Gonzi claims mayor ‘forced to resign for supporting Michael Falzon’

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi claimed that the only reason why the Labour Party (PL) had forced former Fgura major Darren Marmara to resign was because he had supported Michael Falzon, one of the five other contenders for the PL leadership in June 2008.

Gonzi made this claim as he was taking part in an interview with PN party journalist Josianne Camilleri on the Nationalist Party radio station Radio 101 which was broadcast this morning.

“Why did the PL make such an attack on Marmara?,” Gonzi asked. “The only thing we know was that Marmara backed Michael Falzon during the Labour leadership campaign in June 2008,” he claimed.

“Marmara was forced to resign by the PL,” Gonzi insisted. “He himself said that he had been threatened,” he added.

Gonzi explained how Marmara had obtained “a substantial number of votes” during the last local council elections, and the Fgura people should know the reasons behind this.

Turing on the election rigging claims that Labour deputy leader for Parliamentary Affairs Anglu Farrugia had made shortly after the March 2008 general elections and the court verdict which absolved the Papillion owner of corrupt practices and his statement in parliament on this sentence, Gonzi claimed that this episode showed how the PL “never learns and never changes”.

It was Evarist Bartolo himself who had said in 2008 had said that “the more things change in the PL, the situation does not change”, Gonzi insisted.

“Imagine if Farrugia had been Deputy PM and delivered such a speech attacking the judiciary,” Gonzi insisted.

“Imagine what would have happened if a PN justice minister had went in Parliament and delivered such a speech,” he added.

A few weeks ago, Labour leader Joseph Muscat had argued that Nationalist MP Charlo Bonnici did not have the right to vote on the Delimara power station extension because of a conflict of interest. “Muscat should turn on Farrugia and ask him to apologise for what he had said,” Gonzi insisted.

Asked about the positive statistics announced by MIA for the first six months of 2010, Gonzi explained how last year Malta had a negative year, with tourism dropping 6%.  “We invested on a lot of advertising as well as funds for Air Malta. We did this despite the fact that there was a deficit,” Gonzi explained.

The Opposition had warned the government against the high deficit, but the government continued spending money to save jobs and improve tourism. “Now we are seeing factories recover and tourism recover too,” he added.

“Let’s hope that the Icelandic volcano does not erupt again,” Gonzi quipped.

Gonzi explained how Air Malta was the national airline “on which we can depend, unlike other airlines. However Air Malta needs to be sustainable.  Malta cannot grant EU subsidies to Malta under state aid rules. Air Malta has to take difficult decisions in order to survive."

Questioned about the aggression against a Spanish tourist by a bus driver, Gonzi warned that this episode was “very disappointing” and “steps should be taken against the bus driver concerned.”

In fact, it was Tourism Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco who had to apologise personally with the tourist for what had happened. There was also a photo in a German newspaper Bild last week which showed a hotel in Malta in a very scruffy state. “The problem with the hotel had already been addressed, but the damage had already been done,” Gonzi warned. “Today it is only a 30-second clip on You Tube that damages Malta’s whole reputation!,” he insisted.

Speaking about the building of a new oncology centre at Mater Dei Hospital and the radiography course in conjunction with the University of Cardiff, Gonzi explained how cancer could hit “everybody, be it a child or an adult. “Instead of investing in armaments, we have invested in free education and free health,” he explained. “We should not look at people because of their political beliefs and financial means,” he added.

There were people who were rich and had to sell their home to pay for the treatment, Gonzi recalled. "There were those who were claiming that Mater Dei was a luxury. Now they have been proven wrong,” he added.

Gonzi explained how with the new oncology centre at Mater Dei, all services would be transferred from Boffa to Mater Dei.  “We were originally going to invest in one linear acceleration, but then we were told that if one of the machines developed a fault, then all treatment would stop. “And cancer is a disease that kills you everyday. That's why we went for two linear accelerators,” he explained.

Asked about the recent Ernst and Young competitiveness survey, which showed that 75% of those interviewed were ready to invest in Malta but they wanted an improvement in Malta’s competitiveness and a reduction in utility tariffs, Gonzi claimed that this showed that there would be “more workers working” in Malta.

.All those who had claimed that there would have been a disaster in the Maltese economy had been proven wrong, he insisted.

In the UK, Value Added Tax was going to be increased to 20% in view of the country’s difficult financial situation. “We can afford not to do that,” Gonzi announced, hinting that he was not likely going to raise VAT again.

This week, the €50 million tender for the interconnector between Malta and Sicily closed.  “During our last meeting, I have asked Silvio Berlusconi to facilitate the procedures for the installation of the interconnector from the Italian side,” Gonzi announced “For the first time in our history, Malta will not depend wholly on its own resources for the generation of electricity but on the interconnector."

Finally, asked for his comments about the ‘postive’ result with 90% passing the SEC exams while 75% passing the Advanced Matriculation exams, Gonzi did not mince his words. “But what will we do about the remaining 10% that have not passed?

He explained how there were people who were not capable for traditional schooling but were capable for vocational schooling like mechanics, sprayers, or airline engineers. “When I visited the MCAST art and design, I was amazed by the ideas produced. They can be commercialised. We have to protect the creative ideas of those students,” Gonzi insisted.

He explained how during the past two years, MCAST had changed its regulation enabling students who did not pass from SEC results could also attend courses there. However, there were also adult students who were even going for PhDs at University, Gonzi mused.

He said he “could not understand” the Opposition’s reaction to these results.  “You have to have the gall to criticise these results because when he was Education Minister, he closed vocational education and removed stipends counter to what had been promised in their electoral programme,” he claimed.

“When are you criticise this situation, you are insulting students and teachers. Education should not be used as a political football,” Gonzi concluded.