Air Malta: Muscat's 'no' to privatisation

Asked by a participant in a one-hour question and answer session at the PL’s Ghaxaq club this morning about the Opposition’s position on Air Malta, Muscat did not mince his words.

“Air Malta is not for sale!” he pledged. ‘And with the airline we do no mean only the aircraft but also the staff,” Muscat insisted. He described Air Malta as “a prime asset for the country”.

He explained how Air Malta had not taken “a single cent in subsidies. Air Malta has always contributed to the country’s coffers”.

Air Malta had done certain routes which a private company would not do if it was a private airline. “A private airline would have closed down a route after 2 months if it had a too low sear loading factor,” he insisted.

He accused the Nationalist Government of having a penchant for destroying strategic assets.

“They destroyed Cargo handling with the pledge that prices would have gone down. They did not,” he charged.

“They destroyed Sea Malta with the pledge of improving competition at sea.  It has not,” Muscat insisted.

Muscat also took exception to a declaration recently made by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi that Air Malta was a noose on the around people’s necks. “For the PL, Air Malta is not noose but a strategic asset,” he insisted.

“Gonzi has been given advice by Brussels to tackle the Air Malta issue in a different way that it was doing,” Muscat revealed.

One of the arguments made over the years by the Nationalist Government was that Air Malta had too many people.

However, Muscat revealed that latest Labour Force Survey showed that out of 4,000 new jobs created over the past year, 92% had been created with the Government.

“If you have employed 3,800 other people with the Government, don’t tell me that there are excessive people with Air Malta!” he insisted.

Muscat recalled how a few years ago, all Air Malta workers had signed a memorandum of understanding in which they had accepted a wage decrease to save the company.  “Now the Government has to do his part too!””

“Maybe he wants to sell Air Malta to particular people as has always been his intention,” Muscat charged.

On the presentation of the Whistle-Blower Act and the amendments to the Commission Against Corruption Act, Muscat reiterated the PL’s proposal that whoever exposes corruption by a politician is given an amnesty.

“Gonzi was more worried about the survey on corruption than on real corruption,” Muscat asked when asked about an MT survey on corruption published today which showed that the Government was not doing enough to combat corruption.

‘He has finally woken up after 22 years of Permanent Commission Against Corruption that did not find not even a xenxula wahda of corruption,” Muscat said sarcastically.

The PL, he explained, agreed with the proposal that the PCC Chiarman was appointed by a two-thirds majority of the House and agreed between the PM and the Opposition leader.

“Let’s go the whole hog and we also appoint the other two members as well,” Muscat proposed.

“We are going to treat Whistle-Blowers better than Tonio Fenech is treating the Enemalta whistle-blower and the Gozo Channel whistle blower,” he pledged.

The PL, he said, had “innovative proposals which we will present in Parliament at the right time”

Corruption was “a tax that you pay out of your taxes to finance the Nationalist Party,” Muscat charged.

Muscat devoted most of his one-hour question-and-answer session to the issue of the utility bills.

 Muscat revealed how as a young parent, this has had been “the first time that Michelle and I have faced the education system.  We now understand more what parents are passing through,” he added.

“In the past the Nationalists used to say that they were better than us. Now they say that we are the same. However this is not true,” Muscat insisted.

The PL, he added, was in favour of a “better health and education system” from those being offered at present by the PN.

“We want to reduce the burden of utility bills,” Muscat pledged. He explained how the utility bills “are competing with parents’ personal expenses, with a new car. Nowadays Gonzi is taking away from your personal expenses to pay for water and electricity bills,” he charged.

That’s why this week the PL had decided to present a motion in Parliament on ARMS Limited this week. “This is a clear example of Government’s mediocrity,” Muscat insisted.

“We did not request information that is not accessible on a database,” he added.

“ARMS is a whole mess and most of the time you do no get served,” Muscat said. “That’s’ why we are calling for the Auditor-General to investigate the setting-yup and management of ARMS Limited,” he added.

Muscat explained how the Opposition had asked to see the €70 million contract awarded by Enemalta Corporation, which was “not a small contract”, but they did not accept the Opposition’s request.

“They had done the same thing with BWSC. Now we know why they did not want us to see the BWSC contract!” he insisted.

Muscat referred to a MaltaToday story which revealed that former Enemalta CEO David Spiteri Gingell was also involved in the smart metres contract through one of the sub-contractors.

“This is the same guy who was involved in the adjudication of the BWSC contract and is now employed with Zaren Vassallo, the contractor for the Delimara power station extension”, Muscat lamented.

This week, the Ombudsman himself, in his annual report, had lambasted ARMS Limited as a prime example “how management has degenerated into something which is not sensitive for people,” he insisted.

“Gonzi, after leaving people bake in the sun for a whole summer, now gives an apology and orders an internal investigation,” Muscat explained. “This is not enough,” he insisted.

Muscat explained how during this week, a private company (Melita plc) was fined by the Malta Communications’ Authority (MCA) for lack of accountability in billing. 

“Imagine if the same authority had to investigate ARMS Limited’s billing system,” he asked.

Muscat revealed how thousands of water and electricity subscribers had received an unsigned letter from ARMS Limited’s “legal office” in which they were ask to regularise their bills, and charging an additional €12 legal fee.

“ARMS Limited does not have a legal and the letter was not signed. “If they did not have the decency to sign, then this letter is not legal!” he charged. “The Ministers responsible have to reply for this!” Muscat insisted.

“If we cannot trust the Government with issuing regular water and electricity bills, how can we trust them on the fuel procurement costs, and if we are not also paying the tax of corruption in the utility bills as well?” he added.

Last week, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech had declared that he was ready to lock the price of oil for a year.  “He has finally woken up!” Muscat said sarcastically. “Last year, when we made this proposal, he laughed at us!”

Asked about the minimum wage, Muscat reiterated his proposal that a Labour Government would provide fiscal incentives to those private enterprises that paid their employees a living wage.

“When we introduced minimum wage 30 years ago, they ridiculed us. Now they accept it,” Muscat explained.

“Thirty years away from now, they will also come and tell us that we were right in introducing the working wage,” he insisted to the applause of the crowd present.

Muscatalso lambasted the proposed COLA increase of €1.05 a week. Half a Maltese lira as a cost of living adjustment is surely not enough, especially after the price of bread has risen this week,” he insisted.

Muscatread out an e-mail from a marred man with a disabled son who earned €1,000 a month, while his son earned only €17 a months in disability benefits. “Now the water and electricity bills have arrived. Can you see how I can cope,” he lamented.

“We are proposing a new social coalition with the middle class, together with families, students and pensioners,” Muscat reiterated.

Turning to the recent increase in gas prices, Muscat explained how the PL was not against the liberalisation of the gas market. “However, the consumer has not been well protected in this liberalised market,” he insisted.

The difference between Labour and the PN is that we would have protested families and low income earners,” Muscat added.

He read out from a recent edition of prestigious Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in which it was reported that in Italy, the price of electricity, water and gas had gone “slightly down”.

“We are not part-time EU members,” Muscat insisted. “The government is only interested in the free market!” he charged.

“We want to be full-time EU members and also implement its social aspects,” Muscat pledged.