Labour should sack Toni Abela immediately - Busuttil

Labour deputy leader Toni Abela put his party's interests ahead of children and potential drug victims, PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil said.

Speaking during a political activity in Marsa, Busuttil stressed that Labour leader Joseph Muscat should sack Abela and put the national interest above partisan interest.

"In less then a month you will choose who will lead the party and you have to judge the parties' values," Busuttil said as he insisted that Labour deputy leader Toni Abela refused to press charges against somebody who was caught cutting dugs in a Labour Party club.

The call follows in the wake of a second recording, circulated through sock puppet YouTube channel 'kristianbuhagiar', in which Abela is heard talking about a drugs incident inside another party club and why he did not lodge a police report on the issue.

The recording appears to be part of the same one that was revealed in a courtroom a week ago by Richard Vella, formerly the operator of the PL's club bar in Attard, whom Abela also expelled from the party in 2010.

Vella claimed that the recording shows Abela admitting having told a Birkirkara police officer not to press charges against him and Labour local councillor John Bonnici, who were involved in a fight.

Abela, on his part, claims the recording in which he says he found a police officer of Labourite persuasion to quash a criminal report, was because the matter was not of a criminal nature, but a civil case.

The PN deputy leader said: "Toni Abela was prepared to defend a person who was dealing drugs instead of defending young persons who could be the victims of drug trafficking. He put the Labour Party's interests above the interests of our children. Abela chose his party's interests, we choose our children's interests."

He added that Labour leader Joseph Muscat was aware of this issue however he did not take any action, despite claiming that he would have acted differently from his deputy leader.

Stressing that Muscat was defending Toni Abela, Busuttil asked, "Is this the way Muscat will act if elected to power? Will he put Toni Abela's interests above that of defending our children from drugs? You cannot choose both, its either Abela or our children. If Muscat really believes that Abela should have acted different then he should sack him right now."

In a rallying cry to the party faithful gathered in Marsa, PN leader Lawrence Gonzi said "Do not give up. I said that we'll go for it and we are going for it."

Repeating his predecessor Eddie Fenech Adami's mantra 'is-sewwa jirbah zgur,' Gonzi said that day after day his conviction that the PN would win a fourth consecutive election was growing stronger.

Do not risk it all. All we have achieved could be lost. In the long term, the PN is your best

Gonzi said he was not concerned with the reception he received on Wednesday at University, where the crowd attending the leaders' debate booed and hackled him.

Shrugging it off as part of the political game, Gonzi said: "What I do ask the students is; who do you trust most in creating jobs? Which is the party, which has factually managed to create new jobs every time it was elected to government?  Lets put plainly, the economy has always bloomed when the PN was in office."

Underlining the PN's credentials in providing free education of the highest standard and creating jobs, Gonzi said the PN's electoral programme pledged a number of schemes which would incentivise persons to open businesses by introducing a development bank, tax breaks and extend micro invest and other programmes which would see more disabled persons join the workforce.

"This could only be done if the country's finances are on a sound footing," Gonzi said.He added that a Nationalist government would continue to place the job creation at the centre of its policies, insisting that it would create 25,000 jobs in the next five years. 

Earlier, PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil said the people should judge the two parties on their consistency and not only on their present stands.

"10 years ago the Nationalist Party led by Eddie Fenech Adami said yes to EU membership while Labour and Joseph Muscat said no," the MEP said.