As I went through my mail, I came across the local council quarterly magazine somebody had squeezed into my mailbox. I always read them and save them In fact, I have quite a collection of them.

In each one of these magazines, one reads about the achievements of the mayor and his councillors, and they all paint a picture that the council is firing on all cylinders. Not so in this one issue. In his statement the mayor begged to be excused because in eight months very little, if anything had been achieved. But there is a reason, a scapegoat, people should blame Minister Mugliett, the central government, and of course, the mess that the Nationalist Council had left behind.

People knew unofficially about some irregularities that happened, and the matter is in the hands of the police for investigation. What they do not know is how much time these police need to investigate. But in this magazine there is a piece of news I did not know. A new accusation which to me is very grave, when the mayor said, and I quote: kien qiesna fonti ta’ l-ilma imbierek, and here I ask, who are those that dipped their finger?

The news that the new council wants to change the present traffic flow into Mosta is no news at all. The mayor himself had said it a few days before Christmas in the square to a TV reporter.

In this interview he said that the council wants to remove the flowerbeds in Constitution Street. But without providing any alternative – different people and different opinions as usual.

As for the change in the traffic flow, I would rather comment on what the mayor’s lieutenant on roads and management of traffic had to say about this, but first we should go back some years when Eucharist Congress Road was first made a one-way traffic street, which it still is at present. That is, coming from Lija to go to the centre of Mosta, one has to take Independence Avenue, and proceed to Main Street on the Rabat side going out of Mosta. Coming from St Paul’s Bay one has to take Eucharist Congress Road in one word “the present system”.

But when this was introduced there was a group of people who were against this. They wanted it to be the other. This group of people, not more than 20, organised a so-called demonstration with placards saying that the system is detrimental to businesses in Constitution Street, which in my opinion it is not.

There were some placards saying that we want to show the Rotunda from the front not from the side, which to me is banal. But they swore then that the time would come when they have some power to change it. That time came last March, and it looks like they have started working on it.

The councillor in charge of traffic management mentioned the percentage from the questioner that was held some months ago. I do not have any faith in that questioner although I did answer the questions. I also said then that changing the traffic flow of Eucharistic Congress Road would cause hardship for those Mosta residents who use the buses, without the businesses in Constitution Street gaining anything.

I do not remember how I obtained this questioner. It was either put in my letter box or I picked it up from the local council office, but I do know that you could take how much you wanted. I could have used about six or eight of them. I even know of a man from the inner circle running about in the square with these questioners in his diary.

According to this magazine, 1,041 questioners were filled. With a population of about 19,000, even if one deducts the underage and the sick, this questioner is void and null, as it is not a quotable percentage.

However, after reading this magazine one concludes that the council is really firing on all cylinders like the rest of the magazines of the past that I have. However, keep it up. I am sure the next issue will be better.

Joseph Muscat

MOSTA