Stephen Calleja’s big scoop, “Land bought by Ramblers Association president originally intended for development”, (TMIS, 17January), reveals that this gentleman is still trying hard to make his mark in the journalistic field. But if this is what he considers investigative journalism, then one can only pity him.

I find his article about Lino Bugeja’s plot of land in Marsascala rather confusing and downright contradictory. While it was meant to be nothing but a damning attack on the integrity of Mr Bugeja, after reading the article one comes to the conclusion that Mr Calleja, unwittingly, highlighted the respect due to Mr Bugeja

I don’t know if it’s naivety on Mr Calleja’s part, but maybe he is too young to be cognizant of the fact that there are hardly any contracts for the purchase of land in green areas that do not include a clause regarding eventual inclusion in development zones, hence building permits. Indeed one can safely say that notaries adopted a sort of staple contract in most cases: so Mr Calleja’s insistence of mentioning four times the building permit in the said contract, simply shows a will to harass Mr Bugeja.

The impression I get is that whenever Mr Calleja has no story for the day he opens the Ramblers’ file and, no matter how puerile the argument is, speaking ill of Lino Bugeja or the Ramblers in general, knowing it will earn him kudos from a powerful bunch. He does not seem to mind the scorn, if not derision, of most readers.

I find it hard to believe that a journalist doesn’t care two hoots about bringing up a non-event of 42 years ago and try to blow it up as sensational news of the day.

Mr Calleja must be a young man, or perhaps he is not informed well enough to know that in the sixties many a dog and his mate tried to get hold of a parcel of land. The grabbers were many and the big grabbers gobbled up the prime sites. Those who could not afford high prices settled for a patch in a green area, in the hope that someday it would be included in a development zone.

Now let’s say Mr Bugeja was one of these. It would have been unforgivable had Mr Bugeja then pulled strings, pushed and asked friends of friends to have his patch included in a development zone. Mr Bugeja did nothing of the sort, and those who know anything of his past know that he was very close to men of power particularly in the seventies. When I walk up to Zonqor point I see his small field green and tilled; and this tells me the whole truth simply because Mr Bugeja never applied for a building permit.

But, what really takes the biscuit in Mr Calleja’s article is his concluding remark. “That Mr Bugeja never applied for a permit is another matter!” This is really rich. To anybody with a modicum of fairness, the fact that Mr Bugeja never applied for a permit is the one thing that truly matters.

The important thing for Mr Calleja was not searching for the truth but of throwing mud and giving a hand in a character assassination campaign. The Ramblers have repeatedly protested against this harassment but this is the stuff some journalists are made of. The Ramblers should therefore desist from reacting to such articles and get on with the good work.

Such insipid articles are only meant to deflect attention from the real culprits, be they unscrupulous developers or insensitive persons damaging the environment. For those open to truth, enough has been said on this matter.

Francis Spiteri

MARSASCALA