Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1495215
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 MARCH 2023 NEWS Thank you... for having bought this newspaper The good news is that we're not raising the price of our newspaper We know times are still hard, but we have pledged to keep giving our readers quality news they deserve, without making you pay more for it. So thank you, for making it your MaltaToday Support your favourite newspaper with a special offer on online PDF subscriptions. Visit bit.ly/2X9csmr or scan the QR code Subscriptions can be done online on agendabookshop.com Same-day delivery at €1 for orders up to 5 newspapers per address. Subscribe from €1.15 a week Same-day print delivery from Miller Distributors mt Ban horse-drawn karrozzini and replace them with electric cabs – Animal Liberation Malta ANIMAL Liberation activists marched in Valletta on Saturday morning, demanding the ban of karozzini, Malta's traditional horse-drawn cabbies. The protest started from The Mall in Floriana, all the way up to Castille Square in Valletta with the activists chanting "Din moħqrija – mhux tradizzjoni" (This is exploitation, not tradi- tion), and "You ride – they die", past two cabby points at Triton Square and Castille. At Castille Square, the activ- ists formed the word 'BAN!' on the stairs of Auberge de Castille. "Animal Liberation Malta is in principle against karozzini, es- pecially since we believe that in a fully motorised world there is no need or function for them," spokesperson Haroon Ali said. "Karozzini today only serve as a tourist attraction. There is a global move against horse-drawn carriages with more and more cities around the world taking the step to banning this cru- el practice. Notable names are Montreal (Canada), Barcelona, Prague, Melbourne, Chicago, Salt Lake City and Palma de Mal- lorca." The Spanish city council of Pal- ma de Mallorca, also a Mediter- ranean island heavily dependent on tourism, announced a ban on horse draw carriages that will come into effect in 2024. Their intention is that all horse-drawn carriages will be replaced with electric carriages. "We believe that the transi- tion to electric would be an ideal solution for Malta. In fact, part of our recommendations is that Transport Malta should issue a special grant for cabby drivers for them to go electric," Ali said. "Apart from the transition to electrification, we also propose that no new licences for cab- by drivers should be issued. A grandfather clause should be triggered whereby existing hors- es will be allowed to continue working, yet upon retiring the cabby owner cannot replace the horse with a new horse, but rath- er go to an electric option." ALM said all other horse- drawn carriages – even horse- drawn hearses – should be banned since there are adequate alternatives. THE Nationalist Party said that if Prime Minister Robert Abela still had a shred of respect for his po- sition, he would sack Foreign Minister Ian Borg, af- ter he was found guilty for a fourth time of illegally building a swimming pool on his Rabat virgin land. PN MPs Mark Anthony Sammut and Stanley Zammit held a Saturday press conference in front of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, in which they called out Borg for his arrogance and the PM for his in- action. On Wednesday, Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti ruled that Planning Authority was wrong to grant Borg and his wife a permit to build a pool and accompa- nying amenities at their property in the hamlet of Santa Katerina in Rabat. Sammut referred to an Ombudsman report in De- cember 2015 that said that Borg chose a "devious method" in his application. "This is not a mistake – this was definitely not a mistake. It cannot be pinned down to a human error put points to a deliberate attempt to remove the last remaining obstacle for the application," Sammut quoted from the report. He also mentioned how in December 2020, with Robert Abela already a Prime Minister, Borg had lost a libel lawsuit he had filed against the Malta In- dependent for an article that had claimed that Borg had acquired the land for a suspiciously low price from a mentally ill man, under dubious circum- stances. The magistrate had said that Borg's testimony was not credible. Sammut also said that in June 2019, the Court of Appeals had declared the first permit for the devel- opment as null. "Ian Borg appealed again in court but, arrogantly, he still went ahead with the works," Sammut said. The PN MP said that the court said that the Plan- ning Authority had defied its own policies by sanc- tioning the permit. 'If Abela has shred of respect, he'd sack Borg over illegal swimming pool' – PN