Opposition leader Simon Busuttil insisted yesterday someone had to answer for the fact that former minister Manuel Mallia’s wife had been granted Maltese citizenship after only two years of marriage.
Describing the matter as “a blatant abuse of power”, he called on the government to explain and on Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to shoulder political responsibility.
Addressing Nationalist Party activists at Santa Luċija, Dr Busuttil referred to a new story that appeared yesterday in The Malta Independent on Sunday saying that Codruta Mallia had been granted Maltese citizenship after two years of marriage as opposed to the required five.
He wondered why she was allowed to skip the queue. “Is it because she is the wife of the minister who was responsible for citizenship? This is blatant abuse and we need answers. I urge the Prime Minister to take action imminently,” Dr Busuttil said.
He said the PN had made inroads in the south of Malta in the last local elections, winning new seats and registering swings of up to 19 per cent.
Dr Busuttil said the Labour Party made promises to people in the south only to forget about them once the election was over.
It is all about people. We have to be the people’s party
As an example, he mentioned the promise to build the new power station in the first two years of the legislature. Instead, the government had inaugurated a project – the interconnector – that was conceived, planned and started under the previous Nationalist administration.
He mentioned the new Parliament building, to be inaugurated today, noting it was another project conceived by former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi, “who had a vision for Valletta”.
Dr Busuttil criticised the government over its purchase of a €2 million office for Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi’s wife, Sai Mizzi, who was not only Malta’s trade enjoy but was “secretly” made consul for Shanghai, in addition to receiving a €13,000 monthly salary.
On the proposed development of an American university in Marsascala, he said this should not be built at the cost of damaging the environment.
On Friday, it will be Dr Busuttil’s second anniversary as leader of the PN. He noted that in the last general election, the party had only managed to take four of 20 seats in the second, third, fourth and fifth electoral districts.
The results of the last round of local elections showed that the PN was making substantial gains in the southern localities, including Birżebbuġa, Paola, Żejtun, Santa Luċija, Marsa and Kirkop.
It was evident the south was ready to trust the PN if it remained close to the people, Dr Busuttil said.
“It is all about people. We have to be the people’s party. If we focus on that, then the PN will be capable of regaining the electorate’s trust,” he said.