The Labour Party’s promises should be taken “with a pinch of salt”, Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech said on Sunday, saying Labour has no vision and is just “full of buzzwords”.
Speaking at a mass rally at the Corradino sports pavilion, Grech said Labour rushed to cover the islands with billboards and banners but took three weeks to present its proposals.
“You cannot solve problems with banners and billboards. He (Robert Abela) thinks that the people haven’t realised it’s all a façade. You cannot take Malta off the greylist with just a façade. You need to be credible, mature and of substance,” Grech said.
He accused the prime minister of being interested “in nothing but power”, saying he wants to even have power over the people.
“Now, they want to force you to join a trade union. They want to control your life in the same way they controlled you during the pandemic, in the same way they controlled free press by controlling the national broadcaster and the same way they want to control justice by controlling the police.
“Abela is interested in nothing but power. He wants to have power over you,” he said to supporters’ chants.
Grech went on to call out Labour for not mentioning any new economic sectors in its electoral manifesto. In almost ten years, he said, the Labour government could not come up with one new economic sector and so it was impossible to imagine the party creating new sectors in the coming five years.
The PN leader also said that his call for the campaign to be paused on Saturday for a national peace march was ignored.
“I thought he would jump at the opportunity. He just stared at one of his advisors and did nothing. He couldn’t even decide on something to promote peace,” he said.
Moving on to COVID-19, Grech said the prime minister should stop using this as an excuse and end restrictions that are more stringent than those in other countries.
He also called on the government to start accepting negative PCR tests for those travelling to Malta, saying that people without a vaccine cannot exercise their right to vote as they cannot come to the island without going into quarantine.
Meanwhile, Grech said he hoped the country doesn't come to a point where people are afraid to answer political surveys, address political events or speak to the Opposition for fear of repercussions.
"Abela wants to render the Opposition ineffective so he can have more power," Grech said.
The PN leader went on to ask people to forgive the PN for any past mistakes and said that while he could not say there would not be other mistakes, he promised to always work hard for the people.
He said the PN in government would ensure people would always be heard and not just on the eve of the election.
"With us, what you see is what you get and I promise that I always keep my word," Grech said.