Finance Minister Tonio Fenech and Transport Minister Austin Gatt spent about €23 million on consultancy fees over the past three years, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday.

For many families, it’s not their bills that are zero euro but their pockets

The two ministers spent about €22,000 a day in contracts where people gave their advice on which power station to buy, on transport operator Arriva and on Air Malta, Dr Muscat told a political meeting in Santa Venera.

The Government had racked up a huge debt – the highest ever recorded in Malta’s history – amounting to €5 billion. Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was responsible for one-third of the debt, Dr Muscat said.

Two decisions – to build a new power station that did not work and a new, but smaller, hospital after St Luke’s became too small – cost €100 million alone, he added.

Public debt meant that money was spent on interest rates instead of education.

He criticised the Government for first spending money on the Delimara power station extension, which did not work, and then for saying it would draw up an energy policy.

“It’s good to encourage investment in solar panels but I would never go before families and say they are receiving a zero euro water and electricity bill.

“For many families, it’s not their bills that amount to zero euro but their pockets after paying it,” Dr Muscat said.

The Labour Party would only reveal how it would reduce water and electricity bills once the Government made its electoral proposals known. “What’s all this fuss about knowing before? Do you want to emulate us,” he asked to a laughing audience.

Dr Gonzi had at least one way of reducing the electricity bills but, forsome strange reason, he still decided to go ahead with the Delimara power station extension.

Turning to fuel, Dr Muscat said the price of diesel increased last week by 1.5 per cent while, internationally, it fell by three per cent. Meanwhile, the price of petrol dropped by two per cent when the international price went down by seven per cent, he said.

There was need for more transparency so people would believe that there was really a change, Dr Muscat added.

In under a year, about 3,000 self-employed stopped working, including 1,200 who did so because of lack of work because spending money had dried up, he said.

This situation was caused by the Government’s wrong decisions, including utility bills, which destroyed the families’ quality of living. Such bills were the largest obstacles faced by businesses and the self-employed.

People were not able to meet their tax payments – including VAT – and were being threatened with jail.

“We cannot allow this legalised usury through bills that include interest and fines on the interest,” Dr Muscat said.

The Nationalist Party said in reaction that if someone had to come up with an honoris causa in doom and gloom, Dr Muscat would win it hands down.

Malta had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU and 20,000 new jobs were generated over the past four years, notwithstanding the very difficult international economic situation, the party said.

Much more needed to be done to ensure Malta remained competitive and that families continued to benefit from this success, it added.

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