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James Debono
The Valletta Local Council has erected two self congratulatory billboards a mere week before local elections to boast that the government has invested Lm3 million in projects in Malta’s capital city.
Contacted by MaltaToday Valletta Mayor Dr Paul Borg Olivier confirmed that the Valletta Local Council spent Lm560 on the billboards. According to the Valletta mayor although the billboards were a joint initiative between the central government and the Valletta Local Council “they were paid entirely for by the Local Council.”
The erection of the boards was approved during a local council meeting in which MLP councillors were absent. According to the Valletta Mayor “Labour councillors have only attended 36 per cent of Valletta local council meetings.”
The fact that these billboards have been put up in the midst of the electoral campaign raises questions as to whether tax payer’s money which fund local councils are being used to boost the electoral campaign of the Nationalist led council. The Valletta local council has been the object of several attacks by the MLP in recent weeks. According to an MLP report the council has only implemented 55 per cent of its promises. A closer look at the MLP’s report shows that it was not based entirely on the PN’s 2002 electoral programme.
It was also based on promises made in the local council’s newsletter. For example the Peacock Garden’s project was announced in the newsletter.
On Thursday during a press conference the Valletta mayor and Minister Austin Gatt also announced that the Lm2 million project to remove wiring from Valletta will be completed in two months time.
The involvement of the central government in the Valletta mayor’s PR drive raises the question: should not the government also commemorate work carried out in localities with a Labour majority?
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