1 comment.Chris Said “exposes PN’s hand: To dismantle the Ministry for Gozo” – PL
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The Labour Party has claimed that “a declaration by former Nationalist Minister Chris Said, that a Regional Council for Gozo will be created, which will take over the most important decisions affecting Gozitans, is clear proof that with power in his hands, the PN will dismantle the Ministry for Gozo.”
It added that Chris Said’s PN proposal “creates chaos and confusion.”
The Labour Party in its statement, referred to an article in Thursday’s Times of Malta, in which PN MP Chris Said proposed that “the powers of the Gozo Ministry should be devolved to an elected Council enjoying executive powers.”
The Labour Party highlighted that “for more than 40 years, Minister after Minister for Gozo, beyond his and her political affiliations, have served Gozo and Gozitans in the best possible way and have carried out reforms and investments in Gozo that have given a strong boost to the island of Gozitan.”
“Now, Chris Said and the PN, want to undo all this,” it said.
According to the PL, “Said has come out with the same proposal that Bernard Grech’s PN made in the electoral manifesto for the 2022 election (proposal 311) and which was rejected by Gozitans in an absolute manner.”
The PL claimed that “the most important areas for Gozitan families and businesses, Chris Said’s PN wants to be removed from the hands of the Ministry for Gozo.”
These include infrastructure projects, and therefore roads in Gozitan villages and landscapes in the fields and tourism, a crucial economic pillar for Gozo. They also include certain health services, to the detriment of Gozitan elderly people in particular, the PL said.
“There will be a Minister, whose title says that he is ‘Minister for Gozo’ but in reality he will have no power whatsoever. With Chris Said’s proposal, the PN is discrediting the existing Region in Gozo made up of Gozitan Mayors,” the PL said.
“It wants to bring these to nothing,” stated the PL. “It would also be creating a bureaucratic layer that would be detrimental to the Gozitans themselves.”
It argued that with Chris Said’s proposal, “the personal contact that for the last 40 years the Ministry for Gozo has given to Gozitans to help and guide them, on the most important matters for them and their families, will be severed and end once and for all.”
File photo: DOI
I don’t understand all this but what amazes me is how come Marsalforn does not have its own local Council. The population has grown intensely. and now with the proposals of new works on the breakwater and so on, I do not know what the Government is waiting for to give Marsalforn the autonomy it deserves. I dont want to mention it myself but I also heard individuals asking why Marsalforn does not have its own parish. I do not live in Marsalforn but in one fully built road there are only two street lights and an elderly man hurt himself previously when he fell to his face for not seeing in the dark as he was using the walkway.