From Mr P Aquilina

The Nationalist Party offers candidates of integrity, honesty and professionalism. It is presenting the residents of 23 different localities 110 candidates, hand picked one by one, and coming from all walks of life.

The list includes two medical doctors, four lawyers, one PL, one notary public, four university lecturers, six teachers, three bankers, two architects, two nurses, seven university students, 11 company directors, 29 executives, six housewives, 16 tradesmen, 11 pensioners, one accountant and four general managers.

There are 23 lady candidates, which means an average of one female candidate in every locality holding council elections next month, 23 young people and 38 candidates who are contesting a local election for the first time.

It is interesting to note that a good number of the Nationalist Party councillors go on to become members of parliament. There are 32 per cent Nationalist MPs presently serving as parliamentary secretaries and one as a cabinet minister, who served as PN councillors. These are ex mayor of Swieqi Dolores Christina, ex mayor of Birkirkara Tonio Fenech, ex Mosta councillor Edwin Vassallo and ex Zurrieq councillor Helen D’Amato.

There are also other Nationalist MPs who served as PN councillors, mayors or deputy mayors: ex St Paul’s Bay mayor Michael Gonzi, ex Zebbug councillor Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, ex Attard councillor David Agius, ex Sliema mayor Robert Arrigo, ex Pembroke councillor Franco Galea, ex Msida councillor architect Joe Falzon and ex Qormi mayor Clyde Puli.

These are the kind of men and women the Nationalist Party chose to represent the party at different localities. This is the kind of candidate we offer – people with integrity, qualified in various fields, who know exactly what to do and what is expected of them. May I take this opportunity to thank them all for offering their services on a voluntary basis for their respective localities. I would also like to thank those councillors who are currently serving and who, for various reasons, have opted to withdraw this time and will not be seeking re-election.

The Nationalist Party is a political party that believes in gratitude and the PN councillors that will not be contesting the next election deserve all our thanks and gratitude. I will be writing personally, on behalf of the PN councillors section, to each and every one of them.

As I have said on various occasions, the PN insists that its councillors give priority to their work in the locality. We ask them to try and keep out of partisan politics and if possible, whether in the majority or in the minority, to try and make it possible to have unanimity in local councils decisions. The PN has created local councils. Our policy towards them is sincere, with wholehearted support. Unlike the MLP, we would not dream of reducing the number of local councils, because this would affect the identities of our towns and villages, with their different characters.

Our councillors are elected on the PN ticket but our political interference stops there. The councillors are left on their own to decide according to their conscience for the good of their locality and its residents. This is what local councils are all about: honesty, integrity and hard work directed only to offer a better standard of living to people. The formation of local councils was the realisation of removing state control and bureaucracy and putting the people at the centre of national politics. The basic difference between the main political parties is that while the PN believes in the “from the people to the people” concept, the Labour party believes in state control.

The PN intends to assist its candidates and help them explain and persuade people to give them their trust. We aim to take back local councils that have been lost – some by freak results, others for different reasons.

I am sure that the residents of the 23 localities can judge for themselves the quality of the group of candidates the PN has to represent it and will give them the support they need.

The Labour Party cannot be sincere and cannot be trusted. It took Labour six years to accept local councils. This was in 1999, after they had only won 35 per cent of the local vote in the 1998 local elections, when they were still contesting under the mask of being independent. The Labour Party’s concern is not in our localities but only in their party’s interest. Most local councils with a Labour majority misuse public funds the way they did in Marsascala, Tarxien, Paola and Sta Lucija, when the mayors of all these localities and some councillors decided to go on a holiday to China, paid for from public funds.

The misuse of public finances that were highlighted in Hamrun and Cospicua by the Auditor General, the gross inefficiency over the proper upkeep of localities such as Ta’ Xbiex, which was classified as one of the worst councils in Malta, the arrest of Labour councillors in Pembroke connected with suspected fraud over a council tender, the accumulation of over a third-of-a-million Malta liri at Mellieha, which was used in the run up to the local elections, the vindictive action against Nationalist employees at Sta Venera, the financial mess at Mqabba Labour council – these are important points the people must consider before casting their votes.

Even at local level, Labour abuses its power. It employs Labour affiliated employees as local council staff, and discharges those with a PN affiliation. It even goes as far as appointing a selection board to make sure that only Labour supporters are chosen for employment.

The mayor of Mosta employed his daughter-in-law as a secretary and although I was informed in writing by the Director of Local Councils months ago that an investigation was going to be held, nothing has happened.

The police have not concluded their investigations in the Pembroke Council fraud case, but were quick to take to court two young clerks from Sta Venera council who were reported by the Labour council.

Mtarfa local council continues to abuse, but nothing is done. This is the filth into which Labour councils continue to sink. We have asked over and over again for an explanation for the huge declared taxi service expenses at Senglea local council, we will continue informing people why Labour councils appointed Labour-affiliated legal advisors and Labour architects or project managers. I will continue to expose them because people have a right to know about Labour abuse. There is big divide in Marsa local council: half of the candidates side with the mayor, the other half are against. This is Labour and the way they perform.

St Paul’s Bay local council

Mr Ciantar, an MLP St Paul’s Bay councillor, wrote a piece last Sunday. He forgot to mention that, as a Labour councillor, he is the project manager for at least two Labour councils, those of Mellieha and Hamrun. This is the line with Labour policy – Labour is only for Labourites.

On the subject of the St Paul’s Bay local council, I will mention two points:

a) Imagine, just only imagine, a local council with a Labour majority erecting a monument to an ex PN candidate or personality. That will never happen, I assure you, yet the St Paul’s Bay local council, with a PN majority, has erected a monument to an ex Labour candidate who was a pioneer in the Malta tourist industry, in recognition of his success in making St Paul’s Bay the main tourist resort in Malta.

b) I wish to thank the outgoing St Paul’s Bay mayor Pawlu Bugeja (who will not be seeking re-election) for his hard work and dedication to our town and admire his sense of interest, and responsibility up to his last days in office with the work being carried out at Triq it-Tonn. Grazzi, Pawl.

The PN will increase its majority in St Paul’s Bay and will take back villages that Labour has taken by freak results during the last few years.

Pawlu Aquilina

PN Councillors Coordinator