The mayor of Sta Lucija has every right to reply on behalf of his council to my criticism, just as I have the right to inform the people what goes on in Labour councils especially when public funds are involved.

In his reply Mr Cutajar did not deny one single thing I had written about; all he did was come up with some futile excuses. I cannot understand how MLP councillors make use of a council’s fax machine at their residence; neither can I understand on what grounds the mayor claims the ADSL fee from his council. Furthermore, whether it was 30 per cent or one per cent, the fact remains that he used public funds to go to China.

It is not true that the rent due was accounted for in the council’s accruals before the last financial year-end. These were added when this rent business came to light in another section of the press; in fact as at 31 March 2005 the accruals quoted in the Sta Lucija accounts were Lm1,721 when the council had Lm9,600 rental fee due on that same date. The council has entered into an agreement for the rent due, which will take it 32 years to settle.

Cheque Number 3888

I was prudent enough not to mention that in a particular year the Sta Lucija council issued cheque number 3888 for the sum of Lm2,000 without an invoice being provided. The council’s auditor mentioned this case. I have more documents about this council should the Sta Lucija mayor be interested to know more about them.

Labour councils continue abusing

Birzebbuga: The Birzebbuga deputy mayor has applied for the post of executive secretary with the same council. Although the law states that councillors cannot act as executive secretaries, it does not prohibit councillors from applying for such positions. In my view this is highly irregular and unethical as it puts other applicants at a disadvantage, especially when two of the selection board members will be the mayor himself and a Labour councillor.

Should the Birzebbuga deputy mayor be accepted as an executive secretary we will have this scenario in Labour led local councils:

Ghaxaq – ex Labour Vittoriosa mayor

Rabat – ex president MLP Club Attard

Luqa – ex Labour General Election candidate

A.K.L. – ex MLP General Secretary

Birzebbuga – Ex Labour deputy mayor (if chosen)

This is why I have reason to say that the MLP are trying to turn local councils into MLP clubs.

San Gwann: Some months ago the mayor asked for a vote of confidence, which was only passed because the mayor used his casting vote to state that he had confidence in himself. Absurdity apart, two years on this Labour-led council, once a very efficient council, is regretfully in a total mess.

Six months ago the council employed the San Gwann MLP Club secretary as a clerk; the majority of councillors in the council, which included one Labour councillor, decided that this clerk was inefficient and discharged him before his probation period was up. The mayor refused to bring this matter up in a council meeting and is now saying that as the probation period has elapsed the clerk will have to keep his job at the San Gwann council. The matter was mentioned in the council’s minutes but was ignored. This is one of the Labour-led councils where absurdity knows no limits.

Mtarfa: This council has not held a meeting since August. The mayor and the deputy mayor are refusing to accept the council’s majority to make amendments to the minutes. Some days ago a meeting was held at the council in the presence of the council’s legal adviser, the director of local councils and the department’s legal adviser. Nothing came of it and the mayor continues to ignore the decision of the majority.

This council has no executive secretary and the work of secretary has been done for months by the Dingli executive secretary who is a staunch Labour activist. The Mtarfa council risks being dissolved

The MLP projects gimmick

It is not true that councils with a PN majority have given the MLP a list of projects. In fact not even all the Labour-led councils have accepted the MLP request. The information I have is that only 30 councils out of 68 have informed the MLP that they were interested in the gimmick. (There are 42 councils with an MLP majority).

What actually happened was that two or three local councils with a PN majority did propose projects. They did this in good faith, but after they realized that as in everything else Dr Sant was politicising the matter and using them for his political ends, they refused and did not sign any letter of agreement, as the MLP stated in its propaganda machine.

The MLP have turned local councils into MLP clubs, I intend to continue exposing this Labour absurdity in our localities especially where public funds are concerned.

The Nationalist Party policy regarding local councils is very clear. The PN believes that where local councillors are elected from the PN list they form a definite group in the particular local council itself; at this level the political direction is very minimal if not inexistent, as it is restricted on matters that have certain political consequences or are of special importance.

Pawlu Aquilina

PN Local Councils

Coordinator