Labour deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia told Parliament yesterday that taxpayers were having to make good for the government's power of incumbency, inefficiency, bureaucracy, incompetence and corruption.
Speaking during the debate in second reading of the Budgetary Measures Implementation Bill, Dr Farrugia said that last year's Budget clearly showed the government was so incompetent that it was compelled to increase the forecast deficit by over €200 million. Of this sum, only between €15 million and €16 million were allotted to the safeguarding of jobs.
The GDP had nose-dived and stood at 72 per cent of the EU average, meaning that the distribution of wealth in Malta lagged behind the EU average by more than 25 per cent.
Dr Farrugia said Maltese families had had to make huge sacrifices last year, with families living in the risk of poverty. There were over 2,000 households where the electricity supply had been suspended when these families, under EU policy, had a right to energy supplies. This proved that the government did not have a social conscience. Economic poverty was also on the increase.
The Forum Unions Maltin, representing over 12,000 workers, had a right to be represented on the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development and the Meusac Core Group.
Dr Farrugia referred to the human development index published by the UN Development Programme last November, which had put Malta in the 38th place among 182 countries, compared to some years ago when it had ranked 22nd.
Malta ranked 60th with regard to adult literacy.
While the government kept boasting that it was increasing employment, NSO figures showed that the unemployment rate was continuing to rise consistently. The number of registered unemployed stood at 7.2 per cent last October, increasing to 16 per cent in Malta and 11 per cent in Gozo over the last 12 months. For the first time there were a number of unemployed graduates registering for work.
Dr Farrugia said that according to the NSO, there were 57,380 people living below the poverty line between 2003 and 2007. This figure exceeded the EU average.
A survey conducted by sociologist Charles Tabone and psychologist Angela Abela showed that 21 per cent of children had experienced this type of economic poverty. A substantial number of students were leaving school without the necessary basic skills.
Turning to the dockyards, Dr Farrugia said the government had divested itself of all its bargaining power and weakened its position in the sale of the Drydocks.
He also referred to the letter written by former minister Jesmond Mugliett before the election assuring bus owners that an agreement had been reached. Dr Farrugia said surely this letter must have been written with the blessing of the Prime Minister, but the government had now changed its position.
The government had won the 2008 general election through the power of incumbency, and now the people were being made to pay for its failures.
Factors which had to be dealt with over the years were left unaddressed, and this had led not only to the increasing number of persons living below the poverty line, but also to the erosion of living conditions for the elderly who had been left without sufficient money and without medicines.
He criticised the government's failure to pay its suppliers of medicines, saying that this had brought about a situation where those needing medication, especially the elderly, were told that the products were out of stock.
Dr Farrugia criticised the government for having already spent more than €1 million on Renzo Piano's Valletta project even before the project had started to be implemented. On the other hand, the government said that it could not finance the examination fees of a few young people whose families could not afford to pay them.
The government lacked seriousness. People had lost interest in politics because they had lost faith in the government.
Dr Farrugia called on those progressive people who were confident in Malta's future to join the Labour Party. He described the way the government was conducting business as dishonest, devoid of responsibility and accountability and one which did not address everyone's issues.
The government had become aloof to the people's needs, and people should now look to Labour.
Stefan Buontempo (PL) said that apart from the 68 local councils there would soon be 16 administrative councils and five regional committees - a total of 89 committees or councils of one kind or another. Supporting subsidiarity was one thing, but fragmenting local government in this way posed additional problems.
During the debate on the local councils' estimates he had said that the government must stop following a culture of dilettantism, which made for mediocrity, and turn to greater professionalism, even with due respect to real democracy. The great number of infrastructural limitations should no longer be allowed to justify mediocrity.
No reform of local councils could be effective without a thorough revamping of government practices in almost all departments and entities. This should be done without any thought of political advantage, such as when preparing the Budget.
No local council had been involved in the preparation of public-private partnerships for the remaking of roads, for example. Yet the government remained adamant on offloading its responsibilities onto the fragile infrastructure of local councils. Dr Buontempo said no human person could possibly cope with what the government was expecting from the intended Executive Secretary for all 16 administrative councils. No wonder so many people were sceptical when it came to discussing local councils.
Another example of lack of professionalism was the reform of the local wardens system, which was now urgently needed. It should be less focussed on penalising people and more on education.
What had happened to the highly-publicised notion of a one-stop shop for the best possible service to the public? he asked.
Concluding, Dr Bontempo said that the government had made empty promises about local councils before the local elections. Residents in Birżebbuġa and Marsascala had been deceived by the government on environmental protection because of the fish farm planned in the areas and the Freeport extension.