Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1484063
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 NOVEMBER 2022 8 INTERVIEW Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt 'I will not rest, until Hondoq In our last interview, you told me that your 20-year crusade to save Hondoq had taken its toll, on a personal level. You hinted at 'pressures' placed on you politically: including a con- spiracy to have you removed as Qala mayor. Now that the saga is finally over, can you expand on those pressures? Did they ever extend to issues such as 'threats', or 'intimidation'? And if so: by whom, specifically? I never received any 'threats', as such – at least, not directly – but there are other ways in which people can make life difficult for you, from behind the scenes. Let me give you just one small ex- ample: even because it's actually quite funny, with hindsight. Some time ago, the council re- ceived a complaint about a 'bad smell', originating from a particu- lar field. So I went to inspect the site myself, with a workman; and what I found was a small [dead] pig, which had been dumped there in a garbage bag. So I got hold of a shovel; and – wearing a mask (because I always keep one in the car, just in case) – I buried the carcass, there and then. But first, I took a photo of the dead pig, and sent it to the person who had made the complaint. And as a joke, I told him: 'You can say a Pater Noster for it, if you like…' Now: even at the time, it oc- curred to me that – in so doing - I might have technically 'done something wrong'. So I asked the council secretary afterwards, and the answer I got was: 'No, in those circumstances you should have informed the Public Health De- partment; and they would have disposed of it through the proper legal process'. Which is what I did, straight away; and they came within a few hours, and removed the dead pig to be incinerated (or whatever the correct procedure is). Anyway, to cut a long story short: two days later, I ended up on the front page of In-Nazz- jon… in an article about how 'Qa- la's mayor had broken the law'… If I'm understanding you cor- rectly: the person who filed the complaint, was all along trying to 'frame' you for a breach of sanitary regulations? Well… I won't go as far as to say that that person was trying to 'frame me'; but it's an example of the sort of things people can do – even little things, sometimes – to make your life difficult, for what- ever reason. And let's just say that this sort of thing has happened a lot, ever since I started speaking out against certain things that were going on, in Qala and the rest of Gozo. But to answer you more direct- ly: yes, there was also political pressure… including whispering campaigns to have me removed as Qala's mayor, before practical- ly every local council election. At one point, I was even hauled up before the local councils' Board of Vigilance, accused of having a 'conflict of interest': you might remember the case; it was widely reported in the press around two years ago… I don't recall the details; but I do remember you arguing that it was "more spin targeting me because I will not allow devel- opers to destroy what little is left of the countryside in Qala." Precisely. Because that's what it was. Everyone here knows that there is only one printing press [A&M Printing] in Qala; that it happens to belong to my sister; and that the Qala local council had always contracted A&M for its printing needs… even from long before my own time as may- or. Likewise, everyone knows that my daughter is a soprano; and – if I say so myself – that she is tal- ented enough to perform in both local and international operas, to a lot of acclaim. And yet, I ended up being 'tried' by the Board of Vigilance – where, if found guilty, I would have been forced to resign as mayor; and not contest local council elections for another five years – simply because I ap- proved of a direct order of just €60, to a company that happens to include my daughter; and be- cause my sister was contracted to do printing work for the coun- cil… when she had been already doing that, for over 25 years. With all due respect, however: aren't there obligations to issue a public call for tenders, for that sort of contract? Yes; but only if the contracts are worth over a certain amount. Now: the ones we're talking about, were reported in the press as being valued at €4,000 euros… but what they didn't say, was that €4,000 was the amount spent over four years. And besides: we DID ask for es- timates. But then again: if A&M Printing is the only printing press in Qala; and has also pro- vided the cheapest estimates, for good quality service, for all these years… what's all the controver- sy about? Isn't it obvious that the purpose of all this fuss, was sim- ply to 'get me out of the way', as Qala mayor? Now: having said all this, I ad- mit that I may not be perfect – no one is, at the end of the day. But when you consider that oth- er people have been known to get away with all sorts of much more serious 'conflicts of interest', than that… yet in my case, they always focus on every single little trifle [ċuċata], and make it out to be some kind of 'enormous scan- dal'… there's only one conclusion you can reach, really. None of this ever had anything to do with 'conflicts of interest'. It was all part of a consistent strat- egy, to 'get me out of the way' so that I would stop defending the interests of Qala's residents…. and upsetting certain business interests, in the process. I don't deny that it's a very con- vincing argument; but is that the only reason some people might want to oust you as Qa- la mayor? You are, after all, a politician; and it is in the nature of local politics to be 'confron- tational' and 'divisive'. Could it simply be, then, that your suc- cess as a politician has made Qala mayor PAUL BUTTIGIEG reminisces over 20 years of 'pressure from behind the scenes' and reiterates his call to protect Hondoq ir-Rummien from all future threats of development PHOTO: JAMES BIANCHI / MALTATODAY