Two localities that will renew their councils are Sliema and San Gwann. Both localities are of interest to me, as they are within the two districts I was elected from in the last election, and where I have spent the past 50 weeks doing house visits, accompanied by candidates contesting in these localities every day.

Experience is a key element in voting in a new council, as well as the understanding that after the pre election promises, the visions and the nice talk, one must really commit to working for the people.

San Gwann has a hamlet too, that of Kappara, and the introduction of some candidates who live on the boundary of Kappara is a welcome opening for residents of this area. These in turn, will have to elect an administrative council for the four-year term, where they will have the power and financial backing to implement suggestions that effect their own way of living.

In recent years, this way of living has taken a turn for the worse in some streets. Their peaceful living standards have been disrupted because of the presence of coaches and all you can imagine parking and blocking houses each day of the week, each week of the year. All have remained silent on this issue, except for the residents association.

Electing a new mayor in San Gwann would bring stability in the locality, which has probably had the highest number of mayors in local council history. The person needed is one with the experience to administer properly, head a council, unite the residents and get on with the different tasks a local council has. The San Gwann area was neglected, more so in Kappara, where there was a total abandonment.

Sliema will get a new mayor too, after myself and my wife. These past 15 years of service to the Sliema council has enriched us both, in personal contacts with people and in offering our commitment to see to the various needs of a colourful town, which has so many different aspects to it. Keeping everybody happy was, however, an impossible task, largely because of internal animosity and bureaucratic difficulties.

With these new reforms I hope that a council will not remain a super customer service place, but will get a status of local government, where the council’s emails get answered by the big powers, where works are done in collaboration with other entities after the relevant permits are obtained.

Councils should not be ridden roughshod by anybody wielding power as if tomorrow will never come, just to suit his or her goals. An elected council should be consulted, looped in and be supported.

Any decision taken today will have a consequence tomorrow.

Residents should exercise their right of voting in the local council elections and councils should then heed the suggestions of those residents who participate in the democratic process.

The other council (in my districts) with elections is the Msida one, and as this is probably my last article until 6 June – the Friday before would be a day of meditation – then I augur my friends to continue working for their locality as best they could.

After 6 June, we could all do with a breath of fresh and quiet air, maybe under one of the newly built fountains.

Robert Arrigo is a Nationalist MP