In a tongue-in-cheek reaction to the Prime Minister’s proposal to offer an amnesty to people who breached social distancing guidelines, a local dance company has sent an invoice to the Prime Minister for the government to pay the studio's rent for the period it remained closed because of the pandemic.
In a highly controversial move, Prime Minister Robert Abela this morning expressed his wish to introduce a mechanism that will refund fines that were issued to the Covid-19 restrictions in certain circumstances.
Members of the public were fined for a number of issues while Covid-19 restrictions were in effect, including breaching rules tied to the maximum number of people allowed to be in groups outside. There rules had been put in place by the health authorities to keep members of the public safe, and to control the spread of the pandemic. A number of restrictions are still in effect given that Covid-19 is still present in the country.
The Principal of the Dance Workshop, Terese Stafrace wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister, containing an invoice for the ‘rent refund due’ to the studio for the period between 12 March and 31 May 2020.
The letter reads that “The Dance Workshop Ltd. Is a registered Limited Liability Company, which has paid all its due taxes and has created job opportunities for the last 21 years. We are now facing the possibility of having to close our doors permanently due to the current crisis.”
“It seems to me that your government has enough money to refund fines, so I am assuming that you will also be very happy to refund our rent. All things considered, as a law-abiding citizen, I have to pay the rent due, according to my obligations. On the other hand, the fines were given to people who broke the law, so I think that your government should consider my rent is a more worthy cause.”
“If we are not able to return to the studios in the beginning of July then I will happily forward the rent invoice for the period 1st June to 31st September 2020. Please do rest assured that I will be happy to forward my banking details for you to deposit the funds.”
