PN leader Bernard Grech told a large crowd of supporters on Sunday that the 'change has started' but they needed to work harder to bring about a country that was strong and proud.

He spoke in Republic Street, Valletta at the end of a protest held to highlight 'the government's failures'.

The protest was called after the government refused to hold a parliamentary debate into the theft of 220kg of drugs from a container which was under guard in an armed forces barracks.

The activity started with a march down Republic Street from the parliament building to the corner with St John Street.

Grech and his wife walked at the front behind a banner with the colours of the Maltese flag, with outgoing PN general secretary Michael Piccinino and PN deputy leader Alex Perici Calascione.

Many carried placards that read "a failed government" and others asking why Prime Minister Robert Abela was defending the home affairs minister.

A protest placard at the PN activity in Valletta.

Piccinino, who addressed the event, listed some of the government's failures saying it had got its priorities wrong. Instead of helping the people, it had helped itself, he said. The government had failed in the security sector, as the drugs theft showed, and the same home affairs minister failed in the prisons system and in the ID cards administration, with some 18,000 fake documents having been issued.

But this was also a government which failed in the justice sector, with select people enjoying impunity. It failed in the health sector, with millions going in the fraudulent Vitals hospitals deal. It failed in infrastructure and transport, including the promised metro system. It was failing to control the cost of living, and many other sectors. 

Piccinino said the PN was there to offer hope and propose solutions while remaining confident that Malta could have a good future under a PN government. 

Grech, who followed Piccinino on the podium, insisted that the country could not go on like this and needed a change of direction. The country's only hope, he said, was the Nationalist Party. 

The government was failing the country and not keeping its promises. It was out of touch with the people and continuing to dig deeper into its problems.

Abela's defence flipflop

He repeatedly criticised the prime minister for being inconsistent and making several U-turns, the latest being on defence. 

Everyone agreed on the need for peace, he said, and the opposition had therefore agreed when Abela said Malta needed to raise its defence spending.

In Brussels Abela agreed on the EU's €800 billion plan to raise defence spending. Then he came to Malta and spoke in a different manner.  

While there was no doubt that peace should be achieved by negotiation and diplomacy, it was also wise to be strong in negotiations, backed by the means to deter the other side, Grech said. 

Scandals

Grech, like Piccinino, listed scandals under this government including abusive direct orders and corruption, and said the government had been obstinate, refusing to assume responsibility and to act. 

The prime minister had defended Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri after the massive drugs haul from the AFM's barracks and refused his resignation, he said. 

Resignation was what would have happened had Malta been a normal European country whose government knew how to choose between right and wrong.

Under this government, democracy was failing because national institutions were being undermined. Questions in parliament and others by journalists were not answered. There was a climate of secrecy in the country, as shown also by the latest attempt to remove the people's right to seek magisterial inquiries. 

Grech promised that under a PN government, the country would change direction. A PN government would create new areas of economic activity, control the cost of living and raise the quality of life.

Bernard Grech addresses the Valletta protest.

He reiterated several proposals made by the PN, including a better infrastructure, the removal of tax on cost of living adjustments, more maternity and paternity leave, funding for importers and exporters and tax credits for small and medium-sized businesses.  

"The PN will take Malta out from under the dark cloud," he said.

"After this dark cloud the light has begun to appear. The light of justice and of transparency. The light of peace of mind and honesty. The light of a better social and economic future". 

As he got hoarse at the end of his 45-minute speech, Grech told his listeners that 'the change has started'.

He urged them to make Malta strong, proud and one that drew the admiration of others.

The activity was also addressed by Gozitan Lawyer Stanley Portelli who said the government has left Malta's sister island behind.

Those attending held up victory signs as the national anthem rang out at the end of the event.