PN president on Cyrus Engerer: ‘not the most consistent figure in country’

During a televised debate on PBS set to discuss local councils just 10 days before the  elections, PN President Paula Mifsud Bonnici criticised former PN councillor Cyrus Engerer for being the "most inconsistent figure in the country".

The Broadcasting Authority is organising a series of televised debates as the political parties race towards the elections to take place on 10 March.

This evening's theme, 'In favour of families, against red tape', was chosen by the Labour Party.

Cyrus Engerer and Aaron Farrugia, secretary for the PL's electoral programme, were present on behalf of the PL. Paula Mifsud Bonnici and PN candidate for local council elections Noel Muscat represented the Nationalist Party, while candidate Simon Galea was present on behalf of Alternattiva Demokratika.

Mifsud Bonnici criticised Labour for not sending any of its candidates to the debate. "I suspect the Labour Party is hiding its candidates and instead chose to send Cyrus Engerer - not the most consistent person in Malta," she said.

In return, Engerer said the PN always resorted to personal attacks when it found nothing else to say. "On the other hand, the PN is always consistent in what it says: year after year the Prime Minister promises to be closer to the people when he realises that the PN is far from being close to the electorate," he said.

Engerer also described the PN's electoral programme as "a poem made to sound nice".

Echoing comments made by AD's spokesman Simon Galea, Engerer said local councils should move away from partisan politics and instead have all councilors working as one for the good of the residents.

"I experienced both parties and know well enough that while the PN clique tries everything to hide its failures and mistakes, the PL acknowledges its mistakes, publicly apologises for them and finds the solutions to make amends," Engerer said.

The former Sliema deputy mayor said that local councils should not be used as a playground for ministers or MPs to benefit from: "I saw enough battles in Sliema between those who supported MP Robert Arrigo and those who supported Minister George Pullicino."

The debate also focused on the failures of the Mosta, Sliema and St Paul's Bay local councils. The PN panel reminded how Labour allowed Mosta to degenerate, while the Labour panel said the mayor of St Paul's Bay, Graziella Galea, had dismissed a car park which would have increased parking spaces in the locality, and how the same mayor had voted in favour of a tender to be awarded to her uncle.

Aaron Farrugia said the PL was proposing new methods by which councils would become more transparent when awarding a tender and where residents would be able to scrutinise the council's work from home, through online streaming.

"This makes local councils more accountable," Farrugia said.

Farrugia also said that 50 local councils had suffered because of the excessive bureaucracy that existed. He said that government penalised the local councils by decreasing their funds when they failed to pass on their audit reports on time.

Simon Galea on the other hand reiterated that the PN and PL had wasted too much time arguing between themselves, leaving residents to suffer because of the parties' bickering.

Galea added that AD councilors would truly be on the residents' side, since AD doesn't receive donations from building contractors or other individuals.

"We are tied to no one," Galea said.