2004: Gozo

MaltaMedia's Gozo-Affairs Editor Pierre J. Mejlak reports on the events that characterised 2004 in the small island of Gozo.

This year I realised that in the 22 years during which I lived in Gozo, I never heard a police siren! Yes. It's true. I was surprised too. Ambulances can be seen and heard regularly and fire engines can be noticed a dozen times a year.

One cannot expect extraordinary events to happen on an island covering 26 square miles and hosting some 30,000 people. That's why many people think Gozo is a wonderful place where to lead a calm, pleasant life. The Arabs might have thought so too when they named the island Ghawdex, which meant joy. But life in Gozo is in no way uneventful.

A carnival like no other

The first event that occurred in Gozo in 2004 and is worth recalling is definitely the big Carnival celebrations held in Nadur in February. This year's celebrations attracted a record-amount of travellers from Malta, worrying cultural anthropologist and carnival-researcher Vicki Ann Cremona. She believes the huge crowds at Nadur left very little room for the revellers to perform their theatricality. The Federation of European Carnival Cities (FECC) declared Nadur the World's Carnival City in June 2004. The Gozitan town will be hosting the FECC Convention in June 2005 and will be the only town in the Maltese Islands having two Carnivals in one year.

Gozo has seen much better years when it comes to infrastructural projects carried out by the government. The building of the Mgarr Harbour terminal was halted due to lack of funds, leaving the idyllic harbour with a huge scar on its face. Work will one day resume. Yet, although no big projects were being carried out, a Regional Committee for Gozitan Projects was set up on February 23rd, headed by Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono. This committee will administer 8.5 million euros of EU funds and monitor the implementation of a number of projects. With these funds the government is planning to construct a training hotel in Qala, install a decompression chamber at the Gozo General Hospital and give a much-needed facelift to numerous roads in Gozo. Towards the end of the year, the Ministry for Gozo also announced that it is formulating an economic and social development plan that will propose measures to foster the island's development for the term 2005-2010.

News makers

Despite being a very small island, Gozo is no stranger to murders. Two of them silenced Gozo in 2004. The first victim, 57-year-old Elizabeth Cauchi, was found murdered in her Xewkija house on February 25th. Drawers and cupboards in the woman's home were found overturned and the woman's body was found with her head buried under a pillow on a sofa. Six months later, on August 16th, the woman's 22-year-old nephew was arraigned in Court and charged with the murder. The young man, Ivan Cauchi, claimed he was not in a stable frame of mind when he committed the offence.

The second murder took place on May 26th at Marsalforn. A lawyer, Michael Grech, was found murdered in front of his flat. He was 46. The Police are still investigating this mafia-style murder.

Following two murders, Gozitans were reminded of another one, when on November 26th, a 46-year-old man was arraigned in Court and charged with the murder of local warden Fortunata Spiteri. The man, Benny Attard of Xaghra, pleaded not guilty to the murder that happened on August 1st, 2001. The warden was stabbed to death while on duty in Gharb, Gozo. Two other men had already been arraigned in Court. One of them, 71-year-old Giuseppe Farrugia, is now dead. The other one, 56-year-old John Attard, is still facing charges.

Ferry across the channel

The Gozo Channel ferries link the Gozitan community with Malta. Hundreds of students and workers use the ferries every single day to travel to and from Malta. No wonder a rise in Gozo Channel tariffs always sparks heated debates. On April 22nd, the Gozo Business Chamber slammed the rise in tariffs and said that the rise in tariffs would have a negative impact on Gozitan economy. A month later, Gozo parish priests wrote a letter to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and asked him to intervene. They said the transport between the two islands is a decisive factor for the Gozitan economy and the new prices, announced by the government, would negatively effect Gozo. Faced by a lot of pressure, the government launched a number of incentive-schemes aimed at reducing the costs for the Gozo Channel users. These incentives include frequent traveller tickets, night fares, group fares and seasonal fares.

Meanwhile, the Gozo Channel Company Limited started bringing its losses down, while the government claimed that the financial results achieved by the company confirm that the Gozo Channel reform process is viable.

