11 November was the day when this government lost its legitimacy, Opposition Leader Adrian Delia said on Sunday morning, at a party activity in Sliema.
He was referring to Keith Schembri’s dismissal of a libel suit he had filed against former nationalist leader Simon Busuttil.
“This was not a case filed against Keith Schembri but a case Schembri filed. He had accused Simon Busuttil of lying about him and took him to court. He did so because, he said, he wanted the truth to come out. However, he refused to testify, because the truth would have condemned him,” Delia charged.
The PN leader said the magistrate, perplexed, had ordered Schembri three times to take the stand and testify, warning that he could be arrested, but Schembri still refused because he did not want the truth to come out. “The truth would have proved Simon Busuttil right.”
But this is not a story between two people only. This is about the government’s legitimacy, Delia continued.
He said the Prime Minister had lied to Parliament but, unlike him, Schembri could not lie in court. Doing so would have landed him in prison. Telling the truth would have had the same result. Schembri had been left with no other option but to run away, he said.
Reacting to criticism, by the PM, that he had also dropped libel suits he had previously instituted against Daphne Caruana Galizia, Delia said this was a very different scenario. “Democracy requires that no one pursues libel cases against the heirs of a murdered journalist. That would have been an assault on democracy and free speech - an attempt to kill the truth.”
When the PM had been advised to drop his own libel suits against the Caruana Galizias, he had said he would only do that with certain conditions, insisting that the family had to apologize to him. “This is a government that has lost its legitimacy.”
Delia noted that Muscat had previously sacked ministers for much less. So what does Schembri know about Muscat that he has his hands tied behind his back, he asked?
“We will only stop speaking about corruption when the corruption ends. But corruption is in this government’s intrinsic nature.”
The PN Leader also referred to a report, in The Malta Independent on Sunday, which found that the rich are richer while others are being left behind.
He also referred to the hospitals privatization deal, saying that the taxpayer is paying an additional €50 million a year. “Has the quality of the service improved by the same ratio,” he asked?
“Taxpayers give their money expecting a better service, not to help private investors make profits.”
He also referred to the Wied Qirda debacle, saying that Infrastructure Malta contractors had refused to obey orders to halt illegal works there. “This government feels it is above the law, that the courts are an extension of its powers, that the Attorney General’s Office and Infrastructure Malta are an extension of its powers.”
Delia said he believes in what is right, in the Maltese people. “Although we have a corrupt government we have good people. The government has hijacked power in this country but people are speaking up against this and are standing up to be counted,” he said, referring to Saturday’s anti-corruption protest.
“This is not an issue of power, but of threatened democracy. Politicians alone are not enough. The people have to speak up. We have to forget our differences and work together on those things that unite us, such as the fight against corruption.”
He also said that, the bigger the challenge, the stronger the PN becomes. “When the country needs us, it will find us there, united.”