The former mayor of Mosta, the architect Chris Grech, was often in the news for one reason or another. His pidgin English nickname is in-Nice, which literally means polite or lovely. He is neither of the two. He is quite proud of his nickname and it was used in an election spot by the former prime minister Joseph Muscat when endorsing Chris Grech. However, in the local council election, the Mosta voters thought otherwise. In Mosta, the political party of in-Nice not only lost the 2% majority it had in 2019 but now trails the PN by a staggerring 12%! The same Mosta Labour voters did not really listen to Joseph Muscat's advice because Tony Agius-Decelis comfortably surpassed in-Nice who nevertheless was elected on the first count. That is to say, even if Labour held Mosta, Chris Grech would no longer be mayor … not so much a nice scenario for the mayor nicely endorsed by the Invictus.
To comprehend why this happened, you don't need to scratch your head too much. If you see the Facebook posts of Chris Grech and those of his staunch supporter Jason Micallef, also hailing from Mosta, you will understand the ultimate causes of Chris Grech’s defeat. In a post-electoral diatribe, Jason Micallef typically continued with the record that there has never been a mayor who has worked so hard for Mosta, that there has never been so much beautification in his locality, that there have never been so many huge projects, that Mosta has never been so much at the heart of the central planners's attention and so on. The arrogant tone dares you. Micallef’s and Grech's attitude is that of "I know everything", “I know what's best for you” and "the sun rose with me." They add that all the previous Mosta mayors were miserable wretches. In a public meeting organised by the Local Council and the GRTU in January 2023 at Mosta Council Hall, Jason Micallef blasted that forner PN mayor Nazzareno Vassallo was a failure because of the Constitution Street planters, Joe DeMartino was an arrogant prat, Edwin Vassallo a failed retailer and Ivan Bartolo an incompetent social worker. Finally Mosta had a new dawn with the advent of Chris Grech … like teletubby Tinky-Winky rising from the ground when the sun with Jason's baby face, gracefully shines upon Mosta's mortals.
Simultaneously, the trolls or telly tubbies paid by the government to comment on social media lavished praise unto praise on in-Nice so that he'll appear nicer than Snow White surrounded by dwarfed councillors struck in awe by the perit's grandeur. God forbid if someone complains that a one-way direction of a street in Mosta should be reconsidered. These same trolls, hatching from every direction, immediately step in to denigrate on the social media anyone who dares to complain against the local council led by mayor Chris Grech who frequently joined these trolls and is known for his rude comments attacking even personally anyone who criticized any aspect of his megalonanic visions. In addition, in-Nice and those around him thought that Mosta voters would not vent their anger by voting any time around. He thought that Marmara’s fabled distakk (gap) was insurmountable. This was his reply in a public meeting held at the local council hall held on January 2023… “If you don't like my vision, don't vote for me in the next elections.”
It is because of this attitude that many, even fellow Labourites, started doubting the mayor even when he played the environmental card like, for example, the transformation of Rotunda Square and parts of Basilica Street and Eucharistic Congress Road (where the band club he presides is situated) into a pedestrian zone. He used to say that his intentions were to give back to Mosta families the heart of the village, to psychogically extend the parvis of the Basilica, to enhance the vista of the church bexause it is nice to see the Vasilica while driving into Mosta and finally to create a clean eco-friendly atmosphere at the heart of the village.
Although theoretically all this seemed nice, in reality, the closure of Mosta square and parts of Basilica Street with lower Eucharistic Congress Road meant a complete revision of one-way directions in many parts Mosta together with the congestion of Main Street and Independence Avrnue. The latter has become a traffic nightmare ever since but instead of admiting his mistake, Chris Grech is blaming PAMA. All this created resentnrnt among residents who complained that what is the point of pedestrianisation of a small part of Mosta if this results in havoc in the narrow streets close to the village core and heavy traffic along other arterial roads? The residents of these streets felt betrayed as rightly complained that they were not second class citizens.
The car free Rotunda Square is utopic not only because of the urban geography of Mosta. The traffic planners seemed to have forgotten that at the weekend in a Rotunda Square there is a fully operational polyclinic that serves the north of Malta, there are three ATMs of three main banks of Malta, three pharmacies, one of which is often open on Sundays, the police station, and on all, the church of Mosta with two masses on Saturday evening and six masses on Sunday precisely at the time when the church square is closed. According to unconfirmed sources, Mosta parish priest complained to the prime minister himself about the adverse effects the partial closure of Mosta square was having on mass attendence. Rightly so, the parish priest did not disclose to the media these attempts.
Mosta village core is not like Mdina that can afford pedestrianisation. The closure of half of Rotunda square and surrounding parts created a great inconvenience for everyone who uses a service, religious of not.
Yet the mayor stubbornly dismissed everyone, even the business outlets that lost hefty profits, and made the closure of the square the flag of his achievements.
