Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1041944
21 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 OCTOBER 2018 Malta besmirched WHAT Manuel Delia is doing goes be- yond the realm of politics, rhetoric or posturing. His clowning is an attempt at ensuring Malta suffers for having voted overwhelmingly a Labour admin- istration into government. The murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia was a condemnable act of evil that merits the full weight of justice. Maltese law enforcement rose up to the challenge and charged three persons with the murder. Nobody can say gov- ernment interfered in the investigation or that someone hampered it. While the presumed mastermind is still un- known, we can be certain that it is in nobody's interest to allow any loose ends getting entwined into the annals of modern Maltese history. There is one big hole in Delia's political postur- ing – that Malta 'allows' the killing of journalists. Labour has given the Maltese econ- omy a huge boost that leaves no hope in hell for the disjointed Nationalist Party to be elected to run the country. It is simply unelectable due to its lack of credibility on the economic front. People remember the tough times for real estate, economic stagnation, lack of initiatives in infrastructure, the continuous opposition to change over from heavy fuel oil to clean gas… peo- ple were sold the lie by the Nationalist government that the price of electricity was dependent on oil, when it contrib- uted less than a single percentage fig- ure to the consumer cost of electricity. So Delia tries to improve the electa- bility of the PN by attacking Malta's financial inflows in a bid to wrong-foot Labour. Little does it matter to him that this besmirching, using baseless accusations that Malta is a money laun- dering hub, is putting at risk the liveli- hood of thousands. If he has any proof, he should publish it black on white or go to the competent authorities. German MEP Sven Giegold even came up with the wild but serious idea of asking HSBC to abandon Malta be- cause of reputational risk. His timing is perfectly transparent. He cares less for HSBC's reputational damage than for Frankfurt to siphon off as many com- panies from Brexit and enhance the DAX index. Giegold would be prepared to plunge Malta into a recession just to line his own patch of the woods. Rebecca Bartolo Cutajar Mellieha Foreign licence plates RECENTLY it was said that around 6,000 cars will not be using our roads in the morning and in the afternoon because of free school transport. It was a wise decision even though it requires a lot of money to operate the whole scheme. But this is not enough if we consider the number of foreign cars and trucks that are on our roads especially those from Sicily and Italy. Something must be done, and it seems nobody wants to talk about it. Maybe Transport Malta or even the minister concerned could take steps to correct this anomaly. The foreigners living and working here come with their cars and other vehicles. I know a couple myself who have been here for some three years, and are still using Italian licence plates. Is it possible to stay with foreign num- ber plates for so long; and where do they pay their traffic fines: here or in Italy? In Malta we have to settle contraven- tions before renewing a road licence, so I suggest that those working and living in Malta for more than 30 days, should pay for Maltese number plates so that they contribute something for the up- keep of roads they are using. Once they change to the Maltese number plate, the old plates should be consigned to the licence office until they leave Malta. It would help identify a number plate if someone is involved in a hit-and-run since it's not easy to identify and re- member foreign number plates. A typical example is that of a caravan bearing an Italian licence plate while taking up two parking spaces in San Gwann: sure, everyone has the right to park, but this is beyond control and foreign motorists must conform to our transport laws. E. Gauci Zejtun Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications