HOW THINGS CHANGED Few other events had an impact on Maltese political culture as the introduction of local councils by a Nationalist government in the early 1990s. For the first time since the days of Napoleon, residents were to have a say in what gets done in their localities through their elected representatives. Funds were to be distributed through a legally-established mathematical formula thus making political manipulation almost impossible. The role of the central government was limited to that of oversight. Quite a few people I know dismiss whatever goes on thats related to local councils as parish pump politics. Sure, here were talking about political life broken down to its atomic level. Yet, its good to keep in mind that these are the building blocks of democratic life, not fancy ideologies or high-flown abstractions. The discussion about a minor street improvement has to follow the same rules of democratic engagement that youd expect in the debate on the national budget.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 12:00:01 +0000
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