Alternattiva Demokratika Chairperson Dr Harry Vassallo has highlighted the case of a Paceville resident forced into a long series of legal actions and correspondence with government entities in order to try and safeguard the basics of his quality of life.

“The case of David Alamango is being raised as an illustration of hundreds, perhaps of thousands of similar cases across Gozo and Malta in which ordinary citizens find that there are no effective and timely remedies available to them regardless of their appeals to the local councils, to the police, to the Ombudsman, to Mepa and to the courts when they find themselves in conflict with business interests” Dr Vassallo said.

“There comes a point early on in this process in which the more one struggles the greater resistance one finds from the authorities who begin to regard complainants as nuisances” Dr Vassallo said. “Mr Alamango has effectively been denied his right to live peacefully in his home through the development of the groundfloor as a business premises because of noise and a large variety of nuisances or which no remedy is provided by the operator or demanded by any legal authority.” Dr Vassallo added.

“In the case in question, apart from the inevitable noise and nuisance created by clients through the early hours of the morning, the operator in question has misappropriated most of the sidewalk in front of the premises in question and has been refused permission for his application for a permit to do so. Enforcement dating back to one year ago remains a dead letter. He has also placed a massive generator on the roof of the building which creates intolerable noise and vibration whenever it is in use. In effect this constitutes an illegal, private expropriation of the principal amenities of the property owned by David Alamango without compensation” Dr Vassallo said.

Dr Vassallo added that Alternattiva Demokratika is constantly called upon to intervene in very many such cases in which ordinary citizens find they have no effective remedies available to them. “There is no reason why business operations and the rights of private citizens should not co-exist in harmony’ Dr Vassallo said. ” If a business creates a cost to third parties it should be able to provide reasonable and sufficient compensation and also to operate within the law. No third party should be expected to bear the consequences of any business’s quest for profit”, Dr Vassallo said.

“There is absolutely no need for change in existing laws which on paper safeguard residents’ rights. What is needed is a radical change of policy ending the clear bias in favour of any business operation over the rights of ordinary citizens” Dr Vassallo said. It is clear that the present government policy maintained for very many years gave no importance at all to the rights of residents and has now become intolerable in many areas of the country.