The Nationalist Party held a press conference on Friday morning to discuss how it believes that the government has failed the Maltese and Gozitan people. PN MPs Paula Mifsud Bonnici and Mark Anthony Sammut said that the government has failed senior citizens and that its "incompetence" is showing in visible sectors, like traffic.

The pair respectively described how the "government has failed" across their respective portfolios. Mifsud Bonnici is PN's spokesperson for active ageing and Sammut is the Opposition's Shadow Minister for transport and mobility.

Mifsud Bonnici stated that around a third of all senior citizens in the Maltese islands - which is approximately 30,000 elders - are at risk of poverty and social exclusion. She blamed the government's "wrong decisions" for leaving so many elderly persons in this vulnerable state, remarking that some elders stuck in poverty have resorted to living in garages.

"We have many senior citizens living in poverty, though our government prefers to fill its own pockets rather than fill up our elderly's pockets," Mifsud Bonnici said.

She commented that as "the government is doing nothing to combat the increasing cost of living," the increasing prices of medicines, foods, and rent are impacting this demographic severely.

She also described the irony in this administration's rhetoric advocating for senior citizens to remain active when the state of healthcare services forces them to experience long waiting times in Mater Dei Hospital or, in other cases, forces them to wait for years to receive needed treatment.

Mifsud Bonnici stated that under PN leadership, with Bernard Grech in charge, the Nationalist Party would make medicines free for the elderly, provide allowances for senior citizens to better manage inflation struggles, it would provide "adequate pensions that reflect their needs," work to give them an optimal community service, and introduce laws that safeguard all elderly from abuse.

Mark Anthony Sammut mentioned that as noted through the recent 226kg cannabis drug heist, the government has failed to ensure the country's security.

Sammut argued that Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri was "directly responsible" for the authorities' failure to safeguard a sealed contained within an Armed Forces' barracks recently. He said that the blatant discrimination within the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) over the years in the way promotions were given, through political beliefs rather than merit, competent people have left the AFM, thus leaving it in its meritocracy-less state today.

Sammut said that the government's incompetence continues to show clearly through the sustained traffic issue, as Maltese continue to spend "hours" in traffic, "frustrated by the lack of planning." He mentioned that prolonged traffic promotes anxiety and frustration amongst people, worsens air quality, and has vast socioeconomic effects as well.

In this regard, the MP referenced the government's grand metro project proposal. He criticised that after spending €2 million to promote the major project prior to the 2022 general election, the government has been totally silent on the matter since then.

Sammut was also critical that within the transport sector, roads continue to be flooded with cars, driving licenses have been handed out recklessly, public transport still doesn't fulfil people's basic needs, Gozitans continue to experience a "mediocre, third-class" ship service, and that in the past five years, the number of Y-plate taxis have doubled.

He ascertained that the country needs a government that implements the solutions to existing problems, rather than one that "is focused on protecting [the] corrupt politicians amongst them from justice."

"We are paying for the government's failures with our money, in our lack of quality of life, and in the lack of security in our country. We need a government to resolve these issues," Sammut said.

He also condemned the incumbent administration for presenting the controversial Bill pushing for the magisterial inquiry reform, instead of addressing the several challenges facing the country today.

The press conference concluded with the PN pairing advocating for people to attend the Opposition's protest at 3pm in front of the Parliament building, in Valletta, this Sunday.