St Paul’s Bay local councillors present motion of no confidence in PN mayor Graziella Galea

St Paul’s Bay Labour Party local councillors, together with two ex-Nationalist Party councillors, have presented a motion of no confidence in the town’s Nationalist mayor Graziella Galea.

Illum reports that the motion made reference to ‘problems in the running of the St Paul’s Bay local council’, which have been ongoing for a while, and noted that ‘the situation has today deteriorated and worsened’ to such an extent that it was inevitable that such a motion be tabled.

The motion said that the mayor did not enjoy the support of the majority of the town’s local councillors, and maintains that the Board of Governance found the mayor guilty of having broken financial regulations and established procedures.

Moreover, the motion alleges that the mayor failed to ensure that funds received by the council were invested in the locality’s infrastructure.

Finally, it proposes that Labour councillor Alfred Grima should be elected in Galea’s stead, and this because the Nationalist Party lost its majority within the council following a series of resignations which took place last November.

The motion of no confidence presented by the local councillors

The motion was proposed by Labour councillor Mandy Buhagiar, and was seconded by Grima and Stephen Cremona, Rodney Galea and Raymond Tabone, also Labour councillors, the newspaper revealed.

Independent councillors Joseph Vella and Robert Piscopo, who had been elected to the council on the Nationalist Party ticket but resigned in November and stayed on in the council independent of any party, also seconded the motion.

Another Nationalist councillor, former radio host David Thake, had also resigned after announcing that he could not continue representing the PN with Adrian Delia as its leader. Dounia Borg had been elected to replace Thake.

Sources told Illum that if a vote on the motion took place, it would go through, since Labour councillor Paul Bugeja, who is currently abroad, was also in favour of the motion.

It is also possible that some other Nationalist councillor might also vote to have Galea removed.