Corruption Ruins our Localities.

We are living in a dystopia many believe, and rightly so.  We are living in a country wherein people seem to have lost all hope of things getting better. I've spoken to a number of people during home visits, with conversations revolving around the belief that corruption is endemic to our country, and that there is nothing we could do about it. What is also discussed during house visits is the connection that exists between corruption with our daily lives. We all know that the private gain by those who are entrusted with power is making residents of our localities suffer the most. 

To begin with, this sense of dystopia that many are experiencing results in a distrust for whoever engages in politics, which is understandable when considering what is happening in our country under a PL government. Yet, a general distrust for all politicians is unfair as there are many of us who are here to serve of our localities and country.  Yet one cannot deny that under a PL government, cronyism and nepotism has engulfed our county, which makes a level distrust understandable. The perception out there is that in our country the only way to make it to a higher positions is to have friends in places of authority, and that those in authority are in turn gaining control through those who they stragically put in high positions. This is a vicious circle that seems never to end. 

One of the biggest problems that we are having in Malta, one that is effecting us all, is the environment. Unfortunately we are in a situation in which controversial planning approvals are rife. This is what is making certain parts of Malta overpopulated, dirty, not to mention unbearable traffic congestion that we are living in. Unfortunately, under a PL government, MEPA officials have been accused of having ties with developers and stakeholders, with political influence also rife to the extent that decisions are taken that ruin the environment to our detriment, but to the advantage of some including PL politicians. Sliema and its surroundings is suffering from this situation. However, thanks to a PN led local council things are not as bad as they could be in Sliema, the reason being that a PN local council has fought overdevelopment when necessary, has looked into the environment impact of a number of projects, and has taken action. The ethos of the PN to consider the quality of life of people as most important.             

Local Councils and their detrioration under a PL government.

  

If we are to understand what local councils are meant to be, not what the PL government has transformed them into; voting for the PN should be everyone's natural choice. It is a known fact that the party that truly believes in importance that local councils have to the lives of people lives is the PN. Contrary to this, the PL government considers local government goes against what their true intention is, which is having more power in their hands to influence elections to their favour. For this reason, under a PL government we are experiencing the erosion of the local council, favoring a system that centralizes power. PL confuses local government with customer care, thus impacting the lives of people with inefficiencies that are avoidable in a truly decentralised system. The efficiency brought by a PN government in 1993 when introducing local council no longer exists, and is replaced with malfunctioning system, which ensures more resources to Labour leaning council as to make them look better. It is a system that runs through the present government and its agencies, one that is intended to trade in influence to the detriment of us all.

 The creation of regional councils was intended at bringing local councils of the same region to work together on projects that benefit that given region. The true purpose of regional councils was however betrayed when they became an excuse for the PL government to strip the local councils of their powers. From garbage collection to environmental management and infrastructural maintenance, these all happen to fall under the regional council. Typically, the PL government have sought to fool people by defining regional councils as one thing only to transform them into something completely different. The ultimate aim of coordinating and supporting local councils within the region was thrown out of the window, only to encroach projects that are supposed to implemented locally. Local councils have been blamed by some for the lack of efficiency in our towns and villages. Yet this lack of efficiency is coming to a large degree from the government, especially the Public Works and Infrastructure Malta. The inefficiency of these two entities has fallen on the lap of the Local Councils, especially those with a PN majority. 

If we are to take, for example, public gardens, their day-to-day maintenance falls under the local councils. However, landscaping projects fall under the responsibility of the Public Works. In other words, renovation in public gardens as is in Independence Gardens in Sliema the local council I form part of falls under  the Public Works. Moreover, public gardens also fall under the Ministry for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning or Parks Malta which is a government agency. Just imagine what the PL government and their agencies wouldn't do to undermine PN Local Councils and in this way fomment an anti-local council environment in the locality. Little do they care that it is we as Sliema residents who are suffering their dirty tricks. Fortunately, however, local councils with a PN majority as is that in Sliema refuse to fall for this kind of trickery, and are always there to put pressure on both Government Agencies and Ministries.

If we take major road works in Malta, these fall under the responsibility of the government agency, Infrastructure Malta. If we consider the way work is done in towns and villages that have a PN majority as is Sliema, one could see only inefficiency at its worst. A case in point is how Infrastructure Malta worked on the High Street in Sliema. There were times when the number of workers on the site did not justify the magnitude of the project. It took way too long for the project to be completed, and not to mention the damage made of people's properties. Had it not been for the pressure that a PN local council made on Infrastructure Malta, especially the Mayor John Pillow, I am pretty sure that the job would be still halfway through till this very day.