Corruption is not being investigated well enough

Opposition spokesman on transport Joe Mizzi told Parliament on Wednesday that corruption had become institutionalised, with the authorities failing to adequately investigate allegations.

Speaking during the debate in second reading of the Bill implementing measures announced in the Budget, Mr Mizzi said that one would have expected the Minister of Finance or the Prime Minister to announce measures to curb abuse.

While honest persons had paid their dues, those who had acted as go-betweens for the committal of corruption within the VAT department remained untouchable. Other instances of corruption Mr Mizzi referred to were those involving the Malta Maritime Authority and the use of the VIP lounge at the airport, which he himself had brought to light.

Mr Mizzi said that the Transport Authority was not collecting its dues and instead money was being pocketed. Number plates belonging to cars which had been garaged or scrapped were being used fraudulently on other vehicles. The authorities had passed the buck rather than undertaken effective investigations, at times giving the impression that the persons involved in corruption were being protected and those bringing such instances to light were the ones being investigated.

The Opposition Whip also claimed that there was corruption in the driving licensing department. Someone had obtained, during the same day, a licence to drive a motorcycle, a car and a truck. People who had never driven a truck were in a possession of a truck driving licence.

He claimed people were given a Lm200 bribe to re-issue licences on the pretext that these had been lost or destroyed. Information on ADT computers was being deleted and files destroyed. The manner of formulating the Budget had changed. Burdensome measures were introduced throughout the year through regulations and legal notices instead of being announced in the Budget speech. People would now have to make sacrifices to make good for the government's failures.

In the area of energy the government had failed to take timely action and had failed to invest in maintenance and upgrading of the plants.

According to EU regulations, energy tariffs should not include the cost of inefficiencies but the government was including this cost within the new water and electricity services bills. Mr Mizzi vouched to continue to fight this despite obstacles being placed by the authorities. If the Maltese courts did not meet his requests he would continue his case before the European courts to protect Maltese consumers.

He criticised the government for squandering money and referred to the Prime Minister's statement that funds were being sought to undertake a study for the laying of a cable network between Malta and Sicily. Mr Mizzi referred to the Enemalta-commissioned Lehmayer report which had cost the corporation Lm200,000. Yet Enemalta had ignored the report.

He said Malta should not join the European grid simply for security of supply as this would put further burden on the country.

Francis Agius (PN) said that despite the economic crisis the Budget focussed on important aspects and aimed at financial stability, an increase in competitiveness and the creation of jobs. The government had increased its investment in education, not least on lifelong learning and technology.

He said Mcast was a success story. He referred to cases of young people who were denied entry to Mcast courses because they could not afford the expense and said that families ought to be educated on the priorities they had to give in their home budget.

Admittedly, families should do their utmost to help themselves. But where this was not possible, the state had to intervene to ensure that everyone reached their educational aims.

Dr Agius remarked that one had to see how taxpayers' money was being spent and the Nationalist Party needed to aim for good financial governance.

The government had also continued to invest in the social sector and it was not fair for law-abiding citizens to be unjustly treated because of abuses in the social services sector.

Carmelo Abela (PL) said that major changes in education, such as compulsory education for all and increasing the school-leaving age from 14 to 16 years - were the result of decisions taken by Labour governments.

He called for a clear policy on lifelong education which he said should start from an early age and not when students reached school-leaving age. Vocational training in secondary school was very weak when compared with the academic content. The 1996 Labour government had worked hard setting up a vocational college.

He said the country was still miles away from reaching WHO targets on physical exercise, adding that the PL had made proposals that school children undertake five hours of sports and physical activity every week.

Mr Abela said it was a shame that education was turned into political football before the election. It was also customary for PN governments to claim that the country's finances were sound before every election but would revise their position soon after, coming up all kinds of excuses for the bad performance in public finances.

Good governance was important and necessary. It was wrong to spend thousands of euro in inaugurating a square when the country was passing through difficult times. The government could not even making good budgetary estimates and last month it requested Parliament to approve €25.9 million paid in salaries to government employees.

Mr Abela claimed that the real Budget measures were wrapped up in the hefty increases in utility tariffs.

The government did nothing in the face of the world economic crisis. It was the banks that saved the situation because they had been prudent in their investments.

He agreed with the concept of Gozo as an eco island but added that the relevant document lacked a plan of action. One had to judge Budgets not through their presentation but through their implementation. He proposed that in the next Budget speech the government would present a document on what and how Budget measures were implemented so that MPs could compare words with action.

Mr Abela said that years ago the government had declared that it did not have faith in the manufacturing sector, confirming this after the election when the Prime Minister failed to appoint a minister directly responsible for industry. This sector was an important one with EU figures showing that 70 per cent of work in the EU was in manufacture. He added that all companies were finding it difficult to meet the expense of higher utility tariffs with the government failing to give them support.

The government should do more to address problems caused by bureaucracy. It had deceived industries: although the 2009 Budget promised a reduction of administrative and bureaucratic burdens by the end of the year the target has now been postponed to 2012.

While expressing agreement on the importance of having a good health service, he questioned why the government had not relocated the government pharmacy in Paola to the government property which is adjacent to it. This property was housing the Nationalist Party club and was adjacent to the government pharmacy. But the government was still looking for a place to relocate the pharmacy.

It was clear that the government lacked direction in its policies on industry. The government did not do enough to develop the film industry. It had failed to reach its own targets, having failed to create the promised 1,000 new employment opportunities in this sector.

Malta needed new leadership able to address the challenges being faced by the country rather than challenges the PN faced to remain in government. The country needed a leadership that listened to the people and helped the private sector.

Ċensu Galea (PN) said the people's expectation of the Budget had greatly diminished. Nonetheless, the Budget remained an opportunity for the government to renew its declaration on how it sought to implement its electoral programme.

He referred to a letter which was addressed to all MPs by the president of the Forum Unions Maltin which he called for an amendment in the composition of MCESD to allow the Forum to be regarded as one of its members. Mr Galea said that it may be time to reconsider the composition of MCESD not only to consider the inclusion of associations such as the Forum but also to reconsider which ministries were to be represented. This would enhance MCESD as a forum for open debate.

He criticised the opposition for choosing to speak of an instable and weak government when reality showed that the government was striving to increase employment and to obtain a better quality of life.

He said when government MPs indicated how measures could work better, this did not reflect weakness in the party in government.

Mr Galea would resume his speech when the House meets on Monday.