10 MPs receive penalties from Standards Commissioner over unauthorised absence from Parliament.

Aug 8 2022

Standards Commissioner George Hyzler wrote to ten MPs throughout 2021 to remind them of due administrative penalties over unauthorised absence from parliament.

This piece of news was unveiled through the annual report released by the standards commissioner for 2021.

Back in 2016, an administrative penalty worth €50 over unauthorised absences was introduced. This penalty is applicable to every MP including the Prime Minister, ministers, parliamentary secretaries, shadow ministers and back benchers.

In order to take a session off, MPs must be excused by the Speaker. A leave of absence will be given to members if they are sick and can prove it, have business to attend to which affects the government, parliament or their party and/or extraordinary circumstances which will also need to be backed up by some sort of evidence.

It was reported that in 2018 and 2017, a total of €8,600 was spent by MPs as fines for skipping or missing parliament sessions.

From information tabled by the house, it was found out that between June 2017 and December 2019, opposition MP Marlene Farrugia missed the most sessions with a total of 47. Next in line were Labour MPs Anton Refalo and José Herrera and Nationalist MPs Marthese Portelli and Karl Gouder who missed 38 sessions.

#MaltaDaily

WATCH: Joseph Portelli receives a hero’s welcome during Hamrun feast

Aug 8 2022

As thousands convened to the streets of Ħamrun to celebrate the iconic San Gejtanu feast, entrepreneur and President of Ħamrun Spartans Joseph Portelli received nothing short of a hero’s welcome as he joined the celebrations.

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The business mogul has become highly associated with the locality after he became the president of the football club. He has been pivotal in the local team’s recent history, revamping it and giving it a major boost to its more recent successes.

And the locals were sure to show their appreciation for the Gozitan businessman whose passion for the game has been highlighted multiple times in various interviews.

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Valletta mayor condemns rubbish left in city centre after feast

Aug 8 2022

Valletta mayor Alfred Zammit took to Facebook to condemn the person or people who left a rubbish dump in the city centre after the massive festivities the city celebrated this past week.

The feast of Saint Dominic, one of the two feasts that Valletta celebrates, took place last Sunday and it was reportedly a huge success being the first proper feast they could hold since Covid-19.

In his post, Zammit said that a person with no respect left this massive dump in the city centre. He also criticised all those who instead of helping out took the opportunity to attack the Labour council and, according to him, damage the capital city even more.

He confirmed that the council, with the help of the cleaning department, took care of the issue and that they will partner up with the police department to try and find who was responsible for the unsanitary act.

To end the post he appealed to every Valletta citizen to further help out to continue making and keeping Valletta cleaner.

#MaltaDaily

WATCH: Massive crowds gather in Ħamrun to celebrate local ‘festa’

Aug 8 2022

Thousands of people took to the streets of Ħamrun yesterday, Sunday 7th August, to celebrate the traditional Sunday afternoon festa march.

Celebrating patron saint St Gejtanu, the feast is renowned for attracting not only Ħamrun residents but also others from different localities.

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The colours of red and blue coloured the streets, with these being associated with the two band clubs of San Ġużepp and San Gejtanu.

The festa goers, who were finally celebrating their beloved feast following a long hiatus due to COVID-19, made sure to enjoy the celebrations to the fullest whilst also keeping an important part of Maltese culture alive.

#MaltaDaily