Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/611961
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 DECEMBER 2015 26 Letters Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. News • 4 December 2005 AROUND 93 per cent of the shareholders of the former National Bank of Malta have refused a Lm7 million offer by government as a settlement for the shares they signed off forcefully back in 1973 under duress to Dom Mintoff's Labour government. Some 150 shareholders and heirs voted on Thursday evening at Palazzo Parisio in Naxxar, in which they directed their rep- resentatives and lawyers Max Ganado and Ian Refalo to push further for a higher set- tlement. Shareholders are ready to push for a settle- ment as high as Lm18 million, although the compensatory sum falls short of the actual value of the bank and its assets when it was taken over back in December 1973. Also present for the meeting was the presi- dent of the Chamber of Commerce, Louis Apap Bologna, a National Bank of Malta shareholder himself. Pushing for a final privatisation sweep of Bank of Valletta, the nationalised offspring of the National Bank of Malta, Austin Gatt's ministry is piloting the settlement after 31 years of court cases. Today Bank of Valletta is worth in excess of Lm300 million. It is as yet the most concrete act of recog- nition from the government that National Bank of Malta shareholders are entitled to compensation. But with a market value of Lm100 per share at the time of the 1974 take- over, government's Lm7 million is a pit- tance to those claim- ing the shareholders are entitled to a heftier redress. Shareholders Marcus Marshall and Jeremy Cassar Torregiani yes- terday were amongst those who spoke dur- ing the two-hour meeting, in which a re- view of the work done by the shareholders' representatives was presented. Shareholders re- marked how important the remarkable turn- out had been, and that they were not ready to settle for government's "arbitrary" settlement. Shareholders ex- pressed their appreciation that government was coming forward with a settlement but that the offer should be based on more objec- tive criteria and reach a fairer settlement. At the apex of its profitability in Decem- ber 1973, millions were withdrawn from the National Bank in a run on its cash deposits. Within a week, Prime Minister Dom Mintoff demanded that shareholders sign off their shares to the government, refusing to allow the Central Bank to prop up the National Bank with bridging finance. Shareholders have claimed in court that Mintoff wanted the share transfer to occur "naturally without compensation", threaten- ing to remove shareholders' limited liability by extending it to their personal assets, and to withdraw Lm4 million in government de- posits from the bank. Fearing government would seize their per- sonal possessions, some shareholders signed off their shares without as much of a whim- per from the Nationalist opposition of the day. 26 Living independently and being included in the community The right to live independently and be included in the commu- nity is guaranteed by Article 19 of the UN Convention Persons with Disability and protected under EU law, in particular through the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of disability (Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamen- tal Rights of the EU) and the principle of integration of persons with disabilities (Article 26 of the Charter). In his article "Independent Living Empowers People with Disabilites", Dr Adolf D. Ratzka, Independent Living Institute Stockholm is quoted as say- ing: "Independent Living does not mean that we want to do everything by ourselves or that we do not need anybody or like to live in isolation. Independent Living means that we demand the same choices and control in our everyday lives that our non-disabled brothers and sisters, neighbours and friends take for granted. We want to grow up in our families, go to the neighbour- hood school, use the same bus as our neighbours, work in jobs that are in line with our education and interests, and raise families of our own. We are profoundly ordinary people sharing the same need to feel included, recognized and loved." According to traditional thought, disabilities were im- pairments to be cured through medical intervention. The Inde- pendent Living Model sees the problem differently and under- stands disability as a construct of society. In this model, the problem lies in the environment, not the individual. Though many people have physical, intellectual, or mental attributes that deviate from the 'norm,' disability is manifested in society through purposefully created and main- tained physical, programmatic, and attitudinal barriers. Living independently means exercising freedom of choice and control over decisions affecting one's life with the same level of independence and interdepend- ence within society on an equal basis with others. Consequently, article 19 refers to "living inde- pendently and being included in the community" as one right, where autonomy and inclusion are mutually reinforcing and jointly avoid segregation (quoted from the study developed under Human Rights Council). Marthese Mugliette President, Malta Federation of Organisations Persons with Disability National Bank shareholders refuse Lm7 million settlement Bus routes being stopped As many have heard, new bus routes are being im- plemented, which means certain routes are going to be removed (without the public clearly knowing of it). While on my way to school as usual I noticed a Malta Public Transport employee removing the '35' and '36' bus routes (Naxxar and Gharghur) notices from the road sign. When I asked him why he was doing so he told me that these routes would no longer be in use. He was surprised when I told him that I need those very routes to get to school. While having this conversation at around 10:20am the 10:30am bus (35) did not stop at the bus stop and left me stranded. I called Malta Public Transport but although they tried they could not help me. When I asked the gentlemen on the line if he knew when these routes were going to stop being used he simply told me they did not know... but they expected it to be around the end of the year. On Friday (December 4) I waited for bus 35 or 36. The 35 did not stop, although I chased and yelled after it. The 36, which was supposed to pass 15 minutes later, did not even show up. Does this mean that the routes have been stopped already? With the removal of the '35' and '36' routes the entire student body is going to have to depend on just three bus routes to get to school. Anthea Fenech Via email The Church under attack It is raining bombs in the house of the Lord! The first bombshell comes in the upcoming movie Spotlight which tells the true story of The Boston Globe jour- nalists who uncovered multiple cover-ups by the Catholic Church of sexual abuse by its priests. "The newspaper set off a global wave of investigations that found similar patterns at dioceses around the world... victims and their advocates contend that abuse is ongoing" (Reuters, No- vember 5). The film has received rave reviews in the American media. A reviewer wrote that "it might be the best movie of the year". The second and third bomb- shells are two new books by Italian journalists that depict a Vatican plagued by greed, intrigue and corruption. One of the books describes "the irregularities in the funding of canonization causes in the Roman Catholic Church; the purported diverting of funds intended for the poor in order to plug admin- istrative deficits; and the lavish lifestyles of some cardinals." While the Catholic faithful do- nate their hard-earned cash, the "good shepherds" at the Vatican laugh behind their backs all the way to the bank ! John Guillaumier St Julian's