Every citizen should be empowered and rewarded for his work. Every citizen should be given the opportunity, motivation, skills and resources to believe in himself, be ambitious towards a productive future and succeed in achieving goals. 

Achieving prosperity for all is a vision that requires determination, wisdom and resilience from the government.

The strategy has been planned for some time and was fully unveiled a few days ago during the presentation of the Financial Estimates 2017. 

A week after its announcement, reactions were various, but the general feeling is an understanding that it is a social budget that gives, rather than takes away.

Our belief as a political party is that society’s strength is measured by the progress achieved by those considered the most vulnerable. Thus it makes perfect sense to increase pensions, give wider access to free medicines, streng-then and expand in-work benefit and double the rent subsidy. 

At the same time, we keep investing in future generations with cleaner energy, new schools, expanding the first-time buyer scheme and maintaining free childcare services.

The government is once again pushing forward human reforms, showing that it puts the well-being of people at the centre of its work. 

It was clear from the start that in order to achieve these standards, we had to create quality careers and opportunities in education, which are essential for motivating our youth and the workforce to advance in their career paths.

For the Ministry for Home Affairs, this is exactly our target: creating careers and not just jobs. We firmly believe that the aspiration to be a part of and serve in a disciplined force is a vocation. The person has to have drive, be passionate and feel that his purpose in life is to safeguard and protect. 

In the past two years, I have made it a personal goal to meet as many of these members as possible. I was left impressed by the energy, ideas and will that exist among our forces to keep on reaching new levels.

We firmly believe that the aspiration to be a part of and serve in a disciplined force is a vocation

We are committed to allowing for an ever-growing body of professionals with an expanding skill set to serve in the force. 

What was once a dream, an idea, has today become a tangible milestone to strive for. With the setting up of the Academy for Disciplined Forces we want to pass on a strong message: that the academy is here to assist and train all members and provide for them new horizons in the field of both academic and tacit education. 

In recent days, I had the opportunity to attend the passing out parade of 120 police recruits, who had successfully completed a 14-week intensive course. It has to be made clear, we’re aiming to reach higher. The next police recruitment will be done through the Academy for Disciplined Forces.

Our target is the accreditation of the courses offered by the aca-demy.  The Armed Forces accreditation has already been achieved by MQRIC at recruitment level.

In the meantime, the recruitment course for 60 new trainee correctional officers has commenced at Ta’ Kandja. For the first time, we are providing a restructured programme, which has been redesigned and refined to serve as a solid first step in officers’ upcoming careers.

Investing in human resources also requires the provision of modern equipment for the implementation of duties in a more efficient manner. The Civil Protection Department is seeing the renewal of its fire engine fleet with an €8 million, five-year plan after a 20-year absence. Twenty-four fire engines will be purchased for use against domestic and rural fires. In the coming months, six light fire engines are due to be delivered. They will serve as the first responders for fire and rescue. 

The future also looks bright for the modernisation of assets. A glance at the Armed Forces shows that a four-year plan, with an all-time record investment of €75 million, is being made in a new offshore patrol vessel, the upgrade of the vessel P61. The bomb disposal equipment is also being upgraded.

All the while, working conditions will keep being strengthened. We have already doubled the soldiers’ allowance and reduced the tax rate for extra duties worked by Police officers.

Moreover, 170 firefighters have been given pension rights after 25 years of service. 

We promised justice, and we’re delivering. 

The government is also trying to rectify past injustices, and €8 million is being allocated for this purpose in the Budget. As a result the long-standing claim by police officers on unpaid extra work carried out between 1993 and 2009 will start to be addressed. 

Workers who feel appreciated and who are treated with dignity are motivated to provide a superior service. 

I am proud to be part of this Cabinet, which is addressing the needs and concerns of the entire societal spectrum: from business people and middle-class families to persons with disabilities, pensioners, low-income workers and the unemployed.

Carmelo Abela is Minister for Home Affairs and National Security.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.