Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1319911
7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 16 DECEMBER 2020 NEWS TOP Gozitan surgeon Jo-Etienne Abela will be a star candidate with the Labour party in the next coming election, Malta- Today has learned. Abela, who had also been approached by Nationalist Party, has now accepted to stand with the Labour party after being approached personally by Prime Minister Robert Abela. A close aide to the Prime Minister told MaltaToday that the Prime Minister is eyeing well-known professionals to stand in the next election as star candidates. "We are looking for new faces with pro- fessional backgrounds," the aide told this newspaper. Abela is known best for having intro- duced a new cutting edge surgical pro- cedure that removes tumours from the oesophagus and allows patients to return home shortly after their operation. The top surgeon is expected to face con- stituents on the 13th and 10th districts. This is not the first time that political par- ties have resorted to medical practitioners as star candidates. Former PL leader Joseph Muscat had lured Franco Mercieca, a top ophthalmol- ogist from Gozo, to stand in the 2013 and 2017 elections. Top surgeon to contest next general election on PL ticket JAMES DEBONO THE Superintendence for Cul- tural Heritage (SCH) has warned that the Labour Party's plans to demolish its Gzira club and replace it with a seven-storey building would have "a negative impact" on the setting the Or- pheum Theater, a Grade 1 build- ing which is situated immediate- ly opposite the site proposed for development. The application presented by the Labour Party foresees the demolition of an existing town- house and the adjacent Centru Laburista, and the construction of a catering establishment on ground floor and basement level, a social club and hall on the first floor, and nine apartments set on the 5 overlying floors, which in- clude a receded penthouse level. Presently the building consists of a ground floor level and over- lying 3 to 4 floors. The site proposed for develop- ment currently includes two ad- jacent properties. The first one, which has its entrance overlook- ing Triq Sir Patrick Stuart, is a traditional townhouse probably dating to the inter-war period which according to the Super- intendence has a degree of ar- chitectural value, particularly its facade as well and an internal stone staircase. The second property is the Centru Laburista, situated at the corner and having its longer façade bearing onto Triq Sir Charles Cameron. This building was subject to previous applica- tion, which approved the dem- olition of an earlier building and the construction of the existing club. Despite these changes the existing building maintains tra- ditional floor heights and a style compatible with the existing streetscapes, which is still worth preserving according to the SCH. The Superintendence has expressed particular concern about the proposed ground floor with its high arches, which are considered to be "at odds" with traditional proportions and are described as being "completely alien to the streetscape". The mass of the proposed building is also viewed as exces- sive, especially due to the impact of proposed protruding Maltese balconies that result in a top- heavy effect. To mitigate such effect, the Superintendence has recommended that any floors above the third floor should be receded and that external aper- tures should be limited to French windows. Since the Labour Party club is located in the immediate vicinity of the Orpheum Theatre, sched- uled at Grade 1, any develop- ment at this location is subject to a planning circular issued earlier this year which obliges develop- ers to present photomontages from various viewpoints, to as- sess the impact of the develop- ment as well as a character ap- praisal of the context being taken into consideration. The SCH has called for the presentation of these documents. Superintendence objects to Labour Party's Gzira club plans KARL AZZOPARDI THE board tasked with leading the pub- lic inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia must bear the respon- sibility of its actions, government has said. The government was reacting to a statement made earlier by the judges sitting on the public inquiry in which they said that they would continue pro- ceedings beyond the extended deadline of 15 December. "The Board has decided that it alone has the right to determine the limits of its terms of reference," government said. Government said the board has decid- ed that it alone has the right to lay down the limits of the terms of reference handed to it, and so must shoulder the responsibility of its decisions and any consequences. On Monday, after a six-hour sitting where former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri was questioned, the judges said that they would not accept any un- due pressure or interference diminish- ing their brief. The judges said that the board, in de- fence of its "independence and autono- my" would appreciate if it were allowed to proceed with its work in order to reach an objective judgement-free of "improper pressure and undue interfer- ence." They said that there was no room for binding time limits unless stated in terms of reference and that the original nine-month limit had been set with- out prejudice to the "just fulfilment" of those terms, agreed upon with the Caruana Galizia family. The board pointed out that data from electronic devices analysed by Europol, could in fact be "substantially useful," and should be available by mid-January. Due to this, the hearings have been suspended until then. The public inquiry originally had a September deadline. However, that was extended by prime minister Robert Ab- ela due to delays caused by the COV- ID-19 lockdown. Caruana Galizia public inquiry board must take responsibility for its actions, government says Jo-Etienne Abela (right) pictured here with Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne