The PN has called on the Prime Minister to “walk the talk” with regard to good governance.

Shadow minister Jason Azzopardi said that while in his speech to Commonwealth leaders the Prime Minister had emphasised the need for governments to “subject themselves to increased scrutiny”, his own government was gaining a reputation for secrecy and lack of transparency.

Taking last week’s CHOGM as an example, Dr Azzopardi said that despite three parliamentary questions asking for details of how much the government had spent on the EU-Africa migration and CHOGM summits, Dr Muscat has still not provided the information.

“Dr Muscat must be trying to hide the hundreds of thousands of taxpayer money spent through direct orders and given on the OPM’s instructions to companies belonging to his friends,” Dr Azzopardi claimed.

Dr Muscat must be trying to hide the hundreds of thousands spent through direct orders to his friends

Dr Azzopardi named TEC Ltd as a company that had been given several direct orders including for the building of a tent at Ħagar Qim – to host a dinner which never took place – and a newly formed car company from Qormi which he claimed rented out 100 of the 140 cars leased for the CHOGM.

“Many things are being said about the waste of money in contracts connected to these meetings and the government should come clean. If the government has nothing to hide, Dr Muscat should provide all the necessary information.”

PN spokesman Ċensu Galea said that despite the promise of transparency before the election, Dr Muscat’s lack of good governance had meant that the electorate was being kept in complete darkness on important contracts.

He mentioned the power station, public transport and the privatisation of the hospitals as some of the major deals which the government had kept under wraps despite the calls for transparency.