The Labour government has dirtied, uglified and sold Malta because of corruption, Nationalist party leader Bernard Grech said on Sunday.

Addressing a protest called by the PN because of “worsening quality of life and an increasing cost of living”, Grech said this is leading young people to leave the country.

“I spoke to a young person who left because Malta who you know matters more than what you know under this government,” he said.

Grech was speaking at the end of a protest during which participants waved Maltese flags and carried placards saying "I want free media", "Stop environmental destruction", "Medicines out of stock", "Traffic has choked us" and "I want my children to keep living here".

Composed of an older demographic, the crowd marched to the tune of Queen's "We will rock you", "I Want To Break Free" and other protest songs from Valletta’s main entrance to the stage, a few metres from the law courts.

Grech spoke on the cost of living, saying this had seen a record increase in spite of government statistics that did not truthfully measure the extent of the rise, Grech said.

PN leader Bernard Grech addressing the protest. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

The country had also taken on record debt and used a lot of it to satisfy the Labour Party’s clique and buy votes. “There isn't a project that doesn't include kickbacks,” he said, referring to a story Times of Malta broke on Sunday related to the Marsa flyover project.

The government’s clique, Grech said, is also protected by institutions that should protect the environment. The prime minister himself had got a permit to rebuild his villa on outside development zone land, he added.

The PN leader reiterated his call for the resignation of Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg over Pilatus bank failings, adding that Justice Minister Jonathan Attard was also an accomplice because of his inaction.

Grech described as a gimmick the government’s proposed plan to constitutionally protect the free press and media by enshrining it as the fourth pillar of democracy.

“The government denies freedom of information requests as a rule, under the guise of data protection. No democratic government should do that.”

Record deaths on Maltese roads

The PN leader said that Malta was seeing a record number of deaths on its roads and the government was handing out driving licences for bribes.

Thousands of immigrants were also being exploited with low wages to the detriment of Maltese workers, he said.

The protest was also addressed by youth activists Kevin Curmi and Jade England, lawyer Mary Muscat, and elderly activist Joe Zahra.

England said young people no longer saw a future in Malta while Curmi, a Gozitan, said Gozitans are getting a raw deal.

Muscat noted that in the 2017 electoral manifesto, the Labour Party had promised an environmental court. This never materialised, she said. Zahra noted that 1.5% more elderly were at risk of poverty in 2021 when compared to the previous year.

Protestor Joe Navarra, 79, said he was tired of being stuck in traffic, overdevelopment, and seeing direct orders given to government friends. “I want a better life similar to what I had before," he said. 

A woman in her 50s said her growing children were leaving Malta because of the rampant nepotism.