A new residence for disabled people opened this week in Żabbar serves to prove that economic growth was reaching the people, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said.
Speaking during a ceremony at the new home, set up as part of the government’s Soċjetà Ġusta project, Dr Muscat said that until recently, there were few places where people with disabilities could live when their relatives could no longer care for them.
“This is a social revolution. We were in a situation where people with disabilities, as well as their relatives, were concerned about their future,” Dr Muscat said.
He insisted that in the past, such residences did not cater for all types of disabilities, making it more difficult for some of those living in such homes to integrate with the rest of society.
This is a social revolution
This was not the case with the new homes, Dr Muscat stressed, pointing out that residents were not just being offered a roof over their heads.
“This system within the community not only ensures that they have a roof over their heads but that they are given the opportunity to integrate. This project is proof that society is benefitting from good economic growth,” Dr Muscat said.
He then urged Żabbar residents, attending the opening, to help the new residents integrate, telling them he knew that the “sense of community” in the locality was strong and that he had no doubt that they would welcome those moving into the new home.
Meanwhile, fielding questions from journalists following a tour of the home, Dr Muscat defended the employment of some 700 people as persons of trust, consultants, people employed in positions of trust and politically appointed individuals.
The Malta Independent on Sunday reported there are currently 683 people in these positions.
Dr Muscat insisted that such employment was not “irregular”, adding that these positions of trust stop once a minister “walks out the door”.
Asked about the decision by Parliament to introduce a parliamentary pension for those serving just one legislature, Dr Muscat said that this matter would address “certain anomalies”.
He said that there were a number of MPs who had served their country well but did so for just one legislature and therefore ended up suffering “great injustices”.