Nationalist Party candidate Luke Said is calling on the Ministry for Justice and the Ministry for Gozo and Planning to “stop the delays and finally commit to building the new Gozo courthouse. Gozo deserves better. Justice delayed is justice denied.”

In a statement he highlighted the fact that eighteen years after plans were first announced, Gozo remains without a modern courthouse. Said added that “justice continues to be administered from inadequate and inaccessible premises within the Medieval Citadel, a site wholly unfit for the needs of a 21st century justice system.”

Said explained that the story began in 2007-2008, when the Nationalist Party submitted plans for a courthouse in Pjazza l-Assedju t’Ghawdex, Victoria. In 2013, Labour re-announced the project in its first budget, with Minister Anton Refalo promising a €12 million courthouse in Victoria.

By 2016, the Planning Authority had approved the application, geological studies were complete and designs finalised. Everything was in place for works to start, said Luke Said.

“Then in 2017, Labour’s new Gozo Minister, Justyne Caruana, scrapped the whole thing, blaming clay foundations (which didn’t appear out of the blue), and she promised that the new law court will be built in Xewkija and to be completed by 2022, with a €5.5 million investment,” he said.

Said pointed out however, that from 2018 to 2020, the project stalled completely. “Then in 2020, her successor Clint Camilleri scrapped the Xewkija plan and went back to the drawing board with yet another site search in Victoria.”

He went on to say that on the 18th of November 2022, the Court Services Agency launched a “Preliminary Market Consultation” (PMC #CSA/PMC/03/2022) titled ‘Proposal for Available Property or Land for Outright Acquisition in Victoria Gozo or in the Vicinity of Victoria Gozo to be Converted into a Modern Court Building.’

Responses closed on the 6th of January 2023. By October 2024, 21 months later, Said noted that the Justice Minister was still telling Parliament that “the process is ongoing” and that details would be given “at the appropriate time.” Luke Said insisted this translates to – “no decision, no site, no date.”

Meanwhile, Said noted that the valid 2016 permit for the original Victoria site remains in place until 2027, but the land has now been earmarked for a car park.

“It is now 2025. After 12 years of Labour government, we still have no confirmed location, no budget allocation, no construction timeline, and no political will. Yet we have seen plenty of time and money wasted on delays and changes of plan,” stated Said.

Luke Said stressed that “twelve years into Labour’s administration of Gozo, and after three different Ministers have held responsibility for the project, work on a new courthouse has yet to begin. Current court facilities are overcrowded, inaccessible to persons with reduced mobility, and inadequate for the demands of the justice system.”

“Gozitans are not second-class citizens,” he said. “We are not a footnote in Malta’s political story. Justice delayed is justice denied, and what is happening here is nothing short of contempt for Gozo’s residents. The government must stop hiding behind ‘ongoing processes,’ choose a site, allocate the funds, and start building the courthouse we were promised over a decade ago.”

Luke Said concluded by saying that “justice delayed is justice denied – even for the courthouse building.After nearly two decades of postponements, Gozo requires a firm commitment and immediate action to deliver the court building it was promised.”

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