It is the heartland of the Nationalist Party, and in years gone by bore the brunt of political recrimination by successive Labour administrations. But has Sliema now been forgotten by the party it once helped to power? By RAPHAEL VASSALLO
Yesterday was counting day at the former trade fair grounds in Naxxar: the second in two weeks, as the results of last week’s local council elections were postponed to make way for the Europe Parliamentary election.
It is perhaps a less prestigious contest on a nationwide level, but in many ways the outcome of a local council election is of greater consequence to individual voters than representation in the European Parliament. And yet, participation in these elections is markedly lower in most localities than for any other; and as statistics come streaming in from one third of Malta’s towns and villages, one percentage stands out above the rest. Voter turn out in Sliema – the PN’s traditional stronghold in the North Harbour area – has risen slightly to 64.8%, up by 5% since 2006.
A glance at the PN counting agents’ faces says it all. Weeks of hard work by street leaders and PN stalwarts appear to have paid off: though a full 7% less than last week’s MEP election, the Sliema turnout was on the whole a victory unto itself.
But how has it come to this? Why does the PN now have to struggle to reach those voters whom it previously took for granted?
Former Nationalist mayor Albert Bonello Dupuis did not contest this election himself, but nonetheless few in Sliema are better versed than he in the daily complaints of 10th district residents.
“Yes, I’ve encountered my fair share of disgruntlement, especially in the last three years,” he explains. “Though you can’t really talk about individual complaints as such... it’s more a general feeling.”
Asked for a brief overview, Bonello Dupuis alludes to construction as one of the more immediate causes of daily inconvenience in Sliema life. Symptoms of excessive construction are in fact visible everywhere you look. Apart from noise and the dust, there are cranes and trucks causing traffic congestion and parking problems, and residents also complain about damage to pavements and roads (and sometimes also to houses and buildings) by jackhammers and other building paraphernalia.
But as Bonello Dupuis strongly hints, people’s expectations from their local council have also diminished greatly, as it became apparent that the council itself cannot really do very much about these and other issues.
“It’s one of the biggest causes of complaint, and it is one of the things the council really can’t do very much about,” he says simply. “Once MEPA issues a permit, that’s it. We are powerless to stop it...”
Matters have not been helped by the fact that the Sliema local council in particular has proved a bitterly divisive institution.
“It’s one of the reasons I didn’t contest this election,” Bonello Dupuis adds. “It was a divided council, not so much between Labour and Nationalists, as among the Nationalists themselves...”
Internal party bickering within was clearly evident even during this year’s election campaign, with 30-year-old PN candidate Nikki Dimech openly complaining about “obstacles” placed in his way by his own party. Ironically he went on to convincingly win the contest, becoming Sliema’s youngest-ever mayor – a fact which in itself says something about Nationalist turmoil in its own stronghold.
Nationalist MP Robert Arrigo was Dimech’s backer in this election. Himself a former mayor – as is his wife Marina – you could almost talk of a budding “Arrigo dynasty”.
But like his constituents, the backbencher can scarcely conceal his impatience and disgruntlement at the way his hometown has been neglected.
“It’s a whole jigsaw puzzle of things,” he begins in his office overlooking Balluta Bay. “I am the only MP on either side of the House to actually reside in Sliema. In recent weeks I have canvassed for both the MEP and local council elections: doing house visits, walking around, speaking to people.,, There is no one single factor you can pinpoint and say, this is causing the problem...”
The feeling Arrigo encounters is that central government has taken care of other places more than Sliema – an automatic sore point, in a town which used to bear the brunt of constant power cuts and water stoppages in the 1970s and 1980s.
“The PN should have a human face all year round... not just 15 days prior to an election,” he says with a pointed look. I ask him if he is referring to Pjazza Sant’ Anna at the Ferries: the site of the former Magic Kiosk, an eyesore of metallic blue aluminium erected in the “bad old days” of Labour, and removed with much fanfare after the lease finally expired earlier this year.
Before the square was even properly repaved, there was already a plaque commemorating the Nationalist minister who oversaw the works.
Arrigo doesn’t answer directly, but an imperceptible nod gives his feelings away. “Sliema residents want attention,” he continues. “Not favours. They need to be looked after... and they are not asking for all that much. I compare Sliema to a palm tree: it gives a lot, without needing very much watering. Humans need ‘watering’, too. And they will give a lot if they only get they the little attention they ask for.”
But Arrigo argues that getting the government to pay attention to Sliema has been a constant uphill struggle. “I have brought up the fact that crane operators only pay €23 a day to park their crane and block a street. What’s €23 to a contractor? There is no incentive to remove the inconvenience...”
Last Monday, Arrigo brought this and other Sliema issues up in an impassioned speech in parliament. Admittedly, his timing could have been better. The government had other things to contend with that day, such as its drubbing in the MEP elections on Sunday. Nonetheless, Arrigo tells me the feedback he received was fellow MPs and Cabinet was... zero.
“The message to government (from the MEP election result) was clear. On a nationwide level, those who voted for AD in 2004 now voted Labour. So what they are saying is: yes, I can change if you don’t look after me...”
And what would Sliema’s own message to government be, if the town had a single voice with which to make its grievances known?
Arrigo replies without any hesitation whatsoever: “Take care of me.”
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