UHM to participate in PN demonstration on Sunday

UĦM Voice of the Workers has announced that it will be participating in the PN’s demonstration against corruption next Sunday.

“We cannot accept the government’s attitude,” chief executive Josef Vella said in a press conference earlier today.

Vella said that after hearing the concerns of UHM’s members about the events colouring the national scene, the union feels that it has no alternative but participating in the demonstration.

“This is no longer just about corruption, it’s also about governance, and international media are now talking about Malta negatively,” Vella said, adding that this could have consequences on investment and employment among others.

The demonstration is being held to call for the resignation of energy minister Konrad Mizzi and Joseph Muscat’s chief of staff Keith Schembri, after both men were found to have used offshore companies in Panama to hide their beneficial ownership. Yesterday PN leader Simon Busuttil said that he will move for a no confidence in government in the wake of the revelations from the Panama Papers leak.

“A country’s reputation takes years to be built, but it can be shattered in just a few seconds,” Vella said.

Vella further stressed that using bipartisanism to incense people against each other was wrong, and he further urged members of the police force to avoid situations like the one witnessed on Wednesday in front of the law courts in Valletta.

On Wednesday shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi, was arraigned in court on charges of criminal defamation following a criminal complaint filed by Peter Paul Zammit – the former Commissioner for Police – back in January. Crowds gathered outside the law courts in support of Jason Azzopardi, but members from the Labour youth section set up a billboard accusing Busuttil of double standard, causing something of an uproar among PN supporters at the demonstration.

“It makes no sense to set up opposing groups to give out their message at the same time,” Vella said, stressing that this was only “cause for trouble.”

He further urges the government to adopt a different attitude to the union and stressed that it was currently being attacked for speaking out against the current state of affairs.

“If groups cannot speak out against the government then the threat is not just to corruption, but even to governance and social dialogue,” he said.

Vella further criticised the government for dragging its feet and taking action only according to public opinion rather than principle, and said that this would affect all sectors and give the country a less than favourable reputation on the international scale.