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Karl Schembri
A much-awaited playing field in the Gozitan village of Munxar may end up being taken over by an individual for farming unless an agreement signed last year with Nationalist mayor Joseph Sultana is deemed illegal by the Local Councils Department or the Attorney General.
According to the contested agreement signed between the mayor and a private individual by the name of Angelo Debrincat on 11 May last year, more than half of the public land that was meant, and promised, to be turned into a playing field for the Munxar citizens, will be for the exclusive use of Debrincat.
The warning signs come from none other than the Deputy Mayor, Mark Bajada, also a Nationalist, and Labour councillor Robert Mallia, who together are demanding that the mysterious agreement is declared illegal by the authorities.
Labour councillor Mallia will be seconded by PN deputy Mayor Bajada in a council meeting on Wednesday morning, 24 August, when he will demand that Sultana sends the agreement signed with Angelo Debrincat to the Attorney General and the director of local government so that its legality will be examined.
The motion was already expected to be discussed earlier this month but Mallia could not turn up with his motion for the meeting because of a family funeral.
Unaware of the incident, the Malta Labour Party’s watchdog on local councils, Joe Falzon, turned up for the Munxar meeting to put pressure on Mallia against making his proposal.
In fact, since the last council meeting, Mallia has come under immense pressure from the central office of the Labour party to abandon his plan, despite hundreds of signatures of Munxar residents in a petition calling for the council to stick to the original plans of a full playing field, as approved by MEPA.
Apart from Falzon, Mallia was approached by none other than the MLP president Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, himself the subject of fierce internal party backstabbing manoeuvres, urging him to toe the line taken by the other influential Labour councillor, Carmen Said, who is vehemently defending the agreement.
“I intend to go on with my motion, in the interests of our people,” Mallia said yesterday night. “On Wednesday, the councillors’ true colours will come out, as those who will oppose my motion will be exposed for their interests. I want the agreement to be declared null or illegal.”
Mallia also warns he will resign from the party if he finds no cooperation in his bid to quash the agreement with Debrincat.
Bajada said: “I will second Mallia’s motion, because I am against this dodgy agreement. We have nothing here, come to Munxar and see. This playing field has been coming for 10 years, our citizens want it, and we can’t give up half of it for an individual who has no rights over this land.”
The land is in fact owned by the joint office and has not yet been devolved to the local council, prompting the two councillors to question the legality of the transfer of land to Debrincat.
The dissenting councillors claim that the others voting in favour of the agreement had conflict of interests because they were related by marriage to the farmer.
According to the mayor, the agreement was reached “in order to avoid litigation between the farmer and the council”.
Sultana claims that “the farmer did not want to leave the land” and slams Mallia for “sending the project back for several years with his motion” if it passes.
Confirming that the land is not yet property of the council, the mayor said: “The council had to decide whether to have an agreement with the farmer or to go to court. Going to court would have put the project back several years. In my opinion it is within the locality’s interest not to go to court. In the last days we have already received from the lands department the draft of the land agreement they are going to pass to the council. Some modifications are being made and we hope that in these days we can finally sign the agreement.”
Bajada said all the Munxar residents knew that Debrincat had no title on the land in question and never made any legal claims on it.
“It’s clear Sultana is only working in the interest of Debrincat,” he claimed. “All Munxar knows this, and I expect him to confirm this on Wednesday.”
karl@newsworksltd.com
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