Joseph Muscat reacts to complaint by Labour MP

Opposition leader Joseph Muscat deflected attention from a public Facebook complaint by one of his MPs over his visit to Hamrun yesterday, onto Nationalist councillor Paula Mifsud Bonnici.

Muscat was reacting to Labour MP Luciano Busuttil's peeved-off comment on his Facebook profile, at not having been invited to accompany the Labour leader on a visit to a public car park project in Hamrun, on which the MP had personally worked on as mayor.

"I am so disappointed that MPs elected on the first district were not invited to join in to Dr Joseph Muscat's visit of the Hamrun new underground parking. Personally I spent seven years on that project that I created and that no one ever believed could become reality. Seems that hard work was soon forgotten!" Busuttil's Facebook comment read yesterday, after Muscat kicked off the PL's local council elections campaign.

Muscat was visiting a public-private car park the Hamrun council had completed with Parkwell Ltd.

Asked for his comments on Busuttil's reaction, Muscat said: "He understands that these activities are giving a window of opportunity for local council candidates to promote themselves during the campaign."

Instead Muscat referred to a statement by Hamrun councillor and the president of the PN's General Council Paula Mifsud Bonnici, who complained about councillors not being invited to visit a council project.

"I have never heard of political parties inviting their counterparts to attend local council campaign events. If the Nationalist Party wants to participate in PL's campaigning events to show the PL support, it says a lot," Muscat said.

Muscat said he was visiting districts with a Labour majority and seemed be amused that PN candidates were "so eager" to join the PL's campaign. "I find it surprising that PN candidates are so eager to join our campaign activities. I'm surprised that bureaucracy has reached such a level so as to want to be invited to PL's events," Muscat said.

"The Prime Minister has been on visits, such as schools, both on and off campaign to boast about the government's success in their projects. PL councillors and MPs were never invited to such events," Muscat said.