Prime Minister Robert Abela is weak and compromised and has so much to hide, "so many skeletons in the closet", that he is tied up and has to be careful and stay back because there are those around him who know what he has done, Nationalist Party Leader Bernard Grech said during an appearance on party media on Thursday.

Grech urged people to attend and participate in a protest that the PN is organising next Monday at 6pm outside the parliament building in Valletta.

He spoke of the breach of ethics report concerning Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo and Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri. A report by the Standards Commissioner found that the two ministers had abused their power when Bartolo's wife Amanda Muscat, who was his girlfriend at the time of the relevant issue, was given a job for which she was not qualified and did not do.

Grech remarked that even Labour Party supporters can no longer support what the government is doing. He continued that the situation is that a Minister, referring to Bartolo, had a friend who kept getting promoted and receiving wage increases not because she was competent or capable, but simply because she was his friend. Grech commented that while the PN does not care about what Bartolo and Muscat do in their private lives, this particular situation is something that people do care about.

He described Muscat's position within the Ministry for Gozo as a "pretend consultancy" and remarked that " €70,000 kept coming in, but no work was done".

The Opposition Leader commented that the laws apply as they are meant to for the people, but that the government can do whatever they want.

With that said, Grech continued that people need to be at the protest on Monday because "this is your country" and "this robbery is happening to all of us". He said that the notion that one should move forward because they are deserving is being stolen and added that the government is setting a bad example, having "thrown away meritocracy".

Grech referred to Abela's apology for the situation as "the greatest laugh in the face of the people". He continued that the people no longer accept this apology. "They steal from us and say sorry," he commented.

"We cannot let them keep doing this. The Prime Minister, who for him, this is business as usual - we need to show him that it is not business as usual... Together, we have the power to put pressure on the Prime Minister. If you keep being afraid and let all this go on, they will continue stepping on everyone's head and keep stealing from us," the Opposition Leader stated.

Speaking again about the protest, Grech said that people need to be there so that the country can begin healing. He added that the PN is organising the protest because it is evident that the government thinks no one can oppose it.

"The country was jammed, and jammed it remains. Our hospitals were unfortunately overfilled, and overfilled they remain," Grech said. He added that some people end up on waiting lists for two or three years. He said that the government has increased the country's population so much that it is the people who are suffering as a result.

He concluded that the PN, together with the people, will be sending a strong message that "this cannot go on" and that the government "will no longer steal from us".