PN announces second protest following fresh allegations against Clayton Bartolo

Opposition leader Bernard Grech has announced a second protest outside parliament for Monday 2 December after new information came to light on the Clayton Bartolo ethics scandal.

During his speech in parliament on Tuesday, Grech said the Nationalist Party will be holding another protest outside the House.

“The people will win. A united people can’t be defeated – not by evil, not by any Faustian pacts. A united people is a winning people.”

The Nationalist Party held a first protest on 18 November outside parliament following findings in a Standards Commissioner report on Clayton Bartolo’s then-girlfriend Amanda Muscat over an unjustified salary increase as a policy consultant at the Gozo Ministry.

The protest had attracted a sizeable crowd.

Speaking in parliament during a discussion on the justice ministry’s budget estimates, Grech questioned why Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri has yet to step down.

Camilleri had breached ministerial ethics when giving Bartolo’s wife a consultancy with his own ministry.

"The prime minister is weak. He knows he has huge internal problems and he is trying to hide them.  We are here to remind him that when you put the lid on the pot, the water boils quicker," he said.

Grech also accused Abela of betraying the public trust by depending instances of fraud and misconduct. He criticized the government for initially trivializing public outrage over the scandal.

"Today the people won against those who thought the people's money is theirs," he said.

Grech listed a series of controversies that rocked the government recently, including fraudulent disability benefits, a driving licence racket, Rosianne Cutajar’s ITS consultancy deal, and the contentious hospitals concession.

He said justice isn’t just about the courts but about creating a country where fairness prevails. "On the contrary, the people feel the government has stolen their money and pigged out on it," he said.