President of the PN’s General Council Mark Anthony Sammut said that the Maltese people are facing a harsh reality because of the current inflation in food prices.

“The government remains non-reactive, but rather continues with its campaign of squandering taxpayer’s money on the Labour Party’s personal interests.”

The Nationalist Party addressed, on Tuesday, the recently published National Statistics Office’s statistics on the inflation of food prices, that of a 5.24% increase.

Sammut mentioned Carmen Ciantar’s case, the Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation for Medical Services who received a contract of more than €13,000 monthly, solely for being close to the Minister for Health Chris Fearne.

The contract was deemed irregular by the National Auditor’s Office and was not approved by the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Finance Alfred Camilleri as well as the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Health Joseph Rapa, said Sammut. He added that despite this, the contract was approved by Prime Minister Robert Abela himself.

PN MP Claudette Buttigieg condemned the government’s involvement in funding €30,000 in one day for personal advertisements in the Labour party newspaper, Kulħadd. The pages included material and opinions by several ministers, which included personal opinions against the Standards Commissioner and the public inquiry regarding the Daphne Caruana Galizia case, she said.

PN MP Ivan Bartolo said that the public broadcaster PBS insisted that the country has the lowest rate of total poverty within Europe, however, it is also saying that the inflation statistic published by the NSO was that of 2.5%, rather than 5.2%. He condemned the government for failing to prioritize the Maltese public.

Sammut also reiterated the PN’s proposals to better curb the inflation of prices, which include starting a fund of €40 million to help the industries which are facing an increase of prices due to importation costs, which would enable the government to control the increase instead of falling onto the consumer. A proposal of 25% increase in stipends for professions such as teachers and nurses, and a better pay for teachers, were also made, said Sammut. The PN also proposed a €14 million bonus to frontliners who carried the stresses of the pandemic. Sammut also mentioned additional help for the elderly.