Opposition Leader Adrian Delia this morning blasted the government over the “dirty” hospitals deal, asking how unknown investors were allowed to make off with €60 million while being allowed to choose their successors.  

Speaking in Valletta, Delia said he has repeatedly asked the government why the government did not enforce the contract. Why was it treating the anonymous people behind VGH “like they were its greatest friends?”

“Chris Fearne knows. The Prime Minister knows. But they cannot speak out,” the PN leader said.

He insisted that the government cannot allow someone who was contractually bound to invest in the health sector to just walk away. “Where have the €60 million gone? Who is behind this company? Why are we treating them with velvet gloves? Why are we not demanding that they abide by the contract? The government is guilty of dereliction of duty, it has abdicated its responsibilities.”

Delia referred to the court action he filed this week, in bid to nullify the original government-VGH contract, insisting this was not some political strategy. “These are our hospitals.”

Earlier, Delia referred to the latest Eurobarometer survey, which showed that the main concerns of the Maltese were crime and migration.

“These are among the issues I have been speaking about for the last six months. This is because I understood from day one that the only way you can make a difference is to really know what people are feeling.”

While 12% of Europeans listed crime as their main concern, the rate in Malta is 45%.

“This is not a coincidence. It’s not that many people have suddenly become criminals. People do not just become criminals in a country where the government boasts of registering a surplus, of being the best in Europe. It happened because people have lost faith in the police force.”

Delia said the government would not even acknowledge the problem, let alone address it. “No one has faith in the police commissioner. The government cannot ignore this.”

He spoke about the countless reports that should have been investigated but were not, and the reinstatement into the police force of people with a criminal record.

People do not feel safe and the elderly are afraid to live alone in their own homes, he said. Today there are places where you would not let your children play outside because it is not safe.

“Where has the ‘happiest country in the world’ gone?”

Delia said we now live in a country where money rules, where people are afraid to speak up and are afraid that they will be punished if they do not support the government.

He then turned to migration, which is an area of concern for 32% of Maltese, according to the EU survey.

Delia said this was not an issue of racism, but said many foreign workers were coming to Malta not, like before, to work in new and lucrative sectors, but to compete with the Maltese for the “poorest of jobs.”

He said this influx of foreign workers was leading to a boom in construction and skyrocketing rent prices, with the result that Maltese people were struggling to afford accommodation.  

“These are the issues that we have to discuss. We have to give a voice to these people.” Rents have more than doubled, he said, yet the government was doing nothing about this.

“The government is only preoccupied with those who are becoming rich out of this, but forgets those who are struggling.”

He also insisted that the government was not doing anything on social housing, for those “who have no place where to start a family, and those who are raising a child alone.”

“Who will speak for the 3,000+ people who are desperately hoping that they will be accepted for social housing?”

Delia said the government had not only destroyed the country’s good reputation but also most of the good work done by previous administrations. “They lacked a plan so they started selling the country off, starting with passports and going on to our hospitals.”

Fortunately, he said, there is also a serious Opposition in this country. “We will be the voice of the voiceless, a united Opposition that takes the necessary action to safeguard the country.

“The Nationalist Party can never lose because we will never throw away our principles and morals. Despite the elections, despite the surveys, we will not compromise on our principles. We will not play for numbers.  We will always be on the right side. The PN can never lose.”