Five environmental organisations have expressed their dismay at the termination of architect Joe Falzon’s tenure as MEPA auditor.
Ramblers, Flimkien Ghal Ambject Ahjar, Friends of the Earth, Graffitti and the Malta Organic Agriculture Movement said:
“Mr Falzon is a person of unparalleled honesty and objectivity who has given the Maltese people eight years of unparalleled service at great personal sacrifice. He was the only person the public could turn to, to expose the repeated irregularities of the MEPA machine.
“He was someone who knew the MEPA laws and regulations like few others and a paragon of integrity that no one could think of corrupting, and yet he was treated shabbily, ignored, criticised unjustly and even vilified by those who should have appreciated these virtues and acted on his recommendations.”
The NGOs said that many of his reports will stand as a record of what was allowed to pass as the planning process by those whose duty it was to uphold the laws of the country. These reports and recommendations were ignored or belittled, in defence of shameful irregularities, they said.
The NGOs said that to them Mr Falzon was a pillar of steadfastness and courage who they could trust and rely on for an independent and objective judgement in the various issues they submitted for his scrutiny, some of which raised a national outcry.
There were times that he dismissed the NGOs objections or informed the organisations that although they were correct, MEPA regulations failed to uphold those particular objections.
The NGOs hope that Mr Falzon will be succeeded by a person worthy of the trust he won for the post.
“Malta needs someone of his knowledge of the inner workings of MEPA, and of his integrity, to stave off political manipulations and his courage to call a spade a spade, to uncover a fraction of what goes on when certain building permits are granted.
“The Maltese public is indebted to Perit Falzon for his unflinching commitment to duty in the face of adversity over the past years,” the NGOs said.