Yet Chris Grech got destroyed by the bubble he himself created. He came to believe that anyone who criticized his vision was doing so out of political spite and not because he or she genuinely had a valid point. He forgot that in the end, people are not interested in nice travertine slabs, porfido paving, exotic palm trees or nice flower pots. What people really want is parking spaces and not getting stuck in traffic. In Mosta it had become surreal because for the sake of the environment, the new one-way systems meant that a considerable amount of residents became literally trapped … in order to move just few hundred meters, they ended up driving around the whole length of the village. Meanwhile Jason Micallef, Chris Grech and his friends were posting selfies sipping capuccinos in posh cafetterias in the pedestrianised area. The anger was palpaplble even among businesses especially along Constitution Street that fared very badly because of this botched pedestrianisation project.
It was becoming clear that Chris Grech wasn't just stubborn but also a pathological liar. For example, he boasted that the new flood relief system in the heart of Mosta is the result of his genius. He constantly repeated the narrative that he did not choose the easy way like a coward but finally tackled the flooding problem of Mosta that previous mayors ignored. Chris Grech is pretending that all should thank him for solving once and for all the problem of flooding in Mosta. The truth is completely the opposite because the flooding in Mosta centre started happening precisely by his incompetence. It was after HIS intervention, with the acquiescence of Infrastructure Malta, that all the rain water from Blata l-Gholja, Independence Avenue and Durumblat areas drained into Rotunda Square and Constitution Street. This happened because Architect Chris Grech and Infrastructure Malta invented a huge rain water culvert along the entire length of Triq il-Kbira (from Pjazza Rotunda to Blata l-Għolja), so that all the water of this large catchment area was diverted to Rotunda Square. Indeed, before the project was finished, the flooding of Mosta center and Constitution Street and the area behind the Basilica had become so dangerous that even if it rained just a few millimetres cars were getting stuck, basements drowned and traffic came to a standstill.
However, must must keep in mind that this was not the case irrespective if Chris Grech and Infrastructure Malta’s flood relief project. Before this the flood waters ended up in the Mosta valleys from other routes that corresponded to the contours and elevation of the old Mosta streets. It was a huge mistake that the water channel that takes all the waters of the aforementioned areas was directed down to Rotunda Square instead of Wied il-Qlejja or Wied Redusa from the old routes. Indeed, our forefathers were more intelligent in respecting natural phenomena. In a nutshell, it was the mayor with IM who created the problem of flooding in the first place.
Obviously, he is now arguing that with the new water culverts the flooding problem is solved. But how can we be sure if the project was completed less than a year ago and the last rainy season was the driest autumn/winter ever recorded? Chris Grech must be thankful to Mother Earth if climate change means drier rainy seasons! The real test of the nice new flood system has not yet happened.
There are many other examples that reveal the gross incomptence of the previous Mosta Local Council and Infrastructure Malta and what happened in Triq id-Difisa Ċivili comes to mind. This already chaotic arterial road got even worse by the presence of Lidl and Eurospin. The proliferation of numerous flats further exacerbates the situation. What was once a dual lane road, suddenly constricts to one lane to accommodate a useless bicycle path extending over Wied il-Ghasel bridge. The resulting traffic congestion on this busy road is awful with drivers raging in their cars asking “where are the f…..g bicycles?”
All this discontent compelled passive voters to voice their dissatisfaction towards the Mayor and Jason Micallef at the polling booths last June. The escalated disillusionment culminated in a pervasive skepticism among Mosta residents, suspecting ulterior motives in every initiative proposed by the local council.
The infamous debacle of the ficus trees is the last fiasco I want to highlight. The mayor reassured the public that the removal of twelve ficus trees in Mosta Square was to replace them with more aesthetically pleasing specimens of indigenous holm oaks. Fine but he failed to garner trust after grim fate of the ficus trees, with more than half succumbing to a mysterious poisoning. This stirred widespread disbelief and cynicism towards the authorities. How could it be that the perpetrators were not caught when Mosta square is one of the most places overseen with CCTV cameras? Even those unsympathetic towards environmental concerns felt that Chris Grech was shedding crocodile tears after the poisoning of the ficus trees. This was confirmed because the diehard collaborators of the ex-mayor were all smiles celebrating the ficus trees imminent death and making fun if treehuggers. This is how much the situation had deteriorated in Mosta under Chris Grech.
Nevertheless, the future of Mosta is bleak. All political machinations loom over the new Local Council under Mayor Joseph Gatt's stewardship. The obstacles posed by Infrastructure Malta and Transport Malta in rectifying past blunders of the previous administration will be formidable. Instead of collaborating with the new mayor, these central governmental authorities will block Mr Joseph Gatt efforts. This will stoke further resentment among Mosta’s residents, influencing the upcoming general election. The electoral momentum that has slowly started will gather speed and become unstoppable.
By commenting you are accepting our Comment Policy.