'Labour wasn't prepared to govern' - Simon Busuttil

The Labour government seems to have lost its road map, PN leader Simon Busuttil said in a party event which kicked off the PN Independence Day celebrations this evening.

"The government has lost its road and it has also lost its map," Busuttil told the party faithful gathered at the Granaries in Floriana.

Admitting that although he never expected the government to resolve all the problems the country is facing within six months, Busuttil stressed that the Labour administration has worsened the situation in a number of sectors including health, education and energy.

"Are you capable of governing? Recent events show that the Labour Party did not have a roadmap or a plan. It was not prepared to govern the country," Busuttil said, underlining the government's hastily announced deal to part-privatise Enemalta.  

He added that the new government lacked transperency and slammed the deal with the Chinese government to partially privatise Enemalta when it had promised the opposite in its electoral programme and failed to inform the people beforehand.

"We have also learnt that the energy minister's wife was employed by Malta Enterprise, without knowing the terms and conditions of her employment. This is not transparency," the PN leader said.  "Who believes that the Malta for all (Malta taghna ukoll) was a genuine call? In reality it should read Malta for Labourites," Busuttil said in reference to the series of controversial appointments by the new Labour government in its first six months in office.  

"It's not right to promise meritocracy before the election, then do the opposite. It is not right to have persons who deserved their position removed and replaced by persons close to Labour, sometimes without issuing a call for employment."

Moreover, Busuttil said that the Labour government changed the law in order to accommodate its own MPs to sit on government boards.

"If the government has lied in so many instances, what guarantee do you have that he would not do the same to all of you?" Busuttil asked, adding that the PN Opposition was "here to stay" and scrutinise the government in a fair and objective manner.

The PN leader said the PN would be "honest, strong and effective" Opposition despite the heavy electoral defeat suffered in March.

"However, we also need to become an alternative government and convince the people that we deserve their trust."

Echoing Busuttil's criticism of Labour's failure to live up to the high expectations it set before the election, the PN deputy leader Mario de Marco said that unlike the current government, past PN administrations never used electoral slogans only to put them aside after gaining power.

"Job creation is the measure of success of every government. However, the Labour government has yet to explain its policy on employment," de Marco said.

He went on to cite the NSO statistics issued this morning, which showed that in August, persons registering as unemployed numbered 7,425, up by 604, or 8.9%, over the corresponding month in 2012.

"This is worrying because even in July, the unemployment rate increased by more than 9%. The government is seasonality as an excuse, however I must remind the government that August of last year was no different than this year's. Who do you want to fool?

He added that the country's economy was still faring well, however de Marco said that it was showing the first signs of weakness and the government needed to act quickly to address the situation.  

De Marco added that the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat should "start acting as one and not as the leader of the Opposition."

The activity was also addressed by PN candidates who will be contesting next year's European election, including Kevin Plumpton, Kevin Cutajar, Therese Commodini Cachia and Helga Ellul.