Still plundering – Kevin Cassar

Barely days after the court lambasted Labour for the billion-euro fraudulent Vitals-Steward deal, Robert Abela is discussing another concession agreement for the three hospitals.

The court sentence is still subject to appeal, but Abela’s already discussing whether the nation’s three hospitals should be returned to the private sector.

The man has no shame.

He’s let slip that he’s mulling selling the three hospitals off – to see how people react – before ploughing on. Something’s brewing – and it stinks.

“Should it be a concession for the three hospitals or separate concessions or whether government should administer everything…those are the discussions taking place,” Abela said. “The government, led by me, can implement its vision for the hospitals,” he added in an apparent barb directed at his health minister.

Days after the courts exposed how millions of euro were fraudulently funnelled into the pockets of a group of businessmen clueless about health, Abela’s thinking of repeating the scam.

Genuine Labour supporters must be dismayed.

The sole function of private companies isn’t to provide good quality healthcare – it’s to make money, preferably a lot of it, in the shortest time possible. As the country reels from the sheer magnitude of Labour’s Vitals-Steward fraud, Abela’s thinking of doling out millions more to the private sector.

Abela seems intent on not missing a golden opportunity to reward more of his friends with millions from our health service. For all we know, he might already have struck another secret Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to hive off the three hospitals.

Abela won’t learn his lesson. All he sees is unwavering blind support in the face of Labour’s shameless plundering of public wealth.

There’s no deterrent. He’s bound to keep doing what Labour’s done for the last decade – swindle the nation and dupe its people.

There is no profit in health. Healthcare generates only financial losses. Its profits aren’t calculated in euro. Its profits are reaped in longer, healthier lives.  And its biggest consumers are the poor, who are the sickest, and nowhere more so than in Malta.

The 2021 State of Health in the EU report showed that Malta has one of the broadest health disparities. Almost 90% of the richest enjoy good health. Only 58% of the poorest do. That’s a 41% gap compared to the EU average of just 20%. That’s not surprising.

Abela cannot understand the quotidian concerns of workers.  His interests aren’t those of the people. His priority is to maintain control, consolidate power and grow his personal wealth.

He’s relatively young, with multiple properties, a yacht, and business interests in partnership with developers on whom he bestows millions in direct orders and financial support through Malta Enterprise.

He never misses an opportunity to boost his personal wealth, even if that means making dodgy deals with alleged kidnappers and money launderers.

A man who made more money in one month than many earn in a year cannot begin to comprehend the indignities faced by the average worker.

To maintain power, he pursues every opportunity to reward his multi-millionaire backers. Fewer and fewer people control what goes on in this country.  This is the true oligarchy Franco Debono once spoke of – a situation where Abela’s rich friends have complete control over the economic and political decisions to the detriment of workers. We all know which side Abela’s on.

This is the real struggle the country faces. A struggle for basic rights, such as the right to good quality healthcare without enriching Labour’s multi-millionaire friends.

This is a battle between Labour’s pursuit of profit for its oligarchy and the people’s attempt to safeguard its prized health service. Labour’s been hijacked by a small group of wealthy opportunists who demand their pound of flesh out of the national wealth – whether it’s Comino or Mellieha Heights, Marsaskala Bay or the Fortina marina, millions in direct contracts for unnecessary projects, ElectroGas, Mozura, the Institute for Tourism Studies, the American University of Malta, the St Vincent De Paul Residence.

Or even our health service.

Meanwhile, Abela, unabashed and almost gleeful, pursues a policy of lying and denying to protect his friends. He spares no effort and no cost trying to hide how much he’s paying Saviour Balzan.  He shoots down Freedom of Information requests.  He hid how much money his business partners, Bonnici Brothers, got from Malta Enterprise.

The crime scene is still fresh, and Abela’s already back to plan his next sell-off to the private sector. The three hospitals haven’t even been returned, and he’s already scheming about new concessions.

Who’s involved in these discussions?  The Medical Association isn’t. Neither are the unions – the MUMN or the UHM. Neither were discussions held with them when Joseph Muscat and Konrad Mizzi conspired with Vitals on the fraudulent deals. Abela’s doing the same.

Only this time, he must be stopped. The resistance of the public, patient organisations and health professionals’ unions must be unyielding. Health professionals must this time act as the guardians of our gem, the public health service.

They must shield it from the grubby hands of Labour’s greedy speculators. The voice of the people must rise in a deafening roar that jangles every single nerve in Abela’s body. Enough is enough.

Our health service, free at point of care, accessible to all and run by the State is Mintoff’s legacy. He caused untold damage in the process, but the country gained a fair healthcare system. The price was paid in the blood of an innocent 15-year-old, Karin Grech, barbarically murdered in her own home.

Labour desecrated our health service.  It conspired with crooks to hijack the people’s life-saving health in order to drain millions into those crooks’ accounts on the back of people’s misery.  That is a socialist sacrilege.  Instead of apologising and fighting to return those hospitals to the nation, Abela is scheming to sell them off to the highest bidder once again.