It is way too convenient to resort to empty platitudes when in distress. At best, the strategy betrays a sense of urgency to distract or create a tactic of misdirection. Sadly, however, it is as plain as day, and no one is buying it.

Naturally I am all for Valletta being recognised as Malta’s capital city. Even though, I don’t think anyone for a second had a doubt about this fact. From every primary student to the very last tourist visiting, will undoubtedly tell you that Valletta is the capital of Malta. I don’t recall anyone ever challenging this fact which has stood since good old Jean Parisot.

Yet, it rings extremely offensive for all Valletta residents, whom I am honoured to count among my friends and constituents, as well as the rest of Malta, to take out the capital from the dusty drawer once in a while, and use it for your own propagandistic goals. Because, within the context of the situation of Valletta today, that is all this sounds like. Cheap propaganda.

Words are cheap. It is easy to declare one’s love to someone, and then show no respect to them, and use every opportunity to use and abuse them to one’s heart content. On the other hand, real love and respect is expressed in actions not words.

The same goes for our capital city. The orchestrated, unrelenting attack that has been unleashed on Valletta and her residents in the best part of the past decade has been fierce and inexorable. The situation is next to impossible as government has actively favoured Valletta being hollowed out of its soul – its residents.

Living in Valletta has become unimaginable. Even if one had to overcome the gargantuan hurdle of property prices, life in the city is one endless compilation of traffic, broken pavements, badly lit or even completely darkened neighbourhoods, traffic mismanagement, lack of parking and blatant abuse. The message to the last surviving residents is very clear: get out of the way, as you need to be replaced by the next fancy project.

Unfortunately, this Government has shown time and time again that it is not interested in the least to intervene or rectify this situation. The puppet local council led by a Labour majority is powerless and cannot represent its own electors, as it has shown clearly when it stayed completely silent when the unfair late night entertainment regulations were passed to the detriment of residents.

Meanwhile the city is bleeding its last residents. A city without its residents, is no city at all. At best, it is a showcase of its past.

This is only the last episode in a long series of great gestures that use Valletta’s indisputable allure for political gains. Shall we discuss the abysmal results of the Valletta Cultural Agency, which was meant to protect, precisely, Valletta’s culture, but froze completely and absolutely, when some of Valletta’s most cherished traditions were under direct threat?

Valletta deserves more than platitudes or empty declarations. It deserves a concerted effort to give back its dignity, through a strategy that builds on the good that has been achieved over the years, with its own residents at the centre. Only then will anyone be taken seriously when mentioning our beloved capital.

 

 

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