Keep local council elections LOCAL

Is anyone really understanding why are people not voting for local council elections? I tried to tackle the subject of absenteeism in my last blog-post, but after Franco Debono's reactions yesterday, it seems that no one is really understanding why 41% last Saturday stayed at home.

It's because they DON'T WANT THEIR VOTE TO BE INTERPRETED AS A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE OR NO CONFIDENCE IN ANY PARTY!

People are fed up of Labour trying to use the local council election result as a vote of confidence in Joseph Muscat. People are fed up of Gonzi trying to interpret the local council election result as a message from the electorate. People are fed up of Franco Debono trying to interpret the result as an approval that he is right.

The people just want local council elections to be local council elections. The only interpretation they want is that it was a vote of confidence in Ian Borg, and not Joseph Muscat. That it was a message that you should have listened more to Graziella Galea, and not to Lawrence Gonzi. And that they approved of people like Michael Briguglio and Shirley Farrugia, and not Franco Debono.

That's the only messages the people want local council elections to convey. As long as parties and politicians keep trying to interpret these results for their aims, people will keep STAYING AWAY from voting in these elections.

So please, Muscat, Gonzi, Debono, do as a favour: STOP TRYING TO USE THESE ELECTIONS FOR YOUR PURPOSES!

Here: I remind you all of the declarations made by Lawrence Gonzi after the 2008 local council elections, which gave a very different result than the general election held on the same date.

Il-kont tad-dawl u l-ilma...qed tinsteraq?

Ftit tal-ġimgħat ilu, il-gazzetta The Malta Independent investigat kif is-sistema l-ġdida ta’ kif qed taħdem il-kontijiet l-ARMS kienet qed twassal biex il-konsumaturi jirċievu kontijiet ogħla milli suppost (ara hawn). Diversi ekonomisti u akkademiċi wkoll tkellmu fuq dan u spjegaw kif dan qed jiġri, fosthom Marie Briguglio.
Kif qed jiġri dan? Ħa nipprova nispjega ftit kif taħdem is-sistema. Ir-rati li bihom tħallas għal kull unit mhumiex l-istess. Biex jiġi inkuraġġit li kemm jista’ jkun wieħed ma jikkunsmax aktar milli suppost, hemm skali (brackets) ta' prezzijiet li jogħlew skont il-konsum. Kif tindika t-tabella hawn taħt, jekk ma taqbiżx ċertu ammont ta' units f'sena, tħallas prezzijiet b'tariffi aktar baxxi, u aktar ma wieħed jikkonsma, aktar jiswew il-units. S'hemmhekk sempliċi.

Sa ftit tas-snin ilu, għalkemm numru ta’ familji kienu jirċievu kont ta’ stima kull xahrejn jew kull tlieta, il-kont attwali kien jinħadem fuq perjodu ta’ sitt xhur. Dan kien ifisser l…

Il-ħarba tac-Chief-of-Staff

Probabli dan ikun isem tajjeb għal xi film. Il-ħasra hija li qed ngħixuh bħala realtà. Keith Schembri din il-ġimgħa kellu jidher il-Qorti fil-kawża ta’ libell li fetaħ hu stess kontra Simon Busuttil. Il-Qorti mar, imma ma marx biex iwieġeb. Mar biex jargumenta li m’għandux iwieġeb. Għax skont hu, jinfluwenza l-inkjesti Maġisterjali li qegħdin isiru.
Il-Maġistrat iddeferixxa l-każ, u għalissa Keith Schembri ħarab milli jwieġeb fil-Qorti. Il-ħarba kompliet wara l-kawża wkoll pero’ hekk kif il-ġurnalist bravu tat-Times of Malta Jacob Borġ, prova jieħu t-tweġiba ta’ Keith Schembri għal mistoqsija “ta’ min hi 17 Black?”, li Keith Schembri ftit ilu qal li kienet parti mill-business plan tiegħu. Araw il-video ta’ din il-ħarba, li telqet mill-Qorti u baqgħet sejra sa Kastillja (ara hawn). Fiha tifhmu kif tnaqqret id-demokrazija f’pajjiżna, hekk kif apparti li ma jweġibx mistoqsija leġittima, Keith Schembri sa jdur fuq il-ġurnalist u jheddu li hu kien “iħallaslu l-paga”.
Keith Schembri f’kummen…

“Ara kemm trid biex din naqtgħulha rasha”

Matul din il-ġimgħa, bħal ħafna minnkom, attendejt għaċ-ċelebrazzjoni tal-festi tal-Indipendenza fuq il-Fosos tal-Floriana, organizzati mill-Partit Nazzjonalista. Kienet okkażjoni sabiħa fejn aħna l-uffiċċjali tal-Partit, Deputati, Kunsilliera u kandidati, stajna niltaqgħu mat-tesserati u l-attivisti għal skambju ta’ ideat u ta’ proposti. Mhux biss mal-attivisti, iżda anke ma’ nies li mhux soltu jkunu attivi fil-Partit Nazzjonalista iżda li avviċinawna għall-ewwel darba f’dawn il-festi. Tassew kienet okkażjoni sabiħa biex nerġgħu nikkargaw bl-enerġija għal kampanja li issa ġejja quddiemna għall-elezzjoni tal-Kunsilli Lokali u tal-Parlament Ewropew. Għal dan il-għan, servew ukoll bħala okkażjoni fejn jiġu preżentati l-ewwel seba’ kandidati li l-Eżekuttiv tal-Partit Nazzjonalista approvajna biex jikkontestaw f’isimna l-elezzjonijiet tal-Parlament Ewropew: Peter Agius, Dione Borġ, Michael Briguglio, David Casa, Roberta Metsola, Frank Psaila, Francis Zammit Dimech. Grazzi lkoll tal-impenn…

Mark Anthony Sammut

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