The Nationalist Party did not have the political will to tackle corruption and even left it out of its electoral programme, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday.

We want to be an open government and involve people through active citizenship

The PN also failed to mention the law on party financing and the Whistleblower Act, two laws that a Labour government would enact immediately, he said.

Dr Muscat commented on the fact that, though Lawrence Gonzi had said he agreed with Labour’s pledge to remove the time bar on corruption cases involving politicians, the PN did not include this in the electoral programme.

Dr Muscat said there were undercurrents pushing to keep the country dependent on the purchase of oil as the PN-led government had three times refused offers for a pipeline supplying gas to the island.

“Who has an interest that Malta continues purchasing €1 million worth of oil every day? There are people who have oil-stained hands and who pocket commissions on these purchases,” Dr Muscat told supporters at the Valletta Waterfront.

He again asked whether the Prime Minister had published all the reports on Enemalta.

Dr Muscat said the stories that were surfacing, showing that the Government lost three opportunities to introduce gas-fired generating systems, made one question the real reason behind this.

The first opportunity came with an Italian proposal in 2000 to link Malta to the Libya-Sicily pipeline.

The second, in 2004, was by an Algerian company that offered a major investment to convert the power stations to gas.

Then, in 2008, despite a Cabinet decision to go for gas, the Government decided to build a power station using heavy fuel oil.

“We want to get rid of oil and go for gas, which is cheaper and cleaner. The propaganda which says that the power station fired with oil is not bad for people’s health is pathetic. We will convert it to gas. This is our promise,” Dr Muscat said.

He lambasted the Government for saying that it would rely on the interconnector with Sicily for 70 per cent of the country’s energy needs when it did not know what it would cost to purchase such electricity yet.

He reiterated that the Nationalists, if re-elected, would once again increase electricity tariffs.

Turning to education, Dr Muscat said the tablet Labour was promising to give to Year 4 students was a tool to combat illiteracy, which was one of the main causes of poverty.

Regarding the stipend system, he recalled, in 2005, Dr Gonzi had reduced it to €83 a month from €125 and had halved the Smart Card benefit.

He said Labour would retain the system and top up the stipends with the cost-of-living-allowance.

Dr Muscat said Labour would not get trapped in a political auction launched by others who were “panic-stricken” and were “promising everything”.

He insisted that Labour was the underdog in this election and appealed to people to continue joining the movement that wanted a real change in direction for the country.

“We want to be an open government and involve people through active citizenship.

“This is the style of leadership we want to give this country,” he said.