‘Kundannabli’: Local Councils Association Head Hits Out At Swieqi Deputy Mayor’s Protest
Local Councils’ Association President Mario Fava has heavily criticised Swieqi deputy mayor Jordan Galea Pace’s recent protest at the Labour headquarters.
“To provide constructive criticism, one mustn’t act ridiculous or stoop to levels inappropriate for the position they hold,” Fava, himself a former PL Swieqi councillor, said. “Political messages aren’t conveyed by being populist, and a lack of political experience is no excuse either.”
“The Swieqi Deputy Mayor’s behaviour doesn’t bring honuor to him, and far less to the position he holds. I understand and hope that this was the result of excessive enthusiasm rather than a belief in how politics should be conducted. It’s condemnable.”
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Galea Pace used his recent MCAST graduation celebrations to stage a double protest against the Amanda Muscat Bartolo controversy and the ongoing MCAST lecturer dispute.
As MCAST students celebrated at the Labour headquarters, Galea Pace brought a poster that read “€70,000 for Amanda’s legs, while MCAST lecturers and students are left with a banana” into the PL’s HQ and took a selfie with PL head of communications Norma Saliba, who was oblivious about what was on it.
He said that when she found out what was on the poster, a security official tried to grab it from him and tore it in half.
They asked the other students for his details, found out he was a PN deputy mayor, and called up a number of people, including at the Nationalist Party. Saliba also threatened him with legal action if the selfie were to be published.
Galea Pace defended his protest by stating one must sometimes be ready to break the rules to fight corruption and that simply publishing posts on social media isn’t always enough.
Galea Pace issued the following response:
“Mario Fava, a person entrusted by the Labour Party with the role of the Local Council Association, has chosen to publicly attack me for fighting and protesting against this disgraceful scandal, rather than condemning the abusive and potentially corrupt behaviour as the Standards Commissioner, the Standards Committee, and Prime Minister Robert Abela have done.”
“In other words, this scandal is not important to Fava. As a former Labour councillor and someone appointed by Labour, is this scandal acceptable to you? Will you condemn Clint and Clayton as you condemned me for, according to you, lacking experience and being merely, to quote, an “enthusiast”?”
“Because so far, you have not condemned this scandal. And if you fail to do so, it means you are in favour of it. I await your response, Fava.”
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