Gudja Mayor John Mary Calleja allegedly refused to discuss a motion tabled by the Deputy Mayor Romeo Baldacchino and PN Councillor Mark Anthony Sammut regarding the accessibility of the elderly and people with disabilities to local council services, according to a statement released by PN councillors Mark Anthony Sammut and Stefan Caruana.

Mayor John Mary Calleja opened the meeting stating that the motion is “outside the Council’s power and therefore cannot be discussed.” He then declared the meeting closed and refused to discuss the matter further, according to the PN councillors.

Mr Sammut and Mr Caruana said that they had objected to this decision, along with PL councillors Romeo Baldacchino (Vice Mayor) and Demelsa Grech since “it is their belief that no citizen should be able to stop a motion from being discussed after it was proposed and seconded as required by law.” They also believe that the matter affects the residents of Gudja who should be granted accessibility to the services offered by the Local Council itself.

In the PN councillors’ statement it was expressed that the issue has a broad support from the residents, which places the common good before any form of partisan interest.  They also stressed that in the current situation the Mayor continued to act freely without any consultation from his fellow councillors.