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James Debono
It is one of the smallest councils in Malta, and Mtarfa is providing its 2,400 residents a direct link. It is mayor Josephine Abela who answers the council’s phone.
But that’s because the council’s executive secretary has been on sick leave since March 2006, immediately after Abela was elected mayor following last year’s local election. The only other clerk employed by the council resigned.
Despite the absence of both secretary and clerk, the mayor has taken upon herself the task of keeping the council’s door open in the morning and afternoon, taking complaints and organising activities in the locality.
The council had terminated the secretary’s employment after claiming sick leave in March 2006 and never returning to work. The Department for Local Councils has still not approved this decision a full five months after it was notified of the council’s decision.
In the absence of a proper executive secretary, the council has had to engage the services of an executive secretary who already serves in another locality. Without an executive secretary, the council cannot hold its meetings.
But according to Abela, the new secretary can only dedicate a few hours in the evening and he is dedicating his energies to restore the council’s finances.
Upon being elected Abela found a heavily indebted council, with audited accounts for 2005 showing a deficit of Lm31,296 – the largest deficit among Malta’s 65 councils. Mtarfa was also one of the four localities registering a deficit in its working capital.
Abela told MaltaToday the council has already recovered a substantial part of its debts.
Abela’s predecessor John Camilleri had been elected on a Labour ticket, he managed to depose Abela – the Labour councillors’ choice for mayor – with the two votes of the Nationalist councillors, defeating Abela by three to two votes.
Ironically, the Nationalist press has attacked the council for the debts accumulated during Camilleri’s term of office. Last December, party organ il-mument accused the council of issuing Lm8,224 in payments without VAT receipts. Josephine Abela insists that none of these payments were issued during her term as mayor.
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
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