Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia on Friday warned that Malta needs radical institutional reform and not just cosmetic change through a new Labour prime minister replacing Joseph Muscat.
Addressing an extraordinary general council which approved the start of a two-month process to radically change how the PN will function in the future, Dr Delia challenged the two contenders running to replace Dr Muscat to clearly explain how they would be turning over a new page.
“After closing both their eyes for so long and giving Joseph Muscat their unconditional trust, which has led the country to shambles, now I challenge the two contestants to say what they will do in practice,” Dr Delia said.
Labour MPs Robert Abela and Chris Fearne are competing against one another to assume the PL leadership on January 12 and replace Dr Muscat as prime minister.
Investigate deals - Delia
Dr Delia asked whether Dr Abela and Mr Fearne would say that they would investigate Joseph Muscat in relation to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia and any other "corrupt" contracts the government had entered into during their six years in office.
Dr Muscat's former chief of staff Keith Schembri, who Dr Delia described as a "mafia boss", has been implicated in the Caruana Galizia murder investigation.
Dr Delia said that the PN would insist that each and every contract in which former minister Konrad Mizzi was involved, had to be investigated.
He made particular reference to the Electrogas power station deal and the privatisation of three state hospitals, which he said was the mother of all corrupt deals.
“People were taken for a ride and whoever is involved in stealing has to face justice,” the PN leader said.
Mr Fearne, who serves as deputy prime minister, and Dr Abela, who is the prime minister's legal consultant, were only now admitting to institutional failure, the PN leader said.
Dr Delia said that as history repeats itself, it will have to be the PN to ensure that the country picks up the pieces of the mess made by Labour and make the public regain their trust in the institutions.
Governance reforms
Dr Delia said that the PN would be showing the way forward by proposing radical reforms to make sure that the country’s democratic institutions could work without any government intervention.
These include the way the President, chief justice, attorney general and police commissioner are chosen and the need for state financing for the political parties so that they will not depend any longer on donations.
Dr Delia said that as it has been its mission for decades, the PN aims to make the public proud to be Maltese again.
The PN leader had already highlighted his good governance proposals - which hark back to similar proposals the party had discussed back in 2011 - last week.