Addressing a discussion meeting in Ghaxaq yesterday morning, Malta Labour Party leader Alfred Sant said that today’s government has become increasingly detached from the people. He cited the controversy over the extension of development zones, the Mater Dei hospital development, the education bill under discussion in Parliament and the irregular migration problem as examples of how the government had lost touch with the populace.
On the issue of irregular migration, Dr Sant asked why it had taken someone like Bob Geldof to declare that Malta needed more support from the European Union to deal with the problem, when such a statement should have, in fact, come from Foreign Minister Michael Frendo.
The MLP, Dr Sant pledged, is ready to lend its full support to the government on the matter in order to better look after the national interest. In terms of irregular migration, Dr Sant said that the government needed to insist with the EU, Libya and Tunisia that the problem is dealt with seriously. The government, he said, must be in tune with the feelings of the Maltese, while also understanding the “genuine problems” of the migrants.
Dr Sant also alleged corruption in the extension of the development zones and reminded those present of the unanswered call he had made to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to publish a list of people whose properties were involved in the proposed scheme. He also referred to the fact that the public consultation period included the facility for land owners whose land had not been originally included in the scheme to apply for inclusion.
This, said Dr Sant, provided for a further extension of the development zones about which no one would know and that would not be subject to any period of pubic consultation.
Turning to the matter of the costly Mater Dei hospital development, Dr Sant referred to expenditure on the project as “waste upon waste” and challenged Finance Ministry parliamentary secretary Tonio Fenech over the final cost of the project, which the government had said would be capped at Lm250 million.
The MLP leader said that his information pointed to expenditure rising well above the Lm250 million mark – expenditure that would have been far lower had the project been led properly and not suffered from corrupt practices.
He also had harsh words for the new education bill that is currently under discussion. He remarked: “Far from aiming to reduce illiteracy rates, or increase the uptake of science and technology, the Education Minister Louis Galea is only interested in the setting up of new administrative structures.”
Dr Sant also continued to press his case against parliamentary secretary Tony Abela, saying that the Prime Minister’s continued defence of the PS was a clear indication of how the government had lost touch with the people.
He called on Dr Abela to “decide whether to carry on working as a notary or as a parliamentary secretary”.
Bringing the meeting to a close, Dr Sant said that the MLP was working hard on a set of proposals that would put the country back on the right track and that the party was, day after day, meeting with as many of the general public as possible, to hear their concerns before the next general election.