In its first year in government, Labour showed that it had no road map and was not prepared to lead the country, PN leader Simon Busuttil said this morning.
Addressing a political activity at Ta’ Xbiex, he said the government was having to backtrack on certain decisions while going against its pre-election pledges such as that of meritocracy.
A government elected on the mandate to change direction, it increased those on the employment register by some 500 people. He added that the government’s only solution was to try and conceal the problem by employing people in the civil service.
The PN leader said that only those in the PL’s inner circle were being engaged accusing the government of discriminating even among Labour supporters. At the same time, taxpayers were bearing the brunt of these decisions.
Dr Busuttil said that a year on even the health sector had regressed. He referred to out-of-stock medicines, saying that the situation at Mater Dei was alarming to the point that the stock of sodium chloride drip had “dropped dramatically”.
The Opposition leader said that former Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia was made the scapegoat, to hide the fact that the government had no ideas for the sector.
Dr Busuttil said that Labour’s movement of moderates and progressives had suddenly vanished. He also questioned Joseph Cuschieri’s u-turn to contest the MEP election after saying that the PL was putting its weight behind some of the candidates.
Dr Busuttil asked if Mr Cuschieri’s “conversion” was the result of being promised something in return, in case he would not be elected. He also questioned whether taxpayers would be the ones to pay for such a deal.
The Opposition leader said that this government was using people and betraying them after winning their trust.
“If the PM does not even respect Cuschieri who gave up his seat for him, how can he respect you” Dr Busuttil asked.
The PN leader also accused the Education Ministry of publishing a legal notice “in stealth” to be able to use the students personal data for research purposes. He questioned whether this information would be used for political motives, saying that the minister would be vested with “disproportionate powers”. Dr Busuttil said that there was no need to know the students ID Card number to carry out research.
“If you want the information about our children you need the courage to ask the parent’s consent. As a parent I do not want Mr Bartolo to be given access to such personal information."
Dr Busuttil said that Malta was not a communist state where the government could take a Big Brother approach.
Dr Busuttil also hit out against Justice Minister Owen Bonnici accusing him of keeping the road incident in which he was involved a few days ago under wraps. “The government wants to know all information about our children, but then goes silent if it involves Owen Bonnici”.
The PN leader said that this incident reinforced his argument that the police commissioner was the government’s puppet.
Dr Busuttil accused the government of trying to instil a culture of intimidation, and urged the people to stand up and be counted. He vouched the PN would come to their defence.
"This government is not leading by example so the role of the PN is to step in and show the way."
Referring to next month’s MEP election, he said it was very difficult for the PN to win in terms of vote, but this could be an opportunity to convey the message that the party had learnt its lesson and was a credible alternative.