While MDA chairman/government consultant Sandro Chetcuti was busy announcing the introduction of a contractors’ register, a 75-year old lady has seen the courts slap her with an order to clean up the debris of her own house destroyed by a careless developer working nearby (see here: https://bit.ly/32hJSzb).
We’re angry and utterly disgusted at all this. Almost three months after the first so-called “accident”, no remedy has been given to the affected residents; instead, they are now being made to bear the costs of the developers’ carelessness and arrogance.
Our proposals, aimed at improving the residents’ standard of life, have been conveniently swept away by those in power – a clear message from the authorities that developers and their business are the real priority, not the common citizen.
In the meantime, the MDA’s proposal to self-regulate contractors in the industry is shaping up to be yet another PR stunt where Sandro Chetcuti and his X-Men turn up to save the day. This proposal simply tries to mask their attempt to strengthen the development lobby and its membership numbers, during a time where the MDA is under severe pressure from the protesting public. Anyone with a minimum of grey matter knows that the regulation of the development lobby and its contractors can only be carried out by serious, unflinching authorities. In this case, developers registering and enforcing their own suppliers (with whom they work on a daily basis and have degrees of familiarity) will simply lead to the approval of more shoddy practices and everyday arrogance, as long as business can proceed unhindered.
The ease with which the MDA, a private lobby, is allowed a free rein to dictate regulations by government leaves us, to say the least, apprehensive.
We demand the immediate intervention of the Cabinet of Ministers to right the wrongs suffered by the residents of Mellieħa, Pietà and Gwardamangia (who have been ignored unanimously by PLPN) and for the authorities to embark on a series of thorough reforms that take the responsibility of developers’ actions off the backs of citizens.
We will not sit pretty. It is Moviment Graffitti’s intention to undertake further actions in whatever manner and location it deems fit should this situation persist.
