The Nationalist Party on Wednesday denounced the lack of funds available for the police force, leading to people worrying about levels of safety in the country, and called once more for the resignation of Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg because of her inaction following the court’s decision in the Steward case.
PN spokesman for home affairs Joe Giglio pointed to the public’s worry concerning the lack of security in the country, citing a couple of surveys which identified this as one of the main concerns amongst the Maltese people.
A MaltaToday survey published on the 12 February 2023 found that issues concerning ‘justice and criminality’ topped the list of worries amongst the Maltese people, with 27.6% of all voters citing the concern as their main worry.
“This is because our Minister for Home Affairs and National Security has only managed to guarantee insecurity in the country,” said Giglio.
“This results from a police force that is completely demotivated,” Giglio said, adding, “that they are overworked, overstretched and definitely not overpaid.”
We need to have trust in this police force and we need the officers themselves to be proud of serving in their uniforms, Giglio said.
“This has ramifications for wider issues too,” Giglio said, “for example with regard to the recent court ruling on the Steward case. We know that this contract had large problems associated with it which necessitated investigation by the police, yet nothing happened.”
In many situations requiring investigation by Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa, this latter was entirely missing in action resulting in the lack of trust on behalf of the public, said Giglio.
As a result of the lack of funds for the police force, there is a lack of enforcement and intimations of a dangerous attitude that “anything goes,” he continued.
“I see this not only with regard to domestic violence cases, which are increasing, but also with regard to road deaths, which last year reached a record peak, and work place accidents.”
PN spokesman for Justice Karol Aquilina, speaking about the Steward decision, said that “the court said two important things about the Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg.”
“Firstly, the court said that she had to monitor the implementation of the contract and take action against any conditions that weren’t met and, secondly, the AG had the obligation to rescind the contract herself if she found that conditions weren’t being met,” said Aquilina.
The court observed that the AG failed in her duties and, as such, the PN calls for the immediate resignation of Buttigieg as she needs to take responsibility for her shortcomings, said Aquilina. It is not the first time that the PN has made such a call.
“A month has passed and instead of taking responsibility, the AG has done nothing whatsoever to ameliorate this situation which is detrimental to the Maltese and Gozitan people.”
Giglio also stated that “surveys are important and relevant and it’s good to emphasize that PN is recovering at the polls and is regaining the trust of the public.”