Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/826731
maltatoday, MONDAY, 22 MAY 2017 5 News MIRIAM DALLI A Labour government will change the country's Constitution to introduce an automatic mechanism relating to politi- cians, and persons holding important public posts, found to have done wrong. "I will show you that we have learned from our mistakes," Prime Minister and Labour leader Joseph Muscat told thou- sands of Labour supporters gathered in Mqabba. Muscat was referring to his decision not to sack then Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and his chief of staff, Keith Schem- bri, both of whom were found to own off- shore companies in Panama. "My decision was based on the fact that I needed the two of them to continue work- ing. I paid the political price for this deci- sion and I shoulder the responsibility." Muscat moved on to pledge the intro- duction of a mechanism in the constitu- tion that would take away such decisions from a prime minister's hands. As the Labour leader told his supporters that his party was not "elitist", Muscat said he would never work against his country. "I never felt the need to resort to coun- try bashing simply to get elected to power. And I appeal to all of you who love the country to remember that Malta comes first, before anything else." As he urged the nation to fly the Maltese flag, Muscat said that Opposition leader Simon Busuttil will be "judged for escalat- ing a lie to unprecedented levels". The Labour leader has insisted it was not true that his wife, Michelle, owns a share in Egrant Inc, a Panamanian company. He has reiterated that he would resign if the inquiry finds any links to his family in this, but also challenged Simon Busut- til to resign if the inquiry proves Muscat's innocence. "He will be judged for escalating a lie to unprecedented levels and of being in ca- hoots with foreigners who want to steal your jobs," Muscat said. The Labour leader said that the Egrant "calumny" was made not only against him and his family, but against the country as a whole. "After he endangered jobs and invest- ment he is now saying that it's not im- portant. A person who aspires to become prime minister, and who thinks he can take people out on the streets on a lie and risk stagnating the economy without knowing that he needs to shoulder re- sponsibility, only confirms that he is not fit to run the country." Turning his attention to youths, Muscat appealed to them against allowing anyone to toy with their future. "I want to thank the University students for the beautiful welcome they gave us and for having showed where the youths stand. Don't let anyone deride you for the choices you make. We want you with us to defend what we achieved, to continue working on civil rights. "Don't let the coalition of confu- sion, a coalition of conservatives, work against the liberal leap forward. They are against the advancement of the IVF law, and so they scare with abortion. "Thanks to the IVF legislation we in- troduced, 62 babies were born. We are convinced in that we want IVF services to advance, to help people become par- ents. I am personally making this com- mitment: because this is social justice; this is equality; this is Malta for all." Warning against electing a Nation- alist government, the Prime Minister said that Busuttil will fail to implement his pledges without raising VAT, utility bills and National Insurance. "The possibility that the most im- portant decisions that affect jobs and investment are taken by this coalition of confusion is not a joke. You have to decide between a prime minister held hostage by a seat majority who every day has to battle to keep his govern- ment in power, and a stable govern- ment whom you know can guarantee work for all." Prime Minister calls on undecided to vote for continuity On keeping Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi: My decision was based on the fact that I needed the two of them to continue working. I paid the political price for this decision and I shoulder the responsibility Auditor General asked to investigate George Pullicino FILES related to the BWSC plant in Delimara, and which had never been pub- lished, were to be sent to the auditor general for investigation, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced yesterday. The Labour Party's newspaper KullHadd today claimed these missing docu- ments proved that then Nationalist minister Geoge Pullicino had changed emissions legislation after being advised to do so by BWSC – and against ex- pert advice – allowing the company to win the power station tender. In a letter to Pullicino dated 27 November 2007, BWSC's director Martin Kok Jensen and sales manager Erik Breiner Kristensen noted that, because of Malta's strong environmental legislation on emissions, the company would have spend an additional €20 million to fall in line. They therefore urged the minister "to revise the emission requirements as station in Invitation to Tender and allow the diesel engine technology to fol- low the same emission limits as specified for the gas turbines". When Enemalta was advised of BWSC's request, they advised the govern- ment not to accede to the company's demands. In an internal 20 December 2007 memo, the company's chief technical of- ficer Peter Grima insisted that the law should not be changed and said that BWSC's technology, although cheap, was suitable "only for Africa". "This bidder (BWSC) seems to think that they can offer any type of plant, operating without limits or within their selected limits and that we will oper- ate it in defiance of the law," he wrote.