The ministers’ pay rise... and their hefty pensions (1)

It is unacceptable to me to have the Prime Minister trying to bamboozle me into thinking that the selfish rise in earnings for himself and his Cabinet members is justified because the country is saving some money from having a leaner Cabinet (January 10).

Taking that argument to its extreme conclusion, the Lawrence Gonzi should have awarded himself €500,000 a year in salary and sacked all his ministers and parliamentary secretaries and the country would have saved much more.

How can Dr Gonzi defend his selfish decision of awarding himself and his ministers a €600 a week increase in earnings when the rest of the country is making so many sacrifices to keep its head above water because of the exorbitant bills being dished out by the ministries?

What sort if reasoning is that? Does a company shed its workers and then increase the directors’ remuneration? Is that your way of doing things? Is that the way forward?

Dr Gonzi argues the decision to award himself and the Cabinet a double salary was taken after the 2008 election. That decision was honoured. But another decision promised in that election’s campaign, to lower taxation, was not followed up.

How can Dr Gonzi try to justify these double standards? It’s just like Animal Farm, where some animals are more equal than others.

And I would like to ask Dr Gonzi to answer this question: If he were so convinced about the uprightness of this selfish decision, why was the decision shrouded in secrecy and made public only two years after it was taken, by which time the Cabinet had earned an extra €2 million for itself?

Come down from your ivory tower and get a feel and listen for once to the people’s voice and not the voices of your consultants and advisors.

We need a leader that truly gives direction by example, is one of us and is with us in the good times and the not-so-good times and Joseph Muscat is professing to be just that.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness – Martin Luther King, Jr.