Traffic management in the Msida Circus area is quite a sensitive issue. It has upset many voters in the past, and its reorganisation through public consultation (whose transparency is disputable) was promised by the Labour local council earlier on in its term of office.

But what happened? We all know the hassle it created in the last local council elections in an area, which for Labour is supposedly a Nationalist stronghold. So somehow or other, after all this time, the necessary permit was released. Just now – two weeks before an election. What a coincidence!

I will not go into the merits of whether the new system is what the residents want or not, as the system has been implemented on a trial basis; once a new council is elected it should amend or confirm the system after evaluation.

What I must comment about is how the council used this issue for no other reason except to gain political mileage. If not, how can anyone explain the shabby ‘ejja ha nmorru’ implementation?

Some new one-way signs have been installed, but no stop signs accompany them; signs indicating a dead-end when there is no longer a dead-end, as traffic flow direction has been changed. And best of all, no local wardens or others to guide traffic in its early stages of implementation, as some follow the new signs while some others used to the old system do not. The result – everyone driving in every direction, the screeching of brakes, and an accident waiting to happen!

Well done for the implementation! Political mileage is more important than road safety, isn’t it?

Matthew Agius

PN Local Council Candidate

MSIDA