‘Enemalta workers are not the problem,’ PN says

The Nationalist Party has accused Prime Minister Robert Abela of avoiding political responsibility and shifting the blame onto Enemalta after days of power cuts left families and businesses in the dark.

The PN said Enemalta is a government-owned company that falls under the responsibility of Energy Minister Miriam Dalli and, ultimately, the prime minister, adding that workers should not be made to shoulder the political burden for failures they did not create.

“Enemalta workers are not the problem,” the party said. “These are workers who, throughout these days, have been working long hours, under immense pressure, in difficult conditions and in high temperatures to restore electricity supplies to Maltese and Gozitan families and businesses.”

The PN’s statement follows an interview Abela gave to ONE News on Sunday, during which he said he had instructed Enemalta workers to “speed up” efforts to strengthen Malta’s electricity distribution network by the end of the week.

The party argued that Abela could not act as prime minister when things were going well but become a spectator when problems arise, insisting that the government must accept responsibility when the system fails to cope.

“It was his government’s responsibility to ensure that the electricity infrastructure could cope with a rapidly growing population. It was his government’s responsibility to prepare for the continuously increasing electricity demand. It was his government’s responsibility to anticipate summers with high temperatures. It was his government’s responsibility to ensure that investment was carried out on time.”

The party said it would continue to stand by workers who, despite failures in planning, were doing everything possible to keep the country running.

The PN concluded by calling for Enemalta workers operating under what it described as extraordinary circumstances to receive appropriate compensation for their work, sacrifice, and the pressure they were enduring while serving the public over the last week.