WATCH: Labour mayor lashes out at Miriam Dalli as ‘incompetent clown’

Qormi mayor Notary Josef Masini Vento, who will be contesting the local council elections on Saturday on the Labour ticket, described Environment Minister Miriam Dalli as an “incompetent clown” and said she should “resign” during a council meeting in 2022 that is on public record.

Footage of the official council meeting shows the mayor clashing with Donnah Barbara, Labour’s deputy mayor of Qormi and private secretary of Minister Miriam Dalli, as the new plastic bottle refund system —better known as BCRS — was being introduced.

The scheme, introduced in November 2022, has been controversial since its inception. It obliges €0.10c fee on every beverage in a plastic receptacle people buy that must be returned to the machines installed in different localities for a return on the funds.

In an angry outburst during the meeting streamed online, the mayor insisted that he did not want the BCRS machine installed in his locality. He was inundated with complaints since the area where the machine was placed became a dumping ground.

Telling fellow councillors that the residents were right, he asked his councillors what he should do with the machine.

“Shall I tell the authorities to remove it? he asked. “I don’t want it here. The residents are right.”

The deputy mayor intervened and told him he could not remove the machine. This infuriated the mayor.

“I don’t care what the minister (Miriam Dalli) says, and if she wants, she can take it (the machine) and put it near her ministry,” the visibly agitated Mayor retorted.

The mayor added: “Miriam Dalli is a disaster, incompetent and a clown. She should resign as everything under her control is a disaster, even Enemalta.”

The Labour mayor reacted angrily when asked to lower his tone and avoid mentioning names publicly.

“Yes, I will name her. Miriam Dalli is incompetent and should resign. As if she can be a prime minister, as she is expecting,” the Labour mayor said, referring to rumours that Dalli was lobbying to unseat Robert Abela.

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Masini Vento told deputy mayor Barbara (the minister’s private secretary) that she, too, was a clown: “like your minister”.

“Go and continue to boot-lick the minister now so that you continue to enjoy favours. It was only thanks to labour that you got a job. I don’t need a Labour government to move on. But this country has been reduced to such things. Bootlicking to get as many favours as possible,” the mayor insisted.

As the council meeting continued to heat up, the deputy mayor eventually left, and the session had to stop.

Mayor Josef Masini Vento is contesting Saturday’s local council election for the Qormi local council on the Labour ticket.