Local Government minister Owen Bonnici skirted around questions about the feud between Gzira mayor Conrad Borg Manche and the Lands Authority’s wish to reclaim part of a Gzira garden, by refusing to speak about the case specifically, but instead responding “in general.”
The authority had wanted to take back 902 square metres of land from the Council of Europe public garden, which would have been used for the relocation of a fuel station. The petrol station is currently located near the Manoel Island bridge.
However, the feud ended last Wednesday when a court confirmed a decision by the Administrative Review Tribunal that had annulled a decision by the Lands Authority to take back part of a garden that was leased to the Gzira local council.
Borg Manche has been very critical of the Labour Party during this period by even calling this “the most anti-Socialist act that one can do.”
“I would have been a useless mayor had I not put up a fight,” Borg Manche told The Shift News.
Bonnici was asked whether he agrees with a Labour mayor taking a stance which opposes government interest, and he was also asked whether all mayors related to a party are expected to never go against the party.
“I am talking in general, without going into specific cases,” Bonnici said.
“I think that if we had to speak in general terms, it is the obligation of our local councils to hold positions which are in the best interest of the locality in which they are serving.”
“This is something that takes place on a regular basis,” Bonnici added when saying that it is not up to the media to choose which issues are the most prevalent for residents.
“This is what I used to do when I was in the Marsascala Local Council, many years ago.”
Pressed and asked whether specifically, Borg Manche should be representing the party, Bonnici repeated his previous response and spoke in general.
However, he pointed out how there is a difference between being a member of a local council which is linked to the party in government and being a member of a local council which is linked to the Opposition.
Overall, he said that serving your locality and being active within your party work in tandem, as long as there is an element of “mutual respect.”
“This is democracy working at a local level.”