Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/628647
Matthew Vella A new political chapter could be in the offing tonight for both Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his parliamentary secretary for planning, Michael Falzon, a former party deputy leader who in 2008 ran unsuccessfully for party leader. The National Audit Office will present the Speaker of the House of Representatives with an inves- tigative audit over a 'fast-tracked' expropriation of just one-half of a building housing government of- fices. The lucky beneficiary was Marco Gaffarena, whose father Joe enjoyed close relations with vari- ous Nationalist MPs. The unlucky patron turned out to be Michael Falzon, who knows Marco Gaf- farena (he went on a hunting trip with him years before), and whose aide, Clint Scerri, accompanied Gaffarena to the GPD to settle the busi- ness. Not much landed gentry but simply land-rich, the Gaffarenas' myriad busi- ness interests – a private clinic and old people's home with former Labour minister Louis Buhagiar among them – made the news back in 2008 when a petrol station replete with planning irregularities was shuttered by the Malta En- vironment and Planning Authority in a show of force. For years, the lucrative Qormi petrol pump was prevented from operating because of the illegally built second floor. www.maltatoday.com.mt wednesday edition wednesday • 20 January 2016 • issue 452 • published every wednesday and sunday €1.00 Newspaper post Red-letter day for Muscat and Falzon PaGe 5 Education minister condemns Patriots's lies on 'banned' pork in state school evarist Bartolo says 'people must live freely without fear of prejudice or hatred' MaRtina BoRG EDuCATiON Minister Evarist Bartolo has lambasted attempts to cast a shadow on the success of schools whose pupils successfully co-exist irrespective of their social and economical backgrounds, reli- gious beliefs or ethnicity. Bartolo defended St Paul's Bay primary school – propelled in the news over allegations from anti-is- lam nationalists that it had banned pork products – as "a shining ex- ample of the diverse cultural, re- ligious and ethnic backgrounds of its pupils and how an inclusive community can be built around that". On Sunday, the leader of the right-wing group Ghaqda Par- tijotti Maltin, Alex Pisani, claimed that children at the St Paul's Bay state primary school were forbid- den from eating pork at school due to its high population of Muslim students. The claim was immediately de- nied by the head of the school, Jo- sette Dalmas. "i am sick and tired of having our school come under attack because of its diversity," Dalmas said. "i appreciate that it is hard to live together with all these differences, particularly when the differences lie in religious beliefs and culture," Bartolo told MaltaToday. "But i al- so firmly believe this can be a good thing." He said many teachers were fac- ing unprecedented challenges in having to cope with so many dif- ferences in their classes. "But when faced well, these chal- lenges can only lead to good things, as young people will learn to cope with the realities of the world in the 21st century. "The key is to never impose ideas on others and to allow everyone to practise their beliefs freely," he said, adding that these were the pillars of the democratic society we lived in. "We need to allow people to live, and believe freely without fear of prejudice or hatred, because inter- action with different cultures and religions is becoming ever more common." Bartolo said embracing differenc- es was the only way forward if the country wanted to cope with the world around it. "This is a global trend, and as such we need to learn to embrace diversity both through- out our country and the world if we wish to survive," he said.