MP concerned census may be put off

Labour MP Evarist Bartolo argued yesterday that it would be a mistake if a population census due to be held this year was postponed by five years, as indicated by unconfirmed reports.

Speaking in Parliament during the debate on a bill to amend the Local Councils Act, Mr Bartolo said the census results were important not just for economic planning but also to give local councils precise information on the economic and social realities within their boundaries. The census also gave information on, say, literacy levels, which could be compared to the 1995 census results.

Mr Bartolo said he had asked the Prime Minister in a parliamentary question whether the census would be held this year, and had not been given a reply. But funding for the National Office of Statistics had not been raised to account for such an exercise.

In his speech Mr Bartolo said local councils needed to give increased importance to social work as part of community building.

The councils should also be more active in environmental protection and come up with education initiatives.

The government, Mr Bartolo said, should not use local councils to collect more taxes.

He also referred to the controversy over the Qui-Si-Sana car park plans and insisted on proper consultation with the people. The residents' anger was not simply because they were against the project but because they had expected their council and ministers to at least consult and listen to them.

Mr Bartolo also urged neighbouring councils to work together on a regional basis, saying Labour councils that had followed this model had achieved very good results.

Earlier in the debate, Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo welcomed the provisions of the bill on the election of mayors and another provision giving minorities within councils stronger rights to call a no-confidence debate on the mayor.

The bill was a good beginning, but further changes were needed, such as with regard to the councils' funding formula. The current formula benefited the small councils but the larger ones had problems.

Particularly welcome in the bill was the provision that mayors had to ensure that all councillors observed the code of ethics established by the Local Councils Association. Any violation of the code by a councillor had to be reported both to the council and to the Department of Local Government.

This helped strengthen checks and balances. The government was giving a direction, it was showing the importance of ethics being observed. The country's institutions had to be kept clean of corruption and other matters which could harm the people's confidence in them.

Mr Vassallo urged the councils to give greater consideration to the needs of businesses, the environment and the people's social needs. He also appealed for more businessmen to stand as candidates at council elections because they could make a difference in their localities.

Labour MP Justyne Caruana said the bill was half-baked and could have incorporated a lot more issues. However, it was still a positive step forward and the opposition agreed with it.

The MLP, she said, was offering researched solutions to problems being faced by the councils - it had held a congress for councillors some months ago and the party's general conference a few days ago had also included a motion on local government.

Labour, Dr Caruana said, always believed local government should be above party politics. But because of the country's partisan realities, the MLP had started contesting the council elections.

Support for Labour councillors was rising and this was pushing the councillors to work harder.

Labour, however, would have liked the bill to address issues which would lead councils to being given more responsibilities.

Dr Caruana said Gozitan councils were discriminated against because some councils in Malta were allocated funds to do works on arterial roads but this was not done with Gozitan councils.

The opposition, she said, was against having councils raising taxes as a means of alternative funding, but the government should ensure they had the funds they so sorely needed.

Opposition agriculture spokesman Noel Farrugia insisted that the government should assist local councils to protect the rural environment.

Unfortunately, however, the government was slashing funding and there was, as a result, a state of abandonment in many localities. The government was not even heeding local councils' offers to take care of landmarks in their respective areas, such as the museum on wine-making near Buskett.

Under the Labour administration of 1996-98 the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries used to conduct regular meetings with other entities to plan out an agro-touristic calendar for the enjoyment of Maltese and tourists alike. Under Nationalist governments these activities had been swept under the carpet.

Mr Farrugia observed that in the northwest the government was preparing to build a sewage treatment plant, but it had made no effort to consult the local council, farming community or people of Mellieha. This was just one example of lack of consultation.

Nationalist MP Michael Asciak said he had been mayor of Birkirkara under both Nationalist and Labour governments. Times under the two governments had been very different.

Under the Nationalist administration, the council used to have an Lm80,000 surplus which it used on projects, while under Labour the locality was only left with Lm5,000 after the duties required of it by law.

The Nationalist government had not only set up the councils, but also introduced the councils in the Constitution.

Dr Asciak said the government agreed that the term of office of the councils should be extended to four years, avoiding the need to have an election every year.

He referred to the election of mayors, saying that although the system being proposed was not the best, it was the best in the circumstances. The bill proposes that the candidate winning the biggest number of votes from the party winning a majority in the council would become mayor.

He said that although he understood there would be a lot of problems with electronic voting, a pilot project should be tried in two small villages. Once a secure system was confirmed, such a system could be gradually adopted.

It was interesting that mayors were to be given the power to officiate at civil marriages and that council secretaries were not to be allowed to contest council elections. This, he said, made a lot of sense.

Dr Asciak said he would like to see wardens take more environmental initiatives. Now that they could also work in plain clothes, he augured that they would be able to act effectively against animal cruelty.

Dr Asciak said the opposition was saying that the government had reduced council funds by Lm1 million, but one had to remember that since the introduction of the wardens, councils' revenue had risen by Lm2 million. Former shipyard and public works employees had also been seconded to the councils, at a cost of Lm600,000.