The biggest lesson of the US presidential election was that the people voted against the establishment, and Malta too has an establishment which the people can remove because it is corrupt or is closing an eye to corruption, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this morning.

Speaking on Radio 101, Dr Busuttil insisted that the establishment in Malta was the Prime Minister and the two people around him found to have set up secret companies in Panama. It was not known yet whether Dr Muscat had set up a secret company, but he had defended the actions of the others, he said.

Dr Busuttil was speaking two hours after Prime Minister Joseph Muscat insisted that it was the opposition, not the government, which was the establishment .

In his brief comments Dr Busuttil drew comparisons between the local establishment and the reality which the people were feeling.   

He said that while members of the establishment were setting up secret companies and trying to open accounts in which to deposit a million euro a year, the Maltese people had seen inflation rising faster than wages, meaning the people's purchasing power had declined.  

The establishment was trying to conclude an agreement to buy electricity for 18 years from a power station which was not needed, at rates which were not the lowest for the people.

The establishment had come up with a Paceville masterplan which removed people's houses and replaced them by roads and squares to benefit a small group of individuals.

Under the establishment, ITU patients were given expired medicines, the results of nurses exams were withdrawn hours after they were published and the elderly had to buy expensive medicines, while the establishment handed away three public hospitals just two days before giving the go-ahead for Panama companies and accounts. 

In the area of public order, the people were worried as three car bombs blew up within a few months, crime in general increased, bribes were sought for medical visas and political pressure was exerted for the police to release a man under arrest, while the establishment's police instead of defending the people, covered up for those involved in the Panama scandal, among others

In reaction to all this, Dr Busuttil said, the PN had already declared that it backed proposals for the minimum wage to be raised.

It backed those who were protesting over the Paceville masterplan and had committed to giving the people a voice while safeguarding their homes. 

On the sale of public hospitals, the PN had already said that it would investigate every contract negotiated by people who had set up secret companies, and if necessary, those contracts would be stopped.

The PN in government would also instil confidence in the police and the armed forces by introducing a system whereby the commanders were appointed after approval by two-thirds of the members of parliament.   

The lesson of the US elections for Malta, therefore, was that the people could vote to remove the establishment, Dr Busuttil said.