Sant calls for Cabinet reshuffle

Opposition leader Alfred Sant has called for a significant Cabinet reshuffle as his party announced it was stepping up a gear in its campaign to highlight the government's "abysmal" track record.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had a duty to curb the lack of leadership, vision and management shown by ministers seemingly bent only on upping their popularity ratings, Dr Sant said.

During a news conference yesterday, the Labour leader said his party was embarking on a campaign to explain that the government was adding to the country's ailments rather than healing them.

It was clear, he said, that Dr Gonzi would not take up the challenge to go for an early election, even if it was now amply clear that the PN won the last election solely on the EU ticket.

"The least the Prime Minister can do is to go for a reshuffle. The longer he takes to do so, the more he is acting against the national interest," he charged.

Dr Sant said his party intended to go door to door to explain the country's problems and prove why the Labour Party was more than a suitable alternative government. The Labour Party will be drawing up policy papers on all the major sectors to show the best way forward for the country.

The health sector came under close scrutiny by Dr Sant, who claimed that paramedics were demotivated and the waiting list for operations was growing so alarmingly that it was reflecting on the quality of health.

In the meantime, successive reports indicated that the government had no clue how the new hospital at Tal-Qroqq would operate once it was completed, the Labour leader said.

Dr Sant also lambasted capital projects, which he said were evidence of the government's incompetence. Dar Malta in Brussels, City Gate and the site of the former opera house in Valletta were all still in shambles and the cost of the Gozo ferry terminals was considerably over budget.

A lack of co-ordination meant work on the Park and Ride project was effectively destroying the Lm3 million embellishment works carried out by the Private-Public Partnership.

Education Minister Louis Galea was singled out for criticism as Dr Sant accused him of employing people close to him to fill top posts.

Instead of focusing on improving the sector, the entire education field was peppered with complicated organisations.

Dr Sant criticised the government for effectively shutting the Labour Party out of the equation in dealing with the problem of immigration.

While The Netherlands had allievated part of the problem by accepting a number of immigrants in a relocation programme, the problem was far from solved.

Asked whether he believed Malta should toy with the idea of postponing some of its international obligations to cope with the illegal migration phenomenon, Dr Sant said the country would soon have no choice but to take unilateral action.

Turning to the proposed changes to hunting announced by the government, Dr Sant said it was evident that hunters were deceived in the run-up to the EU referendum.

"We warned them about it and now as members of the EU we have no choice but to apply the changes," he said.