Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely - Delia
Opposition leader Adrian Delia took aim at the government’s recent move to order the Lands Authority Board to delegate most of its executive powers to the CEO, James Piscopo.
Delia was speaking during a PN fund-raising marathon. “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely,” Delia said, while adding that the government could not live without trying to take powers which it had given to an autonomous board back. He accused the government of abusing the parameters of the law and not wanting checks and balances, not wanting any scrutiny, in order to do whatever it wants.
Commenting on the PN’s prebudget document, Delia said that the document is unique in Europe, “as this is the only opposition that does not only analyse a country’s budget, but creates and publishes a pre-budget document.” He said that the document was well-received by everyone except Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Delia took note of the social partners who read and commented positively on the document. He said that the PN is in politics to serve the country, and this is why they are making proposals, even though the government could take these ideas.
Delia said that the there are 70,000 people fighting to pull themselves out of the poverty ‘abyss’, and spoke about rising rent prices adding that there is no apartment going for less than €600 a month. The Opposition leader said that many youths said they only want one child, explaining that their reason for this was as they couldn’t afford to have more. “We proposed a number of incentives, including a maximum 10 per cent tax for those who work overtime or hold a second job,” he said, mentioning some of the PN’s proposals to help those struggling.
On the public inquiry into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, he said that the government is more interested in removing the vigil dedicated to her than anything else. He said that instead of looking at what wrong occurred, and trying to find out the truth, the government is doing this. He said the government is more interested in hiding things.
He said that nobody has yet upheld responsibility. He said political responsibility, in every country where something similar occurred, saw immediate resignations from all the concerned authorities. This, Delia said, was not the case in Malta. On the sale of Maltese citizenship, he said that he can never accept selling it. He said that the prime minister went abroad yelling that he is a salesman, not a statesman, and some followed him and sold citizenship when they shouldn't have, referring to the recent scandal involving Chetcuti Cauchi Advisors, where footage broadcast by a French news programme showed Chetcuti boasting of his government connections to a potential passport buyer. He said that there are ways to create better investment structures, good structures that attract investors who do not just leave a bit of money and then leave.