Sliema mayor Johanna Gonzi “fully supports” the government decision to dissolve the council “which is not functioning the way it should be”.

“The decision to dissolve it was right. Although I abstained from voting when the warning letter was discussed at council level, I fully support it because the council was not functioning the way it should have been, obviously to the detriment of residents,” she said when contacted yesterday.

She said she that, so far, she had not yet been officially informed about the decision, adding that this was “apparently normal, as we will only be informed afterwards”.

Dr Gonzi, who climbed to the hot seat following the resignation of former mayor Nikki Dimech, who was charged with bribery, said council meetings – 84 of them since she took over – were “difficult”, with “constant bickering, including personal insults”.

As an example of how the council could not function, Dr Gonzi said it took the council eight months to adjudicate the waste collection tender because some councillors would not attend meetings “because of personal conflicts”.

Her deputy, former Nationalist councillor Cyrus Engerer, who resigned from the Nationalist Party to join Labour and became an independent member, has “absolutely no doubt” that there were “ulterior motives” behind the decision to dissolve the council. He is one of five Sliema councillors elected on a PN ticket who have since left the party.

He believes the PN, which lost the majority of councillors, wants to regain control of the council at this Nationalist stronghold for it to be able to do the “usual favours” before the forthcoming election.

He lamented that councillors did not see the report of the Internal Audit and Investigations Department, which is being quoted by the government as one of the reasons for the council’s dissolution. Neither did they see the report compiled by the Department for Local Government, recommending disbanding the council, Mr Engerer said.

He rejected as a “blatant lie” a comment by fellow councillor Julian Galea that he led ­independent and Labour councillors to miss council meetings to prevent it from securing a quorum.

Asked whether he would run on a PL ticket should an election in Sliema be called, Mr Engerer said he was keeping his options open. “If I’ll contest, I’ll contest for Labour,” he said.

Similarly, Dr Gonzi said she had not given any thought to the idea of contesting the election.

The Sliema council has had a turbulent couple of years, with Mr Dimech charged with corruption and a number of councillors the subject of police investigations.