Only One Man To Blame For Malta Becoming More Dangerous, PN MP Joe Giglio Insists
Nationalist MP Joe Giglio insisted that the blame for Malta “becoming more dangerous” falls squarely on the shoulders of Prime Minister Robert Abela.
“This mediocre and incompetent government has created another crisis, a crisis of the security of our children, relatives, parents and everyone here,” Giglio told a political rally in Attard today.
“As though the cost of living, institutional failure and uncontrolled sending crises weren’t enough, the Home Affairs Minister [Byron Camilleri] has created a crisis of insecurity.”
Giglio warned that “unprovoked incidences on violence” are on the rise and noted that 2022 was a record-breaking year in terms of road deaths, traffic accident injuries and workplace injuries.
“The only thing the Minister has given us is insecurity. The police force is completely demotivated, overworked, and over-stretched but definitely not overpaid, and some officers are even taking the tough decision to quit before reaching their retirement age.”
“Meanwhile, the AFM has no direction, Identity Malta’s systems have completely collapsed, and we reached a ridiculous and pathetic situation where the prison director was in the same position as the people he was supposed to be managing.”
Giglio said that Abela’s recent remark that he no longer feels comfortable letting his daughter walk unaccompanied through Valletta in light of a brutal gang attack in the capital city proves that violent crime is on the rise.
“However, his reaction was to blame everyone except himself. He blamed our parents, the educational system and our courts, rather than realising that the buck stops with him because the Home Affairs Minister is not fit for purpose.”
Earlier today, Abela confirmed he discussed the court’s sentencing policy with an unnamed magistrate, who told him that the judiciary tend to give lenient sentences found guilty of serious crimes out of concern that the convict could file a successful appeal.
He insisted that people found guilty of serious crimes should be given harsher sentences and that the courts shot not be “anchored to decades-old trains of thought”
The Prime Minister also appeared to take a thinly-veiled swipe at Giglio, when he accused unnamed PN politicians who work as criminal lawyers of having a conflict of interest.
“At 9am, they wear the cap of a criminal lawyer and speak out in court in favour of releasing criminals, and at 4pm they go to Parliament to talk about how everything should remain the same. What a conflict of interest… everything is fine for them so long as they are comfortable.”
Do you think Malta has become more dangerous in recent years?
READ NEXT: Robert Abela: ‘A Magistrate Explained To Me Why Courts Give Lenient Sentences’
