This is what happens when councillors and MPs forget that they are there to represent the people and not the party

Published: May 18, 2015 at 11:50pm

Mscala

The Labour-led council of Marsascala has voted 5 to 4 in favour of Hani Hasan Naji Al Salah’s business college/college business on outside development zone land at Zonqor Point.

This is what happens when councillors and members of parliament forget that they are there to represent the people and not the party or themselves personally and their own narrow interests. The party should be buoyed up only insofar as its electoral programme is concerned, and then only because people voted for that electoral programme. As for personal interests – that never.

Who on earth is left to represent the people if our politicians, at a council level and in parliament, are convinced that they are there to further each other’s agenda?

Jolly well done the deputy mayor (and more so because she’s on the Labour ticket), Desiree Attard, who voted against the Labour Party’s wishes and those of her fellow Labour councillors, including the mayor, because she knows exactly why she is on the council in the first place. “I have met with many people and most of them don’t want it built on ODZ land,” she said, then addressed her fellow councillors directly: “Have you spoken to people?”

She said that instead of trying to justify the construction in terms of sports facilities that will be made available to people in Marsascala (where did that come from?), which is what her fellow Labour councillors did when voting in favour, the council should fight to have a proper park and sports facilities without the need to build a university to get them as a by-product.

The council always fought against “development that caused damage”, she said, asking why they were not prepared to fight now (I think the answer to that is obvious). She also defended the interests of farmers who work the fields in the area, pointing out that people buy and eat their fresh fruit and vegetables.

Then she voted against. I hate to sound sexist, imma kella tkun mara biex tohrog ta’ ragel.