I refer to two recent reports – one in Times of Malta (November 21) and the other in The Sunday Times of Malta (November 24) concerning local councils.

In the first, although I made it clear that I was giving my personal opinion and not that of the Local Councils Association (LCA), the journalist omitted to mention this and tried to give a different impression. At the time of writing, the LCA Executive has not discussed this issue and no one has the authority to speak in the LCA’s name – not even myself.

Even the title to this report, ‘Councils warn of changing election schedule’, tries to give the article a partisan twist at a time when the LCA together with the Parliamentary Secretary for Local Councils and the Opposition are working in tandem to try to remove a parochial partisan mentality from this sphere of governance.

With regards to last Sunday’s article on page six, where the Sliema mayor is quoted as saying that “he had raised the matter with the LCA, which in turn sent out a questionnaire to all councils before it came up with an official position on the matter”, the least the journalist could have done was to contact me to verify whether Anthony Chircop’s version was correct.

This paragraph is wrong for these reasons: Mr Chircop and/or the Sliema council per se never approached the LCA for help in this matter; on May 15, Chircop and I were invited on Iswed fuq l-Abjad on NET TV where we discussed this issue and I offered the LCA’s help on this matter.

Following this programme Chircop never approached the LCA; it was only before the mayor’s meeting at the end of September that Chircop asked the LCA to place this item on the agenda for the meeting;

The LCA not only put this item on the agenda, but also set up a working group of five councillors – including Chircop – for them to study the issue of parking schemes (not residential parking schemes) in further detail, to consult with all stakeholders and prepare a report with proposals, which the LCA can then forward and discuss with the relevant authorities; the LCA let this working group function as its members deemed best without any interference; this report shall be presented on December 7 during the LCA plenary session.

Editorial note: The journalist who wrote the article in Times of Malta was speaking to Mr Sant in his capacity of president of the Local Council Association, otherwise seeking his views would have been utterly pointless. The article in The Sunday Times of Malta was simply quoting what Sliema mayor Anthony Chircop said about how the Local Council Association reacted to the suspension of the Sliema parking scheme. If Mr Chircop’s versions of events are not factually correct, Mr Sant should take this up with him.