Mr Michael Falzon (The Sunday Times, June 19) alleges that NGOs have insider information that is not available to the public and that many MEPA employees show more loyalty towards their former NGO than to their present employer and that such conflicts should be addressed.
This is a calumnious allegation and I dearly wish MEPA employees whose name has been gratuitously smeared by Mr Falzon take a stand against all this. Mr Falzon should note that all my 'fundamendalist' articles are compiled in a scientific fashion, by meticulously going through (with other Nature Trust Malta - NTM - members) the MEPA Website to get hold of the planning data pertaining to the myriad of ODZ applications (after shortlisting them, to prioritise due to limited resources), which, he expects us to endorse without batting an eyelid, and painstakingly reviewing them while everyone else in the country is oblivious to the shameful applications some architects submit.
I and other NTM members have purchased credit from the MEPA Website server time and tagain to get hold of case officer reports, etc. - does Mr Falzon believe that someone from MEPA is whispering in our ears all these details, with all the regular checks that such employees are prone to (like scrutiny of emails they receive, etc). Like common citizens, we regularly alert MEPA Enforcement of any illegal action, thus doing our duty as conscientious citizens, rather than being armchair critics.
If Mr Falzon still believes that some MEPA employees are guilty of some conspiracy against MEPA, I suggest that he propose that all MEPA employees hailing previously from an NGO should resign - I wonder what sort of MEPA would be left then, since the majority of its employees were or still are NGO members. In fact, the first field training that most MEPA employees get is through NGOs, which end up drained of human resources when its members end up swelling up MEPA's ranks... this is the sort of gratitude NGOs get!
I reject Mr Falzon's claim that NTM "says no to everyone" when objecting to ODZ applications, since he knows quite well that we object to ODZ applications only and that it's not our fault that the current system is indirectly supporting the submission of an average of 10 ODZ applications per week. Does he propose that we object on alternate weeks?
MEPA certainly does not do us any favours - I have lodged reports of illegalities (like any ordinary citizen) with MEPA PRO Sylvana Debono over three weeks ago (since we must direct all our queries to the PRO and are barred from contacting individual officers) and they have not been answered to date.
NTM had to purchase its own South Malta Local Plan review CD while MEPA dictates very stringent conditions to us as to what trees should be planted where, in the protected sites it manages, despite exotic species being planted all over the islands. Mr Falzon could have checked all these facts with MEPA. After all the hassle NGOs pass through (they are not even recognised legally), we even have to bear flak such as that coming from Mr Falzon.
Mr Falzon also appears to also have a problem with the title of his article last Sunday when he states that, in this country, "too many people are making noises, whether by blowing their whistle..." He may choose to resort to cheap irony as much as he prefers - the bottom line is that I am resolute to continue with my modus operandi to save what's left of our vanishing green open spaces. Mr Falzon thinks that we have quite a lot of these left since he once rebutted Prince Albert of Monaco's concerns over urbanisation in the Maltese Islands by stating that three-quarters of the islands are in a pristine state! How's that for a faux pas? Mr Falzon should just take a stroll in our countryside, and he will soon change his opinion!
Mr Falzon makes another serious allegation, this time in my regard, when he states that I revealed a private conversation between a member of the Planning Directorate and an architect.... I challenge him to state which case he's talking about. I have never shirked my role as a responsible correspondent who has admitted mistakes in the past but I certainly rebut any accusations of breaching confidentiality. I have a vague suspicion as to which case Mr Falzon is talking about and, if my hunch is right, then the 'private' conversation he mentions was actually mentioned in another article in The Times in a local developer's polemic with the MEPA PRO!
Mr Falzon's article makes me wonder why I take pains to compile the "Green Whistleblower" articles after all - why not let the whole system go to rot, with bungalows, villas with pools, golf courses, hotels and other capitalist ventures gobbling up Malta? Why should NGOs bother? This country and people like Mr Falzon don't deserve NGOs - let them ride roughshod if they want to so they can't complain that spokes are being put in their wheels.
I am struck by the fact that MEPA does not reply to Mr Falzon's comments who again chooses to undermine MEPA's credibility (bureaucracy has beaten transparency) while launching a vitriolic attack on its employees.
Finally, I refer Mr Falzon to the momentous comments made by Joseph Falzon, MEPA's Audit Officer, to MaltaToday last Sunday in which he states in no uncertain terms that MEPA's code of ethics is too general and full of lacunae for it to bind MEPA employees in any way. Even he is not convinced that conflicts of interest on MEPA's boards are benign and, by the way, he too is an architect!