Sant in fighting speech as Parliament returns to business

Opposition leader Alfred Sant made a fighting speech as Parliament settled down to ordinary business this evening, accusing the government of having exceeded the limits of the power of incumbency to win the general election and saying that the President’s address at the State Opening of Parliament lacked substance.

Dr Sant said the Nationalist Party had been turned into a brand and a tool in the hands of a hidden few who controlled all major decision-making in the country. He expressed fears that this network may also try to manipulate the Labour Party but he expressed confidence in the inner strength of the MLP which would not fall into the temptation of becoming a tool in other people’s hands. Indeed, he said, he was confident that the MLP would continue to show its commitment to democracy.

In an hour-long speech in Parliament during the debate on an address to reply to the President’s address, Dr Sant made clear at the start that he would only serve as Leader of the Opposition until Labour elected a new leadership.

He said the government programme as outlined in the President’s address was vague and confused with no new ideas.

“There were many nice words, but where’s the beef?,” he asked.

The government had reiterated its commitment to a balanced budget and also to cutting taxes. During the elections Dr Gonzi had made tax cut commitments which would cost the country up to Lm25 million. How would that be reconciled with balancing the budget?

The President’s speech gave a very negative outlook of the world economy, with grim warnings about its possible impact on Malta. Was the government laying the ground to back pedal on its electoral commitments?

The MLP, he said, was ridiculed before the election for promising to boost the economy by halving the surcharge and removing income tax from overtime, but this government had now not said what it would do.

Rather, Malta’s best paid banker was advocating wage moderation, even though the value of wages in Malta had actually declined over the past few years.

Without actually mentioning ST Microelectronics, the President in his address had warned on the impact on Malta of a weakening dollar exchange rate against the euro. The strong euro would also have a negative impact on tourism.

Labour, Dr Sant recalled, had been heavily criticized when it cautioned against Malta rushing to euro adoption. The government, however, had carried on regardless. It, therefore, now had a duty to protect the workers from the consequences of that decision.

This government was also failing to act over a rate of inflation which was rising faster than in the rest of the EU.

Dr Sant spoke at length on Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s involvement in plans to build a disco at Mistra and wondered how the government could feel it had the authority to fight abuse when it was doing its utmost to hide this scandal. How could it fight abuse when its vote majority was three times smaller than the number of votes won by Dr Pullicino Orlando thanks to the PN’s deception before the election?

Dr Sant said the way the government and the PN worked together before the election was shocking. For example, an Air Malta Unit formed of six Nationalists had a prime role to identify and bring to Malta Nationalists living abroad, ignoring the Constitutional provisions on residence for eligibility to vote. In contrast, many Labourites found difficulties to find an Air Malta flight to come here to vote. The PN election office had direct access to this Air Malta unit, which brought some 2,226 people to vote to Malta. Only 23 percent of these were Labour.

The same forces were also employed in the granting of permits at Mepa, in the manipulation of PBS and in the way more than €2 million owed by taxpayers were forgiven in the run-up to the election.

Malta, Dr Sant said, deserved a government that was truly representative of the Maltese. He was convinced that the majority of the Maltese ordinarily resident in Malta backed labour. But this majority was suffering the consequences of the decisions taken by the powerful network which controlled the PN and the government. These forces were a new threat to dmeocracy.

The Labour Party, however, would continue to bear witness to democracy, good governance, justice and accountability, Dr Sant concluded.