‘It’s time to focus’ Gonzi tells voters

Referring to last Tuesday's rowdy debate between political leaders on the Mcast campus, where he was jeered by a sizeable crowd of Labour-leaning supporters, the Prime Minister said that contrary to the chants of "shame on you", he felt that he had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, especially where education is concerned.

"I ask, do these students know that the very same campus they were jeering me, was the same one a Labour government had shut down?" Gonzi asked, adding, that the only person to be ashamed, especially where education is concerned was Labour leader Joseph Muscat.

He also asked whether the students who jeered him had looked around themselves to understand where they are when compared to students like them in many countries around Europe, where  the economic crisis has hit so hard that they have no prospects for their future.

"The story here in Malta is completely different, and we have worked hard to save jobs, and create new ones, and our track record stands out, " Gonzi said.

Gonzi referred to an almost €2 million investment made at the Mcast media unit, where students are studying and using equipment which not even Television Malta have.

"We are proposing tablets for our children to use, as the logical step forward in upgrading the educational sector, where children will have their curriculum on it, without the burden of carrying a school case full of books,"  he said.

The Prime Minister explained that the tablets will compliment the already hefty investments made across all public schools where interactive boards have been introduced in every classroom.

Answering questions by his host, 20 year-old Jesmar Pace, an Mcast student who asked about the PN's proposals for the educational sector, Lawrence Gonzi said that besides giving tablets to all children, irrespective if they attend public, church or private schools, he added that all teachers and learning assistants will also be given one.

Gonzi said that notwithstanding the economic recession, the Libyan uprising and instability across the Southern Mediterranean basin, Malta managed to generate 20,000 new jobs, despite registering the highest number ever in working population.

Throughout these past five years, more than 4,000 university students graduated every year, and this empowers us to continue to promote Malta as the right place to invest and expand business, and encourages the vision and commitment to provide 25,000 new jobs across the economy.

"We know exactly what we are doing. Our track-record in employment speaks for itself, and we are committed to doing more than we can do, " Gonzi said, adding that contrary to this scenario, Labour leader Joseph Muscat is already showing himself incapable of creating such an economic environment.

He qualified this argument when he reminded his audience about Muscat's vision about Cyprus, when he stressed that government should follow the Cypriot economic example, when history proved him completely wrong.

"God forbid we ever took his advice," Gonzi said.

Jesmar Pace informed the Prime Minister that he is a first time voter, and asked him to convince him why he should vote for the PN.

"You see in 1996, the country went for change, and it was indeed a bitter pill, because a Labour government elected that year, inherited a country with almost full employment, and a sound economy."

"This is why I say it's time to focus, because 1996 was not too long ago, and Muscat is trying to make you all forget about that disastrous 22 months Labour was in office," he charged.

Gonzi stressed that the PN in government not only changed the country, joining the European Union, joining the euro and changing the entire social and economic spectrum. "We gave the country our very best, and we have changed everything from how we inherited it in 1987," he said.

The Prime Minister warned that a mistake made on March 9 will not be a mistake which could not be erased.

"It's a mistake which we will all have to contend with for five whole years, and that mistake will hurt and can hurt many," he concluded.