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Kurt Sansone
Former Nationalist MP turned philanthropist Josie Muscat yesterday launched what can be described as the first organised independent grouping to contest a local election, with logo, manifesto and all.
Addressing a press conference in Marsaskala, Josie Muscat insisted that Grupp Indipendenti Marsaskala (GIM) was not a political party but a group of civic-minded citizens who wanted to improve the quality of life of Marsaskala residents.
GIM will be presenting four candidates for the local election to be held on 11 March. Apart from Josie Muscat, GIM will be fielding Marvic Attard Gialanze, the former independent mayor of Marsaskala, and John Cole and Mariella Cutajar.
Contesting under the slogan, ‘We will give Marsaskala a new life’, the GIM launched its 15-point manifesto which tackles issues that range from the highly controversial recycling plant and relocation of fish farms to the locality, to better integration of foreign residents living in Marsaskala.
The group will be holding a public meeting on Sunday 26 February, during which residents will have the opportunity of confronting the four candidates in order to get to know them better.
Talking to the press yesterday, Muscat derided the successive national policies that have rendered the residents of the south “second class citizens.”
Muscat attacked the plans to construct a bigger recycling facility in Marsaskala insisting that residents had no trust in the authorities that such a facility will not be used in the future to treat all of Malta’s waste. He also criticised the proposal to relocate all fish farming activity in Malta to a site just 6km off Marsaskala.
“If the political parties do have the residents’ interests at heart they should get together and appoint a panel of experts who would seriously identify the ideal location or locations for recycling facilities and fish farms and agree to stick to what the experts have to say,” Muscat said.
He also described the study on alternative sites for the recycling plant commissioned by Wasteserv as a farce.
Muscat insisted that Marsaskala faced other problems apart from the recycling plant and fish farms. He lamented the lack of an adequate police presence in the locality and called for an integrated community policy to address the drug problem among the younger generation.
GIM is also proposing the creation of subcommittees for the various areas that make up Marsaskala, a re-organisation of traffic arrangements and regular public consultation.
“It will be the residents themselves who will judge our work rather than some political party functionary,” Muscat concluded.
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