The outspoken president of the Local Councils Association, Marc Sant, has stepped down to take up a government job.

Dr Sant, elected on the Labour ticket as a councillor for Lija and who has presided over the Local Councils Association for the past four years, confirmed when contacted that he had resigned from all political positions because his new role precluded him from holding a political office.

Marc Sant has stepped down as president of the Local Councils Association.

“I’ve stepped down because, following a call for applications, I was chosen to be the head lawyer of the legal aid agency,” he said.

Dr Sant said the position he would be occupying did not allow him to pursue a political career.

Only a few weeks ago, he invited Local Government Parliamentary Secretary Stefan Bountempo to attend a local councillors’ meeting but not address them. Dr Buontempo refused to attend but Dr Sant stuck to his decision insisting that the parliamentary secretary did not dictate decisions made by the association.

Could not understand resistance by authorities to issues linked to the promotion of more transparency

In a letter sent to all local councillors announcing his resignation, Dr Sant said that, despite a lot of work having been done under his tenure, fundamental problems remained.

Urging members of the association’s executive committee to lead by example in proposing new policies “instead of pushing their own personal agendas”, he said he could not understand the resistance by the authorities with regard to basic issues linked to the promotion of more transparency and accountability.

Declaring he sympathised with local councillors who felt they were fighting a lost battle, he urged them to persist in their efforts to be of service to the community.

ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com