From Mr E. Privitera
It seems that the Nationalist Party strategists believe that by filling pages of newspapers with adverts, they can fool the great majority of readers. They also seem to believe that by putting up billboards all over Malta and Gozo, together with very costly publications sent to each household by ministers, paid for by taxpayers of different political views and intended to help the Nationalist Party’s electoral campaign, they can do the trick! They seem to be unaware that the vast majority of voters have already realised that the Nationalist Party’s campaign is based mostly on downright lies!
I give two blatant examples: A Nationalist Party journalist, accompanied by a cameraman, was sent to Republic Street, Valletta to interview passers-by. They approached people, putting the microphone in front of their mouth while asking them: “Do you agree with Labour who want to reduce social services?” Who in his right senses would say “yes” to such a question, especially those who do not read the papers or follow the news and hence are not aware that that question was invented by the Nationalist Party and was a downright lie? How on earth could Labour even dream of such a thing, when it was Labour that created social services?
The second example is viler still. This lie was invented by Dr Lawrence Gonzi or whoever told him to say it. On the subject of the promise made by Labour that no income tax will be charged on overtime work, Dr Gonzi has been saying, and repeating, that Labour wants overtime work to be paid at the normal hourly rate instead of, say, at one-and-a-half or double, at times even treble, the normal rate. This is another downright lie!
Dr Gonzi was probably advised to invent this lie to cover up what he and his government had recommended in a document sent to the social partners around three years ago. In that document, the Nationalist Party government recommended that overtime work should start to be paid at the normal hourly rate instead of at one-and-a-half or double, as is the practise, for the first four hours of overtime work up to a total of 100 hours of overtime work a year.
That this proposal by Dr Gonzi failed to materialise was due to the stand taken against it by the General Workers’ Union. Dr Gonzi is being challenged to deny this. A similar proposal was made in the case of Air Malta employees and yet Dr Gonzi, caught in a state of panic at seeing the very end of his government, and of himself as party leader, approaching in a few weeks time, continues to spin one lie after another.
The more he does this, the more he increases his chances of becoming Malta’s most prolific serial loser of elections – losing six in a row!
Eddy Privitera
MOSTA