PL to approve electoral programme on Wednesday

Labour Leader Joseph Muscat put paid to weeks of anticipation and announced that Wednesday will be the day that the Labour Party's electoral programme will be approved during an extraordinary general counci.

He was speaking during an interview with Fis-Sustanza presenters Simone Cini and Robert Musumeci during a labour activity in Iklin on Monday evening.

He also announced that the very next day (Tuesday), Labour would be rolling out its roadmap for sister island Gozo.

During the wide-ranging interview, Muscat also used the pending issue of whether businessman George Farrugia, at the heart of the Enemalta corruption scandal, would recieve a presidential pardon or not as a platform upon which to launch his message that the tools that witnesses rely upon for protection should not be a discretionary system of presidential pardons.

Farrugia is one of the businessmen implicated in the ongoing Enemalta corruption scandal, and was reported yesterday as seeking a presidential pardon to turn state witness. While police are currently opposing the presidential pardon, it is as yet unknown whether it will be granted.

"We cannot rely on presidential pardons, which a Prime Minister decides upon simply on the advice of cabinet. The country still needs a Whistle Blowers' Act, because there might be cases where individuals need to blow the whistle on cases where politicians are involved."

Muscat insisted that without an established Whistle Blowers' Act, individuals seeking to provide information that is incriminating to those politicians who call the shots find themselves exposed because there is no established law that protects them.

"Politicians should not be the ones that hold the tools that are required to protect people, who might find themselves in a situation where they have to expose those selfsame politicians," Muscat said.

"It is an issue of accountability," he insisted, reiterating that one of first actions in government would be to pass the Whistle Blowers' Act, along with the laws that removes prescription on corruption offences, and also a formalised Party Financing law. "This is the serious approach that the country requires."

Asked specifically about whether the presidential pardon that lies before government for George Farrugia is warranted, Muscat was non-specific.

"I do not have the facts in hand that the Prime Minister might have. So I cannot say whether the presidential pardon is warranted or not. The Prime Minister has more information than me upon which to answer such a question."

"The point remains that, in such cases, we cannot keep relying on presidential pardons that a Prime Minister hands out. This is a situation of the gravest consequence."

Muscat also dismissed the Nationalist Party's assurances that a new PN government would introduce the whistle blowers act, while also increasing penalties on corruption-related offences.

"He's talking as if he hasn't been Prime Minister for the past five years. He's talking as if he's going into government for the first time now. What held him back from doing all that he is promising already? We must judge his promises on his track record."

Muscat reiterated that as Prime Minister, Gonzi did nothing to expand or strengthen the Commission Against Corruption, and had neglected to introduce the Whistle Blower's Act despite this being a 2008 electoral promise.

Muscat also pressed on Labour's message of unity and of a different way of doing politics.

"This election is not like the others," Muscat said. "We can truly break the mould of past politics, of the red and of the blue."

He said that while parties might lose and win elections "the people should never be the ones that lose out" and insisted that Malta cannot overcome its challenges by being divided along political lines.

Muscat also reiterated several of Labour's proposal which he unveiled earlier that same day which dealt with health and cancer screening in particular.

 "I do not want cancer to be an electoral issue. It was shocking that a consultant recently said that he had political interference in his department. This is not acceptable," Muscat said, while reiterating Labour's commitment to cutting down the waiting lists and expanding screening programmes.

 "We shall make it our rule that nobody is left waiting when it comes to such cases."

Muscat also scorned the Health Minister Joe Cassar's claim that the proposal to introduce osteoporosis screening had been leaked to Labour from the PN,, describing the stance as "arrogance."

"This is symptomatic of arrogance. It is as if the government is the only one which is allowed to have good ideas. It is as if we could not have been in a position to meet with patients and professionals to discuss what needs to be done."

Muscat also said that Labour is considering additional screening programmes aside from those announced and currently practiced by the health sector, such as prostate cancer screening for men, and eye-sight testing for diabetes patients.

He added that the health system should also be proactive in promoting the idea of health checks among men of a certain age which start becoming at risk of cardiac arrest or heart trouble, which could be hereditary.

He said that before committing to such proposals, a Labour government needs to first "be conscious of the infrastructure that a new Labour government would find once given the trust of the people, and then start rolling them out according to what the infrastructure permits."

Asked about the controversial pre-campaign lease negotiations between government and St. Philip's hospital (owned by Frank Portelli) in light of Labour's proposal regarding cooperating with the private sector to cut down on waiting lists, Muscat said that there is a difference.

In the case of the St Philips Hospital acquisition deal, Muscat said, government was not proposing to send patients to private hospitals, but rather to lease a private hospital for a set timeframe and convert it in such a manner than has been described as a "miracle."

"We did not see that agreement. We will examine it when it comes before us. If it fits into our roadmap, we will go for it," Muscat said.

What Labour is committed to, Muscat said, is cutting down the maximum waiting time.

He said that leaving patients waiting resulted in considerable losses across several sectors, starting with health complications from untreated conditions, to the economic loss of having a worker unable to work for several months.