Opposition MP warns that ‘anarchy’ rife at Addolorata Cemetery

Opposition MP Claudette Buttigieg has warned of a “state of anarchy” at the Addolorata Cemetery.

Speaking during her parliamentary adjournment, Buttigieg said that no action had been taken against a senior health inspector who had been caught illegally building and selling graves.

"This means that his actions are basically being blessed by the cemetery director."

She said that the same health inspector had developed an entire illegal payment system for the cleaning of graves. People who couldn’t afford the prices were simply left with their family tombs uncleaned, with coffins piled over each other.

The practice extended to the Rabat cemetery, where workers from Adolorrata were similarly charging families €185 for grave-cleaning services.

One particular tomb at the Adolorrata had been broken up and split up into smaller tombs, each of which were sold.

She said that the large cemetery was also severely lacking with general cleanliness and maintenance – with cracked paving stones posing a danger to visitors, and trees dislodged during a storm left where they fell.

Moreover, she said she heard other stories about the way the Adoloratta cemetery is run that are “too shocking to recount”. Such reports will be passed n to health minister Konrad Mizzi.