Labour leader Joseph Muscat yesterday told his supporters not to expect the government to give up power anytime soon, saying the “oligarchy” will cling to power till the last day.
Each day is a wasted day for Malta
“But each day is a wasted day for Malta,” he said, stressing that the country’s best days lay ahead.
In his annual May Day speech, made during a rally in Palace Square, Valletta, Dr Muscat said the country was being run “by the few for the few”. The government was dragging its feet because it wanted a chance to give out favours to a select few.
He said it was clear that the majority of Parliament wanted to “take a decision” but the government was “stifling the spirit of democracy”.
Meanwhile, the Opposition was acting responsibly and serenely, extending a hand to the government in the hope of reaching a reasonable solution. “We are on the right side of history. While others are stuck in their ivory tower, we are one with the people. The Opposition leader lashed out at the government for building a new Parliament when it could not afford to do so.
“This is like a father who buys himself a luxury car when he cannot afford it and when he cannot even borrow the money from a bank, so he gets someone else to buy it for him,” he said, simplifying the government’s Special Purpose Vehicle being proposed to fund the new Parliament.
Money that could be spent on increasing the number of operations, fixing roads and funding social services was being spent capriciously, he said.
Meanwhile, cuts were being made in sectors like healthcare, where, for example, organisations working with disabled children were not being given enough funds. But the day of judgement would arrive and Labour would face the people with a clear road-map aimed at making Malta the best in the EU.
Dr Muscat said his government would declare an unprecedented war on illiteracy and, “as we did in the past”, eradicate poverty.
He said the education system was currently being run like the health system, where a new hospital building still had patients being left in the corridors.
Children were being left in “metaphorical corridors” he said, pointing out that 36 per cent of children were leaving school at 16, many without basic skills.
Dr Muscat repeated the pledge he made last Sunday that under his government every young person will be provided with education, training or employment.
This, he said, was being pushed in every EU country by the Party of European Socialists through €10 billion worth of EU funds.