PN And PL Go Head-To-Head Calling Each Other The ‘Establishment’
Prime Minister Robert Abela and Opposition Leader Bernard Grech have gone head-to-head in two separate political rallies where they branded each other’s party as the “establishment“.
Abela has maintained the PL’s underdog narrative, saying that “people in the south know who the establishment is” while Grech said that “he who has been in government for 11 years” is the real “establishment”.
“You in the south know who is the establishment and what decisions they took. For them, the south was only good for dump sites,” Abela said during a political rally in Żabbar.
Abela continued by saying that the “establishment” built a power station run by heavy fuel oil and a recycling plant that smelled so bad that people could not even open a window – alluding to the time the Nationalist Party was in government.
Meanwhile, during a PN rally in Valletta, Grech said that the establishment is “He who remains gripped to power, he who used to earn €17,000 monthly for a part-time job with the government, he who uses power to regularise law infringements in some villa he snatched from a couple, he who controls what is meant to be a public broadcaster.”
“The establishment is he who competed with a mother who simply wanted to know the truth about her son’s death, he who covers up information and controls the police and the AG. The establishment is those who were found responsible for creating a culture of impunity that led to the assassination of a journalist.”
Grech continued by saying that the PN actually pushed the Labour establishment to give back three public hospitals that the government had given to Vitals and Steward Healthcare.
“The establishment is he who has access to the conclusions of the magisterial inquiry on the biggest fraud in history, even though it has not been published yet, and is using it to make political manoeuvres that serve only himself,” he said, alluding to Abela.
When questioned by Lovin Malta, Abela didn’t deny having access to the inquiry and he raised another question.
The opposition leader added that Abela is trying to obscure the truth and mislead people about knowing the timing of the inquiry, alleging that the prime minister knows who did what.
Moreover, in his rally, Abela defended the tax rebate cheques received by the public this week.
Abela said the government will not stop implementing budget measures during the electorate campaign, including sending tax rebate cheques to homes.
This was similarly done in 2022 two weeks before the general elections, with critics, including the OSCE, stating that this is an unethical tactic used to leverage an electoral advantage.
“Election or not, you receive that cheque every year. When the PN was in government you didn’t get a cheque, you got higher bills,” he said.
He even announced that parents with children moving on to post-secondary education will soon receive one of three €500 cheques.
The Prime Minister said that he wants to work toward a united country, despite both parties’ repetitive use of an us versus them-based rhetoric.
During this rally, Abela neglected to mention the Vitals inquiry, including the list of money laundering suspects that was released by the Attorney General that named former prime minister Joseph Muscat.
Former ministers Konrad Mizzi and Edward Scicluna and Muscat’s former right-hand man Keith Schembri were also named in this list.
Rather than commenting on the contents of this list, Abela has taken issue with the timing of the conclusion of the inquiry.
He has made damning allegations that magistrate Gabriella Vella concluded the inquiry over a month before the European Parliament and local council elections to sway the electorate away from the Labour Party, accusing her of “political terrorism”.
This has raised serious concerns about Abela himself who has questioned the integrity and impartiality of the Maltese judiciary which undermines the principles of separation of powers – essential in any democracy.
Is there an “establishment”? If so, who do you think it is? Let us know in the comments below
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