It was good to hear that our air quality has improved; it’s a shame that the same cannot be said about the noise pollution on the island. Whether it is the dreaded petards, car horns and discos, or barking dogs, tal bigilla and doughnut sellers, with megaphones, and our neighbourhood now even has loud cackling geese on one of the roofs.
What started me off today was an email I got recently, which touched me. It is not the first time that I receive mail from people who have reached the end of their tether and who hope that I could somehow make a difference,
The last email started off. “You newspapers reporters are all talk, why don’t you organise a petition in the Malta Independent maybe something could be done.” The blunt truth is, that is all we can do – talk and write. As for petitions, the authorities ignore them and many who complain don’t sign them.
The gentleman’s main complaint was about the petards. “The majority of the people in Malta are all against this unnecessary noise pollution, due to these stupid ignorant people. Nowhere in Europe is such noise permissible, but we have no standards. I think something has to be done to stop the petard bombs, they should be outlawed,” he wrote.
Although the festa season is practically over, I think that the gentleman lives somewhere south of the island, because I could hear and see the petards several weeks ago and I was thanking my lucky stars that they were too far away to really affect me. It just sounded like distant thunder from Sliema.
I hate repeating myself, but a petition, which I had started in my then column in the Sunday Times, to stop the petards was presented to both sides of the House in December 2001. The only people who had responded and asked for a meeting were PN MP Mario Galea, who was then Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly and Community and then Archbishop Joseph Mercieca.
The latter had commissioned a report and the Curia had later published the findings and publicised the results widely. It had concluded that Malta had one of the highest rates of deaths and injuries due to fireworks in the countries of the Mediterranean basin. As to noise, its leaflet said, “In certain instances the noise of fireworks is excessive, especially, known for their ‘power’, are the berqa (lightening) petards that can damage people’s health as well as that of animals.”
However, “In certain instances” did not cover the length of time and the regularity that petards are hoisted daily in the festa week.
After the meeting with Parliamentary Secretary Galea, he had said he would try to set up a meeting with then Minister Tonio Borg, now EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, and the then Police Commissioner John Rizzo. That did not materialise. Maybe, in his new role Tonio Borg and the new Police Commissioner, Peter Paul Zammit, can now take some action.
At the time, there was also correspondence between Midi chairman Albert Mizzi and its then CEO Benjamin Muscat and Michael Falzon PL (“very active President of Stella Maris band club”, as listed under other interests on Wikipedia) regarding the hoisting of petards from Manoel Island.
One letter sent to the Stella Maris Band Club in July 2002, gave the club permission to hoist fireworks with the addendum “You are prohibited from setting off fireworks, which are noisy and can potentially damage the fragile fabric of the fortifications”.
Now 11 years later, the noise is even worse to the point that I had to abandon my home for the week of the Stella Maris celebrations. To add insult to injury, Michael Falzon is now the chairman of the fireworks reform committee. I also remember reading and commenting last November in my column “Life is cheap, fireworks make money” that our Prime Minister’s father is an enthusiast and imports chemicals used for fireworks.
I did feel for the man, who last wrote to me, when I read, “I do not care about listening to this infernal noise, I am a senior citizen and I suffer from a lot of nervous disorders, and I get a lot of headaches. I tried a lot of things. I got in touch with the Ombudsman, and I was told to get a solicitor but I cannot afford it, I only live on my pension, so please I beg you do something for us there is a lot of people like me suffering.”
Well, this is the best I can do, hoping my column will have some effect. I hate to hear about people suffering and I found the Ombudsman’s response to this man’s cry for help appalling. After all, the mission statement for the Ombudsman Office states it is there “as an independent and impartial institution, to investigate and resolve citizens' grievances about government departments and public bodies within jurisdiction with fairness and in a timely and effective manner; to promote the right to good public administration and the right to complain against maladministration as fundamental rights of all Maltese citizens and to contribute towards an improvement in the quality of Maltese public administration; and to promote a positive attitude among the Maltese public service towards the award of equitable redress for justified complaints.”
Surely, the widely publicised issue of noise pollution is down to bad public administration that affects the fundamental right of all Maltese citizens to a healthy environment, which includes peace and quiet. And what about promoting a positive attitude to equitable redress for justified complaints?
What people who are fed up with the noise should do is complain to the people representing them in Parliament. They are the only ones that can change things. And the best time to do it is when they come knocking on your door to ask for your vote. However, one does not have to wait for an election – MPs are there to represent their constituents.
People can also attend the Noise Abatement Society of Malta forum on 24 October. Venue: Europa House St Paul’s Street, Valletta. Seating at 17:45
I cannot be there as I shall be abroad,
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