Delivering what was probably his finest address to Parliament heard in recent times, Dr Gonzi made mincemeat of what Dr Sant stated in his official reply to the 2008 Budget in Parliament and elsewhere.
Dr Gonzi made point after point rebutting Dr Sant's statements with statistical records which cannot be refuted. The Prime Minister made comparisons ranging from employment (and unemployment) statistics, employment conditions under the MLP when overtime was banned, the state of infrastructure, the difficulties in the education sphere and the insignificant numbers of university students attending then as compared to today.
While Dr Sant contradicted himself with regards to lowering the surcharge on water and electricity bills, promising to do better once elected, thus spending more than what is proposed in the budget, Dr Gonzi spelt out what and how the projects for 2008 will be financed and how the deficit will be reduced at the same time.
The Prime Minister listed one by one the numerous examples of bad advice given to him by Dr Sant with regard to joining the European Union, the devaluation of the Maltese lira, the switch to the euro before 2010, and the interpretation of the referendum results of 2003. Listening to his advice “would have driven the country into a wall”, Dr Gonzi concluded.
Dr Sant could be seen quite sullen and expressionless as the Prime Minister indicted him on all charges and it would be quite interesting reading or listening to what kind of spin Dr Sant is capable of doing after receiving such a good beating at the hands of Dr Gonzi.
If I were to advise Dr Gonzi, I would tell him to go for it sooner rather than later because his compelling speech is so fresh in everyone’s mind. He cannot but win, because truth always reigns and only he and a PN government can deliver the goods and certainly without smoke and mirrors. The PN does not resort to fake letter writing, three of which appear in this paper as I write this letter.
There simply is no comparison between Dr Gonzi and Dr Sant. Obviously the former is leagues ahead of Dr Sant, whose only interest is grabbing power, hoping next time around he can hold his mandate for 36 months so he can add to the 22 months he spent as Prime Minister between 1996 - 1997.
Joe Martinelli,
London
Two names, with pictures, (MaltaToday, 21 October) tickled my fancy.
On the back page, Mr Frank Salt is quoted as saying, in relation to the current glut in unsold property: “...if we keep giving permits (to build) when we know that there is not enough demand from locals, the only way to sell them is to get people from abroad to buy them”. Why not allow the “free” market (which local entrepreneurs seem to pay homage to only when it is a sellers' one ) to bring prices down? Economists, sociologists, politicians and environmentalists will all be happy, though development profiteers will not.
On page 37, GO's David Kay welcomes MEP Joseph Muscat who worked hard to achieve the Euro Roaming Tariff. Barely a year ago, the same Mr Kay had seriously and publicly warned the government that, if then prevailing roaming charges were forced downwards, Malta's GDP would suffer. Is it going to? Perhaps he will explain. Not likely!
Karm Farrugia,
Madliena
I read a recent edition of your newspaper and saw the arguments surrounding the visit of a pro-abortion doctor to Malta. As a frequent visitor to Malta, may I make a comment?
Whilst it might not seem this way to younger Maltese, the high moral tone of Malta is a bonus, a prize to be cherished at all costs. In many ways, the older people who have morals have protected you all for many years. So, I am glad that some tried to oppose the visit. Freedom of speech is one thing, because it is only about freedom to speak... but abortion is about killing babies.
In the UK and the USA, babies have been routinely killed for no good reason. In our country it is called “abortion on demand”. My wife used to work in a women's ward and knows that 99 per cent of all babies were aborted just because the mothers did not want them, not for any clinical reason.
Malta is renowned for its morality. Once it loses that, it will find a great slide downwards into immorality of many kinds, both heterosexual and homosexual, with violence. This has happened in the UK, where abortion led to many other sexual “freedoms” that brought death and awful diseases in their wake.
Maltese youngsters ought to examine the other side of promiscuity and sexual “freedoms”, because all they see today is their own wish to do whatever they want to do. In the UK and the USA we know the reality of this kind of thinking, and it is all an awful illusion.
Believe me, accept abortion and you will soon crash and burn in the minefield that is sexual freedom. Once in it, you will find it very hard to get back out. Meanwhile, the character of the Maltese people would change dramatically, as Malta is targeted by those with vested interests in sexual demands, most of all the Baltic mafia which has caused mayhem in the UK by bringing thousands of Baltic prostitutes into our country. And with it comes a huge medical bill.
Think about it, friends, before it is too late.
Dr Barry Napier
UK
Contributions to other so-called independent papers never see the light of day, when the text is anti government. So, MaltaToday is the only paper where one express his views be they pro or anti government.
The PN is now gearing for the elections and this can be seen from the budget. Apart from this, the party gurus are boasting as to what has been achieved over the past 20 years.
Well, my question is: not what has been done, but how much more could we have done at the same expense!
The government should publish a list of all projects undertaken, specifying what was the budget allocated – the actual cost and possibly the name of the concerned.
I would not be at all surprised if all projects exceeded budget, Mater Dei being a classic case… some 300 per cent over budget!
Now, we are being told that projections for up to 2015 are under way. Good joke. How can they be taken seriously, when a road in Kurkanta street, Zebbug, which was planned before 1992 and for which an expropriation order was issued in 1993 is still on the drawing board after 15 years?
Or how a pig breeder applied for a parcel of land adjacent to his farm from the Lands Department, and to date he is still without a reply. Some three years back, copies of all letters exchanged with the Lands Department were forwarded to the OPM – and to date, again after 15 years, no action has been taken. To be fair to the OPM, some one did phone to inform the applicant that by December, this should be solved. The only problem was that they failed to mention which year!
Then, when everyone is talking about transparency – along comes the Minister for the Interior and refuses to publish a report on the inspections carried out on firework factories. And what about the two golf courses promised by our Prime Minister?
Is it time for a change?
D. Muscat
Attard
Your correspondent Giov. Demartino keeps on flogging an old, dead horse, hoping that he can bring it back to life.
Most of what he writes about are episodes dating back to the 1970s and early 1980s when “political violence” was perpetrated by a few well-know Labour thugs, as well as “hidden” PN ones – those who organised the bomb blasts outside residences of whoever co-operated with the then Labour government.
Mr Demartino’s memory excludes the even viler physical, moral and psychological “violence” perpetrated during the infamous 1960s, when his pet party ruled the roost in our country. I do not know if your correspondent has read Lino Spiteri’s book “Jien u G_addej fil-Politika”. If he hasn’t, I suggest that he at least reads chapter 6 – “Xjaten u Qaddisin” – where Spiteri recounts what happened in those terrible years, when one was forbidden to read Labour newspapers in government hospitals (let alone in government offices). Or when a number of prominent Labourites, including the deputy leader of the MLP, Guze Ellul Mercer, were deprived of burial in their own family grave but were buried instead in what used to be called “Il-Mi_bla”. And this took place in a public cemetery with the PN in government!
Lino Spiteri’s vivid description of the physical violence perpetrated by PN supporters on Labour supporters who had crossed over to Gozo to attend a mass meeting, would probably be dismissed by Mr Demartino as hearsay. Or that those who hurled stones at those labourites who were forced to walk from Mgarr Harbour to Victoria, since public transport had somehow been stopped in order to make it almost impossible for Maltese MLP supporters to reach Victoria, were not PN supporters at all!
But why keep harking back to old times to try and score a political point? We can all do this. Or is it because Giovanni Demartino cannot find any unsavoury episodes to write about during the 22 months Dr Alfred Sant was prime minister? Not only on political violence of whatever nature; but also on corruption and other scandalous abuses which have characterised the years of Nationalist administrations!
Eddy Privitera
Mosta
