Speaking at a party activity in Rabat, Dr Sant said that the so-called new PN administration, led by Lawrence Gonzi, is more of the same. “What’s more, they do not learn from their past mistakes,”he added. He accused the government of mounting a propaganda campaign to prepare the people for a rise in water and electricity bills. The government is trying to depict an alarming picture so that when prices are raised people will not complain, as they would have been expecting worse, he explained.

The local oil price crisis is the fault of the previous government, of which Dr Gonzi was a major protagonist, he said, adding that the Nationalists are now trying to imply that the situation was beyond their control. “Some three, four years ago they tried to ridicule the hedging agreement the Labour Party had put in place, saying that it was a waste of money.

They said that a system by which the local prices fluctuate with the international market was better…but since then oil prices have only gone up,”he said.

The Prime Minister’s promise to change the way politics was done in Malta proved to be empty, even from an ethical point of view. Referring to the Skanska issue, he said that Dr Gonzi was the first Prime Minister ever to issue a direct order to his own cousins.

Even local councils had to undergo strict scrutiny in order to safeguard transparency when a contract was being given to someone who is related to a member of the council. And then the Prime Minister issues a direct order to his cousins over a contract of such national importance, he said. “I will keep speaking about these things because the truth must be said. People tell me not to because the persons involved are nice people. Whether they are nice people or not has nothing to do with this,” he said.

The government keeps trying to convince the people that the budget deficit is its main priority, yet wasteful spending practices remain the order of the day, he said. He pointed out that there were some 30 ex-MDC employees who are simply going to work where they sign in and then are sent back home, without being given anything to do.

Besides breaking the morale of these workers, he said, this practice is an example of the government’s mismanagement and wasteful practices. He also mentioned a number of government agencies and authorities which, he said, the government insisted on setting up in every sector.

These authorities are basically doing the work of government departments, only now they are being called authorities and have chairmen, with secretaries and nice cars and board members that get paid exorbitant wages.

To add insult to injury, these authorities are not even doing the job properly, he said, as the mess caused by the Foundation for Medical Services over the Mater Dei hospital is testimony. The MLP had warned the government not to give Skanska the contract it did, whereby the company would be the designer constructor and at the same time the project manager of the hospital, because this would be asking for trouble, he explained.

Despite these mistakes, the government continues with its tactics, he said, making reference to the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools. The foundation basically gave contracts to companies whose owners were from Minister Louis Galea’s constituency. Dr Galea had not yet tabled a magistrate’s report connected to this story in parliament, despite having been requested to do so.

Instead of focusing on the real priorities, the government was setting up foundations to help the “friends of friends”, he said, adding that the Malta Union of Teachers had said that 80 per cent of the National Minimum Curriculum had not been implemented yet, four years after it was launched.

One of the biggest problems with the government is that the Prime Minister refuses to acknowledge the truth and has been caught over and over again making statements that he knew were not true. The Prime Minister had said that he did not know the exact fiscal implications should the government rent parts of Dar Malta, but, Dr Sant said, this was disproved recently from Brussels. “The Prime Minister does know that Malta will pay millions in taxes.”

As for the Freeport, he said, the Prime Minister had said he was not aware that the local freeport bought shares of the Brindisi Freeport and had lost thousands of liri in the process.However a statement issued a few hours later, by the IT and Investments Ministry, went against the claim made by the Prime Minister, he said.

Another case, which Dr Sant said, was creating uncertainty, was the government’s claim that Malta’s adoption of the euro is round the corner, while reports from other quarters show otherwise.

The Nationalists are facing serious problems in Gozo, where, Dr Sant said, many of their members are handing in resignations because the government is not tackling the sister island’s needs efficiently. Dr Sant said that he had a resignation letter in hand wherein a member of the PN sectional committee was resigning because Gozo does not seem to be on the government’s agenda. “The Prime Minister and PN General Secretary Joe Saliba deny facts, however.”

The Labour Party, as it already was doing through its local councils, will lead the way, showing that the country can be run effectively in the interests of the Maltese and Gozitan people, while facing reality and being truthful to the people, he concluded.