Grech warns Abela of continued protests unless government sues Steward

Protestors thronged Valletta's Republic street to denounce corruption in a protest called by the Nationalist Party and supported by the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin.

This was the second protest called by the PN in the wake of a court ruling that annulled the Steward hospitals contract over fraudulent behaviour. The first protest was held at the end of an urgent parliamentary debate last Monday.

Opposition leader Bernard Grech pledged Prime Minister Robert Abela his support if government files a lawsuit against Steward Healthcare to recover the millions in public funds spent on the deal.

Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday

However, he also warned that if Abela failed to do so, the Opposition would return to the streets to protest.

“Only you have the authority to launch the lawsuit to recover our money. File it, and you'll find us all united behind you,” Grech said, directly addressing Abela by name. “But if you do nothing you will find us on the streets in front of you.”

The crowd booed when Grech listed everyone in former prime minister Joseph Muscat's team, who was responsible for the hospitals deal. The PN leader then went on to question the whereabouts and the work of Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa and Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg.

“If it was you, who perpetrated a crime they would have hauled you to court. Yet these individuals defend and protect each other because they have made a deal together,” Grech told the crowd, adding that political responsibility should be shouldered.

Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday

Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday

Responding to an earlier pledge made by the Prime Minister to build a new hospital in Gozo in this legislature, Grech recalled how the same promise was made multiple times in the previous 10 years. He said Abela cannot be believed when he makes such a pledge today.

The protest was also addressed by UĦM Voice of the Workers CEO Josef Vella, who emphasised that regaining control of the hospitals did not release Steward employees. 

UHM CEO Josef Vella

He explained that although they perform the same work as others in the public sector, Steward employees have inferior working conditions, which violates the concept of equal pay for work of equal value.

“This type of discrimination should have never been tolerated,” Vella said.

He said the UĦM had an ongoing court case against the government over its failure to honour a written agreement in which it promised to transfer Steward employees to the public sector under the same terms as their colleagues. 

PN MP Adrian Delia, the person who filed the court case to rescind the hospitals contract, also addressed the crowd, insisting that it was not enough that the hospitals are returned to the State.

He said political responsibility should be shouldered and action taken to recover the money spent on the concession.

Adrian Delia (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)

Delia began his address with thousands shouting his name as he insisted a united Malta had triumphed.

He urged those present not to boo or humiliate PL voters, who he said are equally unhappy, deceived, and betrayed.

“Thousands of Labourites are outraged because this was the greatest betrayal in history,” Delia said and urged people to speak up in “one voice” for justice, truth, and righteousness. 

While the crowd yelled in unison, Delia reminded them that there is a more powerful weapon against the government's intimidation: hope.

Thousands of people had gathered in Castille Square and made their way down to the law courts. People carried various protest messages denouncing the 'theft' of public funds as a result of the hospitals deal. One of the placards slammed the impunity of people close to the Labour government, while another called for justice with JeanPaul Sofia, the 20-year-old victim of a building collapse.

Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday

In his speech, Grech reiterated that the PN would be filing a parliamentary motion to have a public inquiry into Sofia’s tragic death, something the Prime Minister has dismissed.

Protestors marched behind a banner that read, You Deserve Better. Holding the banner, alongside Grech and Delia was UHM CEO Josef Vella.

Two other unions, the Malta Union of Nurses and the Medical Association of Malta, could not attend because their statute precludes them from participating in protests organised by political parties but both have expressed criticism towards the hospitals concession deal and welcomed the court judgment.

Earlier on Sunday when speaking on NET TV, Grech said Robert Abela had no respect for people. “He has no values, and he is definitely not interested in you.”

Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday

Grech said that it was the Labour government that negotiated the “corrupt and fraudulent” contracts for the concession of the three state hospitals to Vitals/Steward and that it was Prime Minister Robert Abela and his friends that kept defending the deal.

The concession of St Luke’s Hospital, Karin Grech Hospital, and the Gozo General Hospital, was struck down by Mr Justice Francesco Depasquale, on 24 February.

Rescinding the contract and all side agreements, the judge said he had no doubt that Steward had fraudulently tried to “turn in its favour, a situation resulting from the fraudulent actions of its predecessors with the aim of unjustifiably enriching itself on the backs of the Government of Malta and the citizens of Malta and Gozo.”