Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Thursday that he is not satisfied with the level of cleanliness in Malta.

Speaking at a political event linked to Labour’s annual general conference, he said that maybe the contractors are not doing their work as he should or maybe people throw out rubbish after it has been collected or maybe even the tourists are to blame, however, none of the thousands of reasons can justify the level of cleanliness.

Muscat promised that cleanliness will be raised to a high level, saying that although the waste is now being taken out on the day it should be, the government intends to introduce more discipline. He also noted that the local councils will be a crucial element and that it will be part of the manifesto.

The PM said that when Opposition Leader Adrian Delia spoke in Ta’ Xbiex on Wednesday evening, he forgot to mention that if it were for him the residents of this locality would not be voting on May 25. He said the strategy was aimed at the people who would be voting for the Labour Party.

He said that the PN did not want people to judge the government or the opposition, but that he looks forward to people judging the government.

“The judgment could be good or bad but we will bow our head down to the judgement.”

Muscat said that he believes that what the PL will be proposing for the local councils will be a big jump in quality. “The local councils are not my favourite,” Muscat admitted, but said that with the reforms he believes this will change.

“We will give them depth and not just be tagging along with the central government,” Muscat said of the local councils. “In the manifestos, you will see the vision for the local councils, you will see them at the forefront.”

Speaking about the manifestos for all the local councils, 28 in total, Muscat said that he read them all and gave his feedback. The manifestos include a lot of detail, discussing road by road and the peculiarities of some localities, Muscat said, adding that “we saw what the localities needed.”

Muscat also mentioned that Malta has a surplus for the third consecutive year, after nearly 25 years of losing money. The surplus goes to plans for the future but also to fixing mistakes made by others in the past.

The government is keeping its electoral promises but addressing injustices and anomalies of the past, Muscat said. He was referring to the money given back to people that were public workers (korpi) that were stopped from working before 1979, dock workers, and police officials.

He said that 6,000 people will soon start receiving cheques and will between them receive about €11 million. “We are giving money to people that were owed it, that other people left them wishing for.”

Over the past three years the total cost given to these people will amount to around €33 million, Muscat noted. When the PN used to make these types of pledges, Muscat said, they would turn people against each other. They used to tell people that they will take their money to give them to others.

Muscat also mentioned the money that was given back to those who bought cars and paid tax but were also charged VAT. Then too, the PN told people they will have to pay to give these people back this money.

He said he knows there are other problems but “today we are talking about what can be given, whilst in the past they spoke about what is being taken.”