Having been born and bred in Valletta, the capital city of Malta, few would dare to oppose me when I say I love my locality in a zealous fashion. Having the opportunity to be voted councillor two consecutive times made me all the more determined to follow in Lord Byron’s footsteps and bring Valletta to its zenith, a city built by gentlemen for gentlemen.

Although I was voted in six years after the local councils started operating in 1993, I was naive enough to believe that extrovert me might make a difference. 13 years have gone by yet sadly, Valletta lies in a decomposed state which no traditional folk-singing, games, competitions, street theatre and other things which brought a huge influx of people to my place of abode on Saturday 14 October could hide the somnambulism that exists concerning our broken pavements and dreary streets that even angels would fear to tread.

Am I exaggerating when I say that in 13 years our streets and pavements should look more presentable than they do at present? Isn’t it unnerving to note that horse dung is ultra disgusting especially for that tourist licking his ice-cream or that elderly gentleman chewing on his cheesecake?

It is very true that a locality where over 40,000 people enter every single day does not have the same problems as smaller localities, but this is no excuse. No park-and-ride scheme would ever favour Valletta residents because the parking spaces allocated to Valletta residents are too few.

To rub further salt into the wound, the way a councillor is denied the right to speak on a television show with four Nationalist councillors and just two Labour councillors is a further abuse of democracy if not the lowest form. Yours truly was to attend a recorded television programme on Smash television on 16 October. At 2.15pm, just as I was being given a lift by a friend to the Smash studios, the council secretary phoned to inform me the show was postponed. Stopping at Blata l-Bajda I took a bus to Valletta since my car was garaged for repair. At 2.15pm I received a mobile call to tell me the show was on after all. Now either the presenter of the programme thought I had the talents of the flying nun or else he didn’t mind if I got a speeding ticket because there was no way on earth I could borrow a car and drive to the studios in 10 minutes. It seemed that the show was going to be postponed because the mayor of Valletta couldn’t take up the invitation to go on television yet decided to go on the spur of the moment. It was necessary for the mayor of Valletta to be there but not yours truly as a minority leader of MLP councillors.

Had I been allowed to be on the show like everybody else I would have had the right to express in detail how in 13 years, even a poltergeist would be lucid in creating a better locality. Valletta has not had the face lift it deserves and sadly, some of us are denied the right to speak out. Just remember the fact that we are already in the minority let alone the fact that yours truly was given a ludicrous brush off leaving only two Labour councillors to use the microphone.

There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience: that is why I am stating boldly and bluntly that the local council in Valletta run by a Nationalist majority has been a feckless one. The city built by gentlemen for gentlemen is on a déclassé slope. It deserves so much better.

Valerie Borg

VALLETTA