The Nationalist Party will continue fighting the “discrimination” it suffered on requisitioned properties, according to general secretary Chris Said.
He said the PN was prepared to “go all the way” to rectify the political discrimination which benefitted the Labour government through the use of requisitioned public properties for party purposes.
Speaking on Radio Malta, he said that while the PN agreed in principle with the Party Financing Bill, there had to be a level playing field between both major political parties if the new law had to be fair.
Dr Said said six of the properties held by the PL were requisitioned from families and the party should start by returning these properties.
People are not believing him anymore
Touching on the controversial power station issue, the general secretary said his party expected Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to shoulder political responsibility for the self-imposed deadline, on which he had based his political future.
“The Prime Minister ought to shoulder political responsibility if the power station is not ready. But, notwithstanding whether he resigns or not, people are not believing him anymore because all they are getting from him is one lie after another,” he said.
He said he was surprised with the government’s refusal to make public the contracts it had already signed about the provision of electricity as well as the agreement between Malta and Shanghai Electric.
“It seems the government is caught between the interconnector and the Chinese. Why do we need to bind the country to purchase more electricity from the Chinese if we have the interconnector?” he asked.
Asked about Brian St John, the new chief executive officer appointed to lead the Nationalist Party’s commercial arm, Media.Link Communications, Dr Said said the party was still finalising his contract but assured listeners he would be paid a reasonable amount, “much less” than the salary package received by CEOs of various government entities.
He said the appointment was made because the general secretary could not concentrate on both commercial and political issues. He also confirmed that neither he nor party leader Simon Busuttil was receiving “a cent” from the party.