Politics

On June 12th the people of Gozo joined the rest of the Maltese population and went to the polls to elect Malta's first five members of the European Parliament. Two Gozitans contested the election. Anton Tabone, contesting on the Nationalist Party ticket, won 5,439 first-count votes, while independent candidate Victor Zammit received 145 votes. The MLP won the elections, electing three MEPs. Malta's Green Party, Alternattiva Demokratika (AD), managed to attract over nine percent of the first-count votes. The encouraging result registered in Gozo triggered the green party to launch its Gozo Regional Committee. The committee was launched on October 16th. Green Party chairperson Harry Vassallo described the establishment of this regional committee as a milestone in AD's history.

Also on June 12th, the residents of San Lawrenz, Munxar, Xaghra, Qala and Kercem voted to elect their Local Council. The first candidate to be elected in the LC elections was a Gozitan - Noel Formosa, mayor of San Lawrenz. He obtained 175 first-count votes. The Nationalist Party won all Local Council elections held in Gozo.

A few days after electing a new Local Council, Kercem was back on the news pages. On June 29th a fireworks factory in Kercem blew up. Luckily no one was injured.

Fort Chambray, overlooking Mgarr Harbour, was one of the most discussed topics amongst Gozitans during 2004. On July 13th, following Cabinet approval, Investment Minister Austin Gatt signed Heads of Agreement with a Gozitan businessman, Michael Caruana and his family company, to enable him to take sole responsibility over the development of Fort Chambray. The development at Fort Chambray has been stalled since July 2002 when all current development permits lapsed and were not renewed by the present developers. Parliament discussed the issue five months later and approved the transfer. The Opposition voted against.

Immigration in the 21st Century

August brings with it Santa Marija, with thousands of Maltese families crossing over to enjoy a holiday in Gozo. This year Gozo Channel passengers decreased by 359 over the Santa Marija weekend, compared to figures for 2003.

On September 5th, 31 illegal immigrants disembarked in Gozo. Many of them were arrested in Qala. The Police also found an abandoned boat, which probably was used by the illegal immigrants. Then, on October 2nd, a group of 25 illegal immigrants were caught briefly after making it to land in Munxar. Their boat was found an hour later at Xlendi.

Religion

Gozo Bishop Nicholas Cauchi offered his resignation on February 25th. Canon law states that diocesan bishops are to hand in resignation offers before they reach their 75th birthday. Bishop Cauchi turned 75 on March 2nd. He tendered his resignation in a letter addressed to Pope John Paul II. To date he is still serving his post.

On October 22nd Gozo hosted hundreds of priests and Cardinals who were in Malta for the International Convention of Priests. The convention wrapped up in Gozo. Six days later, one of the Cardinals present for the convention, Cardinal Murphy O'Connor of the UK, visited four-year-old Gracie, the conjoined Gozitan twin who survived an operation to separate her from her sister. Cardinal Murphy O'Connor backed the Gozitan parents, Michaelangelo and Rina Attard, in their legal opposition to the operation, which cost the life of the other twin Rosie.

...and the Economy

The year 2004 was also the year when Prime Minister Gonzi finally declared that he wanted a golf course in Gozo. Pro-environment lobby groups slammed the proposal, claiming that Gozo can attract more tourists through its natural beauty and heritage than through a golf course. On November 12th, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) indicated five sites which could possibly host golf courses in Malta and Gozo. The Gozitan sites recommended by the Authority are Ghajn Mellel in Zebbug and Ta' Cenc in Sannat.

Towards the end of the year, Gozo had to, reluctantly, bid farewell to the helicopter service. Malta Air Charter (MAC), a subsidiary of Air Malta, ended its inter-island helicopter operation on October 31st. MAC operated with a fleet of two Russian built 26-seater MI-8 helicopters that have served the company well providing certain cost advantages in the rentals of the aircraft and crews. These helicopters however did not comply with JAR OPS 3 specifications and could no longer be used for such an operation. Air Malta had considered various alternatives but the solution proved elusive.

The Gozo Business Chamber and the Gozo Tourism Association urged the government to seriously consider a helicopter service alternative since the termination of the service would have made Gozo more isolated. And so it was. A rough storm hit the Maltese islands on November 13th and 14th. The Gozo Channel Company had no option but to cancel its trips. Having no helicopter service hundreds of people were left stranded in Gozo. Tourists and Gozitans who had to travel on those days missed their flight.