The quality of the decisions taken by Government and its appointees is going from bad to worse, said Malta Labour Party (MLP) leader Dr Alfred Sant yesterday during a public meeting held at Vittoriosa.

Dr Sant attributed the situation to the lack of ideas and talent within the government led by Prime Minister Dr Lawrence Gonzi. According to the MLP leader, the lack of the planning is the biggest problem of government.

He said the MLP had for quite some time appealed for the government to come up with serious plans and not base itself on unfulfilled promises. Dr Sant singled out tourism as an area which badly needed a plan.

The people who usually are prudent in their criticism, when faced with the facts in the sector cannot but say the truth, said Dr Sant. He referred to this week’s meeting between hoteliers and the prime minister. It is very clear, said the Opposition leader, that there is a need for plan in the sector, and Dr Gonzi cannot ignore the need for the industry to create new jobs. During Dr Gonzi’s tenure, said Dr Sant, 24 hotels and guesthouses closed, while 7,500 beds have been lost.

The Labour leader denounced the Nationalist Party’s (PN) campaign on the resignation of the former National Statistics Office chief as “strange and stupid”. He denied that a campaign was carried out against the person, whom Dr Sant affirmed to never mentioning personally. Dr Sant claimed the MLP has only asked for an explanation to the revised statistics.

One of the strangest things in this controversy is the resignation of the former director even though the MLP has never asked for it, said Dr Sant. He added that it is strange that the party’s technical questions were still unanswered. He asked why in the former director resigned before answering the MLP’s questions.

Another resignation that caught Dr Sant’s attention was the resignation of the former Enemalta chief executive officer, which the MLP did not call for. While everybody acknowledges Enemalta’s difficulties especially as regards turbines and boilers, Dr Sant said government is expected to give an explanation about this resignation, and to stop covering up the truth and deceiving the public.

The Manwel Dimech Bridge is another area where government is changing its tune, claimed the Labour leader. In previous weeks, government said there was no need to carry out work on the bridge’s pillars, said Dr Sant, even though they are made out of the same concrete which make up the carriageway which is being replaced.

However, government is now claiming that work needs to be carried out on the pillars. Speaking about local councils, Dr Sant claims the PN has made many promises which cannot be fulfilled, even though the post European Parliament election internal report had spoken against such practices. On the contrary, Dr Sant stated that his party has always kept its promises.

Referring to his visit to Munxar, Dr Sant said the PN has been promising a huge project in the village square for the last six years, even though it knows that the council does not have enough money. Instead, said the Labour leader, the Nationalist majority in Munxar carried out illegal works at the Ta’ Sanap cliffs, where a concrete road was made, against every practice of producing a road in the countryside. The work has also divided the Nationalist councillors, claimed Dr Sant.

It comes to no surprise that on average MLP councils fulfil 85 per cent of their manifesto while PN councils just manage through the halfway mark, said Dr Sant. This is because the PN keeps on making promises it cannot fulfil, while the MLP commits itself only to targets it can keep, he asserted. This emerged very clearly in the visits made in Birzebbuga, Luqa and Qormi where a great deal of work on roads was carried out, said Dr Sant.

The Opposition leader spoke about the MLP’s vision statement on local councils. He pledged that a Labour government would overhaul the local wardens’ system. According to Dr Sant, wardens have become like tax collectors who are being threatened of being fired if they do not produce enough tickets. He also promised to set up a board that would coordinate infrastructural works with a view to producing efficient work from the start without squandering money.

The meeting was also addressed by the party deputy leaders Dr Charles Mangion and Dr Michael Falzon.