Malta Labour Party leader ALFRED SANT speaks of his party’s proposals on the education sector, housing, new jobs, corruption and more as the election campaign nears the end. Interview by Juan Ameen

While addressing a crowd in Hamrun on Wednesday evening, you said that the government is pushing through large IT contracts. Can you specify which contracts are being pushed forward and if there are any ministers involved?

Large government IT contracts are being negotiated right now – on the eve of a general election. It has become the government’s practice to push forward, on the eve of the elections, discuss and conclude large contracts. This has happened in the past and is happening today. On the eve of an election, negotiations and talks concerning any large government contracts have to be frozen.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has denied that a memo was ever presented to Cabinet proposing a payment system for the public health sector. You had stated that if the government denied this you would prove him wrong. Are you going to do this?

I can confirm that, in 2004, discussions were held at Cabinet and a memo was presented about how the public health sector will be reorganised in such a way so that it will be against payment. I can also confirm that these documents exist and that these will be published by the Malta Labour Party.

Will these documents be published before or after the election takes place?

They will be made public when the time is right.

When will the time be right to publish these documents?

They will be published when the time is right.

While you were addressing Labour supporters in Hamrun and Valletta on Wednesday, you promised that a Labour government will create around 6,000 new jobs. How will the Labour government do this? Does this number include SmartCity?

We are aiming to create 6,000 jobs – these are not simply plans in the air. We have several projects that will help us reach this number. We will be working closely with the leaders of the manufacturing industry – some have stated, around two years ago, that with a number of incentives the number of employees can increase by 2,000. New investment can be attracted to Malta. We estimate that through an effective promotion of Malta’s incentives, increasing space and going into new sectors of manufacturing – such as maritime for example – we can create another 4,000 jobs. This does not include SmartCity – this is another board game.

What plans does a Labour government have for the Dockyards – especially in view of your recent comments that you are prepared to renegotiate the EU package? Are you prepared to continue subsidising it – and for how long?

It is not a matter of keeping subsidies or giving subsidies. In 1996, we had started a restructuring plan. In the EU accession treaty, originally there was the idea for them to be restructured through EU funds – an investment plan was not fully carried out – 40 per cent of these funds were never used.

A serious investment plan needs to be drawn up and implemented in a time frame. It will be done in the national interest and in the interest of the workers. We have all those assets in the dockyard, that cannot just be wiped out. This is a national problem which needs to be tackled through a national plan. Together with the EU we have to create a restructuring plan for the Dockyards and see it from an internal perspective. The guidelines for this will have to be set out when we have the full internal perspective of how the shipyards are doing – we are outside the system at this point.

How will a reception class be introduced in the educational system – won’t a gap year be created, leaving empty classes if it is implemented?

Our proposal must be understood properly. We are calling for a reform of kindergarten and primary school levels. An extra year means that more resources are needed along with a complete reform of the national curriculum. A wide consultation process with all stakeholders – teachers, parents is needed.

We will have to be synoptic about it. It will not be done from one day to another. There will be a cut-off point where young students entering Kindergarten will be entering a better school structure with a better curriculum and a reception class that will ensure that the ground rules are being implemented in a gradual way year after year.

Who is already in the system will not be included in the structure – it’s something that will apply for future schoolchildren. Each year, new cohorts will be included in the system. Other countries have done it. We will be adding an extra year to ensure good schooling at the most significant stages of a child’s life – while this government has added an extra four years to your working life.

When our 10-year-old students meet their European peers, we used to say that the Maltese are far advanced. However, when they turn 14, they fall behind with regards to maturity and level of education. There is too much cramming in our system. The best of us are crammers and the others fall back.

We want to give our children their childhood back. However, we know that this will mean more investment will be needed – school facilities and new teachers and we will make such investment willingly.

Will a Labour government implement any family friendly measures or incentives to attract women into the labour market?

Family friendly measures and incentives to attract women to the workplace: I think it’s important to have a child support system. It is not easy to do this: you need to develop childcare centres. There is still an ongoing debate as to whether these should be at the workplace or in the community. However, unless there is political will to introduce such centres then any measures will not succeed and in my opinion, that political will has not been there. This policy area has been given low priority but it’s got a very high priority for us. We tried an experiment with government organised day centres some 10 years ago in Senglea but at that stage it didn’t work out.

However, another possibility is to have a caring family system, licenced and monitored by the state, for families with whom you can leave your children while the parents go to work.

This is something that we will push through.

Flexi-hours is something else that the government has been speaking about. It has not been very successful so far – we will be pushing this as well through incentives to those firms who will be offering it.

The Labour housing proposals include giving first-time buyers a 10 per cent grant off property worth up to Lm50,000. The grant will have to be paid back, including interest, when the property is sold. Don’t you think that this will create problems in the long-term or discourage people from selling their property – especially if people who sell their first residences have to pay back has to be reimbursed at one go?

We want to promote mobility in the market. So far, the principle is that you pay it back but we haven’t decided if it will be paid back as one lump sum. We still have to discuss in further detail. The concept is all about using public money to help first-time buyers.

The Malta Labour Party is promising a number of incentives such as refunding VAT spent on education through the children’s allowance or repaying half the surcharge to small businesses through a tax credit. Don’t you think that these measures will create more bureaucracy and red tape when you are promising to reduce it?

An advanced IT system that works well is needed – it will reduce the bureaucracy while creating a one-stop shop. If you want to set up a business, you need various permits and if you can get everything from one agency – it’s a one-stop shop. In a way SmartCity is being sold as a one-stop shop.

Careful planning is needed or else problems will be created as is happening now.

How will you ensure that there will not be any cases of conflict of interest or corruption once Labour is in government? Malta is a small island and everyone is related to, or knows each other. How can you be so sure that these cases will not arise?

We mean business and will be hands on. We need ministers who are managers and not simply pose for photos. I believe in a cadre of minister-managers.

As soon as there is a whiff of a possible conflict of interest, you have to be serious about it.

You have to be sure that the severance of conflict of interest has to have taken place.

I don’t agree with Dr Gonzi who tells people to go to the police commissioner when he hears about possible cases of corruption – that is not on.

Very often, the trail is buried but as head of administration the prime minister can make a move on the accusation. The government is promising to implement the Whistleblower Act – why wasn’t it implemented before?

Apart from reducing the surcharge by half for households in the first week, you also promised that the water and electricity tariffs will not be increased. What will happen with the increasing price of oil? For how long will the surcharge be reduced by half for households.

We gave a guarantee that the surcharge will reduced by half for the whole duration of the surcharge, regardless of how high the price will go.

Finally, one last question – how are you feeling?

I like campaigning – I’m enjoying it but I’m regretting that I’m not doing 100 per cent more. I’m having to manage my time more carefully than ever.

In previous campaigns, for instance, I used to go on house visits too – I’m not doing it now but, possibly as a result, I am being more focused on what I say and do.