The front page report by David Lindsay (Rabat local council “deserves apology” – Dr Sant, TMID, 20 February) said that Opposition Leader Alfred Sant demanded an apology from the Nationalists over false accusations with regard to the damage caused to St Paul’s Grotto in Rabat. But for what?

I could not believe what I was reading. Dr Sant was showing pictures of the wall, before and after the supposed scrubbing. The report said that the brown stains were caused by soil seeping in with the rainwater. The report stated that Dr Sant added that “if soil is mistaken for tar, it is little wonder that the Nationalists’ vision of the country is similarly misconstrued”.

Unbelievable! I cannot understand what is going on here. I myself went to see what happened when there were reports of seepages in the grotto underpassage. I can swear that the stains were black and I can tell you I have never seen black soil. The stains came about after the recent resurfacing of College Street. Where the soil came from I cannot imagine. There is no soil in the vicinity except for a few planters here and there.

How could black stains be soil stains? Where are these expert reports that Dr Sant mentioned? Why were they not published? Who is going to find a remedy for this problem? Will the underpassage flood again when it rains due to the bad levelling of the tarmac? Who is going to take the responsibility for this?

I think that Dr Sant was right in one thing for sure in his speech last Sunday. The Labour-led council has really made a difference. After nine years of stability under a Nationalist-led council we were lumped with a Labour council which did nothing except blame the central government for everything.

We were lumped with a council that did nothing for three years and which has gone into a panic and started covering up streets with tarmac without ever bothering to change the underlying pipes which are in dire need of repair. Just three weeks after these roads were resurfaced a pipe burst in College Street and a similar incident happened in Ghar Barka Road. We have a council that has abandoned the twinning agreement with Tarquinia, denying the opportunities of EU funded projects for the people of Rabat in the educational, cultural and agricultural fields.

We have a council which has abandoned public gardens under the pretext that they are the responsibility of the central government so that now after three years of neglect the government can be easily blamed. We have a council which has seen internal strife among the Labour councillors and the replacement of a Rabat-born mayor. We have a council which has taken all skips away from our streets and countryside rendering the people of Rabat with nowhere to dispose of their rubbish. We have a council that has done nothing with regard to the restoration and upkeep of our historical centre.

But to put the cherry on the icing we have had Dr Sant brag about how much the Labour-led council has done for tourism in Rabat by publishing a map of Rabat. Is that what Labour really thinks should be done to improve tourism in Rabat? This particular map was really the initiative of a souvenir shop owner from Rabat who rightly so found the backing of the Rabat council but with the help of MTA and other businesses in Rabat. I would have expected a lot more from a Labour-led council in this regard but as far as it goes this is a council which has not delivered.

The people of Rabat have followed what has been going on in their council and now know the difference and in my humble opinion it should be the Labour-led council that should apologise not only for the mess in St Paul’s Grotto but for their incompetence in the general running of the council.

Rudolf Grima

Rabat