Jeep talk: minister thinks Ċikku Fenech car is memento that should be restored

Miriam Pace’s husband chimes in: ‘They talk about restoring a farmer’s car when they could not even name a street after the woman who died in a construction accident’

A Labour parliamentary secretary thinks a broken-down Land Rover left to rust in the derelict field once tended to by the fugitive-murderer Ċikku Fenech, should be restored for the benefit of the garden.

With a million-euro public garden set to take the place of the 4,000sq.m field in an area soon to be besieged by more construction, and much debate about the way this garden will look, junior minister for citizenship Alex Muscat thinks Fenech’s broken-down Land Rover should be integrated with the garden design.

For a public garden funded by the golden passport posterity fund, this token to the past of hobo-like farmer seems incongruous with the vision for his field. And Muscat’s plan was quickly pounced upon by proud Mosta man, Labour TV boss, and head of the Valletta culture agency, Jason Micallef, who accused the parliamentary secretary of glorifying the notorious Ċikku Fenech.

“The people of Mosta remember that Land Rover for a number of wrong reasons, including the number of times it was left in the middle of arterial roads, and no one dared speak to him because they were afraid of Ċikku Fenech,” he said.

He said the new garden should not even be named after Fenech. “If this happens, we will be sending an ugly message to future generations.” There has been no such announcement. “The story of Ċikku Fenech does not deserve glorification for a number of reasons which everyone, especially the people of Mosta, remember quite well,” Micallef said, who called for the old windmill found in the field to be restored instead.

Even Carmel Pace, husband of the late Miriam Pace,  who was killed in a construction site incident in March 2020, chimed into the Facebook conversation. “So, someone who was only detrimental to society gets a garden dedicated to him, while naming a street after an innocent victim was turned down.”

Alex Muscat replied to Micallef’s criticism by stating that while Fenech will not be glorified, government will not throw away a vehicle which has “sparked the interest of car enthusiasts”. “We will change the space into an open one which is accessible to everyone, so we can write a new chapter for the area,” he said.