The damning report on the Vitals deal takes centre stage in today’s Editorials.
The Times of Malta lashes on the latest report by the NAO on yet another political scandal afflicting the Labour Government, with the Editor arguing that there seems to be no limit to the level of exploitation of taxpayers by the government in the last seven years. The publication of the first part of the National Audit Office (NAO) report on the award of a hospital management contract to Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH) in 2015 is described as the nadir of corruption in public governance under the premiership of Joseph Muscat.
The Business Today joins this assessment and insists that the hospitals deal must be rescinded. Contractual clauses that are deleterious to the public good and which were inserted last year to protect the interest of Steward rather than the taxpayer, should be legally challenged and those behind them investigated for collusion and dereliction of duty, insists the Editor of the business paper.
The BusinessWeekly expresses concern that Malta is taken the current Covid-19 situation with less attention, highlighted by the fact that while the first visitors were all donning masks and visors, the Ministers welcoming were not. The Editor argues that you cannot project Malta as a Covid-free destination if you play around with health protection. It calls on authorities to look at other countries. Visitors to Greece, for instance, are swabbed on arrival and their movements around the country are tracked. Other countries insist on visitors taking a test before they leave their home country and carrying a document to show they’re clean. To take a temperature test on entry means practically nothing.
The Independent argues that PN leader Adrian Delia’s position is now untenable. The Editor describes Delia now an ineffective leader who does not have the backing of his own MPs or the public. The paper notes that despite the corruption scandals attributed to the current Government, Delia has not managed to move his Party in the polls.
L-Orizzont speaks up about domestic violence and the need for better efforts to understand the nature of this issue, particularly with the increase in relationships between people from different cultures. The Editor also sees the need for better education at an early stage, to ensure that men and women of tomorrow contribute to a better and fairer society.
In-Nazzjon rails against the culture of impunity prevailing in Malta, with the Editor noting that despite scandals of unseen proportion seeing the light of the day have not resulted in any form of prosecution and real punishment.
