From Mr P. Aquilina

The above local councils have something in common; all of them at one time or another had a PN majority in the last 15 years. Very soon the residents from these towns and villages will be called again to vote for their local representatives.

Studying these localities after Labour was given a majority, one finds that all of them have made a mess of the locality, with the Ta’ Xbiex local council recently declared by the Department of Local Councils as being one of the most inefficient local councils in Malta and Gozo.

The partisan way this local council works is as follows. The system for street repairs is that in every locality some streets are the government’s responsibility while others are that of the local council. There is however one small exception, which is when streets that are the council’s responsibility are considered to be over 75 per cent in a bad state, the government will carry out the roadworks on these streets.

The street on the seafront leading to Msida and Gzira from the other way is the local council’s responsibility, but it has been left to deteriorate and the government gets the blame for the bad state of this road. This is one of the partisan ways Labour councils work.

The Mqabba local council, which for the last three years had a Labour majority due to a freak result, has gone beyond the explanation of inefficiency. In a short period of just two years, this Labour-led council registered a deficit in its working capital of no less than EUR75,255. This figure represents over 40 per cent of government allocation to the council.

Because of this mess the Mqabba local council was instructed by the Department not to undertake any projects of a capital nature and not to take part in cultural activities like during Christmas and carnival until this astonishing deficit is cleared.

Sta Venera is another town that saw a change in its local council three years ago. All that this Labour council did in the last three years was to take two ex clerks with a PN connection to court for alleged computer programmes deletion. In fact this case will be up for hearing in court shortly.

I feel confident that nothing will come of this case, as both girls in question are persons of integrity. These employees were replaced by another employee after over 30 interviews were held, according to the Labour mayor.

I will not mention who was employed instead, because when I did another Labour mayor was so offended that he proposed a motion in his local council to condemn my comments about this case. This is how Labour councils waste their time during council meetings.

Besides these two things nothing else was done in Sta Venera. The motto of “get rid of Nationalists employees and employ Labour” has already started at local level and should serve as a warning to all Maltese who are still undecided how they should vote.

At Mellieha, Labour managed to take this council six years ago. Until 31 March 2006 this council had EUR838,184 in the bank. This figure went down to EUR688,185 the following year and I am sure the balance will go even lower at the end of this current financial year, being election year.

Now there are two things that worry me: a) why does the department allow councils to accumulate these huge, astonishing sums of money, and b) why is the department satisfied with just a declaration by the council that these huge balances are committed to particular projects.

But the most important thing that emerges from this Labour council’s financial situation is that this proves that all the crocodile tears of Labour councils complaints about lack of funds from government allocations, is only a lie and is just a propaganda slogan to criticise the government.

The PN will be presenting a strong team at Mellieha to offer the best service to its residents.

The vice-president of

Labour Councils Section

After declaring in a previous article that he will not waste time answering my comments, Dr Busuttil has for the second time written a long reply with his usual beating round the bush and overlooking important points such as;

If it is true that his council worked so much, why then was it declared to be one of the worst and most inefficient councils in Malta and Gozo by the Department of Local Government?

Why were his council accounts qualified by the Auditor General during the last audit? Once he asked I can say that from information I gathered, Dr Busuttil is legal adviser to five local councils, which in alphabetical order are: Ghaxaq, Paola, Pembroke, Marsaxlokk Zurrieq. I have the full list of all Labour councils’ legal advisers, which confirms that Labour is only for Labourites, but I will not publish it for ethical reasons unless Dr Busuttil insists.

This means that Dr Busuttil does very well financially from work connected with local councils and I wish him good luck and many more other Labour councils’ legal consultation appointments.

There is only one other Labour lawyer that compares with him. But let us not forget that Labour is for Labourites.

Pawlu Aquilina

PN Local Councillors

Coordinator