Godfrey Farrugia’s resignation letter example of Labour’s deception – Busuttil

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has called a snap general election to “clean his sins” and “save his skin,” Opposition leader Simon Busuttil told a press conference yesterday, while referring to former Labour whip Godfrey Farrugia’s resignation letter.

Dr Busuttil said: “Everyone woke up this morning wondering why the snap election will be happening before the end of Joseph Muscat’s legislature. Why did he not wait until the end of the inquiry on him or Keith Schembri? Why did he not wait for another budget? Why all this panic? Those are the questions the public are asking.

“For me, the reason is clear. We have remained in a state of uncertainty due to the crisis in our country, which only occurred because Joseph Muscat remained under a criminal investigation and did not resign.

“The crisis happened not because what we saw in the last couple of weeks was an isolated case, but a pattern which shows that the current administration’s style of governance is corruption.”

The government has long spoken of a roadmap for the country, Dr Busuttil said, but now everyone knows that the roadmap Joseph Muscat spoke of was to see how they were going to make money for themselves and not for the good of the country.

“Rather than resigning and asking someone else to run as Party Leader instead of him, which is what would have happened in any other country, he decided to take everyone down with him.”

Godfrey Farrugia

This was made very clear, he said, in Labour MP Godfrey Farrugia’s resignation letter from the post of Labour whip. “It is important to read the letter; these are not the PN’s words, but rather they are coming from the ex-Labour whip, an ex-minister, and current MP.”

The Leader of the Opposition then proceeded to quote directly from the letter: “I think that the main foundations of the electoral manifesto that guaranteed a leadership based on accountability and transparency were strongly shaken,” Dr Farrugia wrote.

“Wrongful behaviour was not curbed, left repercussions that put us with our backs against the wall. We lost our moral fibre. We did not succeed to unite the people. The people were confused and went around blindly, looking for the real truth. We arrived at a point where we are giving Malta a bad name, on an international level and during Malta’s presidency of the EU.

“The people’s confidence in the Labour ideal should never have been betrayed and used to push the agenda of the few who, it is clear, do not have the national interest at heart.”

Dr Busuttil said the last sentence showed exactly why the country was where it is today.

“Joseph Muscat’s house of cards is falling.” It was also important to note how foreign media reported the announcement, he said.

“They did not say that the PN or Simon Busuttil created this instability. They all say that this happened because Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri are accused of corruption. These are not partisan lenses, these are opinions of people from the outside, who view the situation the way it is meant to be seen.”

Broken Electoral Promises

Over the last four years, he said, Dr Muscat had broken the electoral promises on corruption, transparency, and meritocracy. “When you make promises and do the complete opposite, that is a betrayal. Where is the zero tolerance to corruption? He failed and let us all down.”

“What would happen should Dr Muscat win the election, and the inquiry finds evidence against the Prime Minister and Mr Schembri?” Dr Busuttil asked, saying this is what will happen since he had already provided such proof to the magistrate.

“Will he resign and will we have another election once the evidence is out? They are complicit with one another, and if one falls, the other has to go with him. He is scared that the inquiry will come out against him. That is why he wants to call a general election before, so if he wins, he can clean his sins and save his skin. I am placing a choice onto the population between Panama Muscat or Malta. The corruption will continue under Dr Muscat. It will be my mission in politics to clean up corruption once and for all.”

Labour proposals

Dr Busuttil fielded questions from the press regarding the PL proposals, unveiled by Muscat earlier in the day. He said that a number of the proposals, such as tax reductions, had already been made by the Nationalist Party.

With regard to the economy, he said that the PN was proud of its achievement in this area, particularly when you considered that the party was able to further economic progression during an international recession. “What Muscat’s government has benefitted is only off what the PN built.”

Busuttil was also asked when the party would release its own proposals, to which Dr Busuttil said that “they will be released in the coming days.”

For Malta or PN?

The PN Leader was asked by The Malta Independent whether it was a choice between Malta and Joseph Muscat, or a choice between Simon Busuttil and Joseph Muscat, and why he was so reluctant to say the former.

“We are telling the population that they have a choice. It is not a choice between parties. Yes, the PN is against corruption, and it is choice between me and Dr Muscat, but it is not a choice between parties. Nationalists know, Labourites know, everyone knows about the corruption. People do not want to live under three people any longer. In that sense we are saying that it is a choice between Malta and Muscat.”

Dr Busttill was also asked, if it really were Malta against Muscat, why his party was so reluctant to form a coalition with the smaller parties under a different banner to the PN, as Alternattiva Demokratika Chairman Arnold Cassola said in an opinion piece published in The Malta Independent.

“The PN made an appeal to everyone who wanted to combat the current situation, and that is not an easy task. It is very hard and that is why we needed to join under one banner; PN, PL, AD, PD, it does not matter. PD Leader Marlene Farrugia answered the call, and we found a formula which is adapted to present circumstances. The electoral registry has already occurred, and we do not need to go into all the legal complications with party financing by creating a new banner now. PD candidates will appear under the PN ticket, and that was the formula Dr Farrugia accepted. If I had offered different rules to AD, I would have reduced the PD’s position in the coalition.”