the government was giving them and they needed to show what they were expecting.

“We are expecting a budget that addresses problems... a responsible budget which helps families and businesses, cuts taxes,” he said.

The Prime Minister, he said, was incapable and irresponsible, the government had lost control of the cost of living and salaries were losing their value.

The country was drowning under an unstable, irresponsible and mediocre government which was not helping families and which had failed its aims.

The deficit had grown out of proportion and this could not be blamed on water, electricity or gas tariffs because subsidies had been removed. It could also not be blamed on the shipyards because these had closed down. It could only be blamed on one person, he said.

Dr Muscat spoke on late payments by the government which he said were destroying businesses. The government also wanted to renegotiate collective agreements signed before the election.

The opposition, he said, would support renegotiation but would then call for a general election.

The Prime Minister was not understanding the people’s priorities, their complaints about the cost of living and the importance of certain sectors such as tourism. It was a government that was drowning in corruption.

Although unemployment had risen by 1,300, only €5 million were used to help industry, almost the same amount that was taken in commission for the power station.

Dr Muscat said that the money lost in the Fairmount contract would have been enough to build an oncology hospital.

He said he was convinced that both Dr Gonzi and Minister Austin Gatt had known what was happening before the election.

The estimate given for the contract did not even cover the raw materials, let alone salaries and profit. Moreover, the CEO was allowed to leave, together with another who had worked on these estimates and no attempt was made to track them.

More things had to be found out about this matter.

Dr Muscat accused the government of embarrassing the Maltese both in Malta and abroad. The country had lost a European court case because it was not monitoring the fumes emitted from the power station and the expenses would have to be paid by tax payers.

The Prime Minister was now saying that something had to be done. But wasn’t he the Prime Minister in the past years, Dr Muscat asked.

He said that the Delimara power station was the biggest corruption story in political history as €200 million would have to be forked out for a plant which would have to be replaced within seven years.