The country is led by a government that is caught up with internal squabbles and was not, therefore, focused on the people's problems, Bernard Grech claimed on Sunday.
Addressing party supporters in Naxxar, the PN leader referred to claims of a frame-up on Chris Fearne, saying the PL was not addressing the increasing cost of living because it was languishing in internal problems.
Times of Malta led with news on Sunday that Carmen Ciantar - a close political aide to the health minister - is claiming she is the victim of a frame-up in a “dirty campaign” to discredit the deputy prime minister.
Ciantar recently suspended herself from her role as Foundation for Medical Services CEO after corruption claims about her surfaced in the Pakistani media.
She has vehemently denied the claims and has twice asked the police commissioner to investigate.
On Sunday, Grech said people could not keep up with day-to-day expenses and an increase in medicine prices, and the elderly often had to rely on relatives to cover expenses of medical services.
And despite barely any investment in people and the country’s infrastructure, the country’s debt continued to increase, he said.
“Do you remember when, under a PN administration, the government would open a new school every year? It was possible back then as we always believed that education was an important pillar. We were prudent while investing money in the economy and the country.”
Commending the law courts’ February decision on the hospitals’ deal and the auditor general’s reports of public contracts, Grech said Robert Abela’s reaction shows he had started believing his own lies.
It was worrying, Grech said, that the prime minister was taking decisions that impacted the cost of living and led to unaffordable accommodation.
'Truth will surface about Cospicua home'
Referring to the contested closure of the Cospicua home for the elderly, Grech said the truth will surface because of the dedication of PN MPs whose work was uncovering PL lies.
The home made headlines recently after it was announced that it will be shut down for extensive refurbishment. Residents were furious and upset at the news.
The minister in charge of the elderly said that the government must rebuild parts of the home because of faulty construction methods and because the concrete used in the ceiling “is not even fit for a simple pavement”.
While both Labour MEP Alfred Sant and the opposition have called for an inquiry to determine who should shoulder responsibility for the structural problems at the home, Abela dismissed the need for one.
On Sunday, Grech said the home for the elderly was built under the PL governance.
He said the PN backed Sant’s call for an inquiry, as people had to know the truth.
But, just like he had done in the case of Jean Paul Sofia, who was killed in a building collapse last December, when he had refused one in pique with the young man’s mother, he was again dismissing the calls.
Sofia was killed in a building collapse on a Corradino construction site. Times of Malta revealed in December how the government land on which the private factory was being built is leased to alleged human trafficker Kurt Buhagiar.
Sofia’s parents, members of civil society and the PN have been urging the government to launch a public inquiry into the collapse.
But Abela claims a public inquiry could disrupt rather than help the search for justice.