We are getting closer to the local council elections, where half of the voting population in Malta, plus Sliema, will be eligible to cast their preferences

In the 9th and the 10th district, those that I contest, quite a lot of councils are up for election: Swieqi, St Julian’s, Għargħur, Gżira and Sliema. Except for Pembroke, the whole of the 10th district will go to the polls.

The candidates contesting the election offer a wide selection of possibilities. They are offering their services to their locality. One must thank all these people who are giving up their time to serve the community. Not a task that is taken up by many.

Past bad experiences in local councils and bad intents are a lesson to go by. Running a council and representing people with their vote is a serious matter. Given confidence does not mean a carte blanche to do anything you wish.

Councils are useful to the daily life of people and should care for the residents. They should be independent of any thinking or not coerced in taking any decisions because that or the other minister calls them up. Whispering sweet nothings into a mayor’s ear and giving one’s back to the most part of elected people was so apparent in a locality that it became disgusting.

At a recent executive meeting of the Nationalist Party, a prominent MP suggested that MPs must have a limited role in promoting candidates. I totally agree. Therefore, I did not propose any candidates to the party, nor will my staff participate in the elections, nor will I organise any gatherings for the voters – in stark contrast to those organising such gatherings in various localities.

One bone of contention, about which I spoke out in the media and in parliament, is the circular buses in St Julian’s and Sliema, which were abruptly stopped on orders from above when Arriva started their operations. This is where a local government should step in, and where a mayor must stand up for the residents. Stopping a needy, popular service goes against the residents. In my time as a mayor, I stopped, together with the residents, the building of a car park in Qui si Sana. No amount of bulldozing, threats or contractors coming to see me swayed me from saying no. Another decision was the extra parking spaces near corners, on one way streets. Here I was called a cowboy. Today, 19 years later, those parking bays still stand. And thank God for that.

A council is as strong as its mayor and its elected representatives. Internal bickering and cross-party bickering just harm the locality. Short-term gains are heavily outnumbered by long-term losses.

Labour has gone around the Labour-led councils and its leader has refrained from giving percentage points to these councils. That situation was a farce, if ever there was one.

Instead we get that this or that council performed well and then a few prepared residents shower praise on that mayor or council. Self praise is normally no measure with which to gauge success or otherwise. On Sundays, then we have the morning gatherings where blue is the colour all over – the backdrop, the podium set up on centre stage and the ties. It is a fact that for a Labour victory in the general election, PN voters must switch their vote or abstain. Labour has not got the numbers to muster a victory on its own. Therefore floaters and PN-disgruntled voters must be secured together with the Labour base.

But when Joe Debono Grech went on stage, all was lost for Labour. All the good went down the drain in a few minutes. On the one hand, Labour cannot keep on sidelining the veterans, and saying they are a thing of the past. On the other hand they want to show the British-style new Labour, apart from the star candidates. These three-pronged formations do not mix, do not go together, and will not work together, as the only topic that keeps them together is the anti-PN feeling.

People don’t vote for you because you are anti-PN, but because they want to see Labour as a true alternative. This will not happen in this formula. The cheers that Debono Grech received after his speech – not just the content, but also the pitch in how it was delivered, followed by the gestures and body language – said it all. We’re going back to old Labour very fast. That clip will probably be the Nationalist Party biggest propaganda tool.

Back to local councils – it is always worth the stroll down to the polling station, as your vote determines the council that will lead your locality for the next four years. Abstaining is no solution.

Robert Arrigo is parliamentary assistant in the Finance Ministry