Quinton Scerri, who resigned his post as Zabbar local council mayor yesterday following recommendations by the Board of Local Governance on the council's shortcomings, is considering taking legal steps against “those persons who tried to tarnish my reputation and insult the many people who voted for me in the local council elections”.
Speaking to this portal, Mr Scerri said that destructive politics has to stop. In his opinion, the board of governance can choose to destroy a person as it deems fit simply because the person being investigated is not to their liking.
The Board of Local Governance said that Mr Scerri is not a credible and reliable person and councillors should have used their right to raise a vote of no confidence in him. In an 18-page report, the board drew up its conclusions on allegations made on the operations of the council, including irregularities committed by the mayor during the holding of the international food festival, the awarding of a contract to a company which has, as a director, a relative of the mayor, and an attempt of a frame-up made by the mayor against a councillor.
After its investigation, the board said that it appears that the strong vote obtained by the mayor went to his head so much so that he forgot what procedures he had to follow and “ran the council in an irresponsible and amateurish way”.
Mr Scerri said that following his resignation, he was inundated with calls and messages of support from various individuals, mainly his constituents. “I never expected such positive feedback,” he said.
When asked why he resigned when the Board of Governance simply passes on recommendations to the Department of Local Government, and it is the decision of the department whether he should resign or not, Mr Scerri said: “This is a valid point; the Board of Governance report, which included the recommendations, was leaked to the media before the department and the ministry actually executed a decision.
“I resigned to be in a better position to clear my name and am in no way addicted to power,” Mr Scerri added.
“The Board of Governance report insults the way residents of Zabbar voted when it stated that political parties should not simply give the green light to individuals to contest the elections by simply basing it on how popular the individual is,” he said.
“Does the board mean that the residents did not vote for me in my capacity but for the sake of voting for me?” he asked.
Mr Scerri is mainly contesting “the lack of a fair hearing” since he claims that he was asked to give his side of the story after the board had exhausted all the witnesses.
“I was only asked to communicate with the board by email in the preliminary stages of the investigation and was called in towards the end.
“This system is unjust and to say the least militant,” Mr Scerri argued.
Meanwhile, Mario Fava (pictured above), who represents the PL’s local councillor’s section, wrote on Facebook that despite the fact that it was him who asked the board to investigate alleged irregularities within the council, he did not agree with the board’s conclusions.
The remit of the board is to investigate and hand in its recommendations and not to destroy such persons, he wrote, adding that if this is the way the board operates, he no longer has faith in it.
“This is purely my personal opinion” he wrote.
Qormi mayor Roseanne Cutajar (pictured) also wrote a message of solidarity on Facebook towards Mr Scerri.
“A youth of integrity and determination has ended up victim of a number of individuals who tried to stop him from carrying out his duties,” she wrote.