Citizens would appreciate duties being performed better by local wardens, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici told Parliament. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

Justice Minister Owen Bonnici told Parliament on Wednesday that the local enforcement system would be reformed by the end of the year, making it fairer, more effective and enforcible.

Speaking during the debate in second reading of the Bill amending the Local Councils Act to give 16-year-olds the vote, Dr Bonnici said the reform rested on three pillars: compliance with the law, enforcement and education.

There was wide consultation on the process.

Fines collected from contraventions would benefit the respective localities while local wardens would be given fair wages.

He said enforcement on environment protection would also be strengthened, adding he was confident the local enforcement reform would be successful and that citizens would appreciate duties being performed better by local wardens.

Fines collected from contraventions would benefit the respective localities while local wardens would be given fair wages

The minister said that in certain respects, local tribunals were performing more efficiently than the courts, especially in the use of IT, notifications sent and sittings held.

Referring to the Bill, Dr Bonnici said giving 16-year-olds the right to vote would result in an increase of 4.5 per cent in voting influx in local elections. He noted voting in such elections had gone down by 1.5 per cent over the last few years.

He also spoke of the government’s strategy to increase participation by young people in different areas including democratic participation at local and national level.

This also formed part of the EU’s Youth strategy to increase their participation in politics.

He said youth participation in the general election campaign showed the strong potential they had to impact society, adding that the PL continued to believe in them by proposing this Bill in its electoral programme.

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said that he looked forward to the day when young people would be able to participate more actively in the community, rather than just simply have a right to vote in local council elections.

He said the best way to increase democracy was through practice. This has to be ensured even in the education system which had to equip youngsters with the tools to be better and more active citizens.

The education system should be able to train young people in team building so as to come out of school prepared to make a stand and express their opinions in public.

Mr Bartolo said although young people had the commodities of modern technology, many suffered from solitude. He felt society was not tackling the many problems hindering their development.

One was adolescent suicide rates. Keeping silent on such issues was much more damaging than speaking about it in a sensitive way.

Although the extension of the right to vote was a step in the right direction, it was not enough to strengthen democracy: there needed to be a culture change.

Children were now going to school with others of a different colour, language and religion. Although this might be challenging at first, the majority of children coped and integrated quite well. Preparing children to live in a society of diversity was important for the strengthening of democracy and to increase young people’s participation.