(AGENPARL) – Rome, 1 June 2024
(AGENPARL) – Sat 01 June 2024 Hon. Ida Carmina M5S: “The right to water is primary. Agrigento is exasperated. Hundreds of citizens in the square. I was the only parliamentarian present alongside the people, today, yesterday and tomorrow, because public water is one of the 5 stars of the M5S. But those who protest must demonstrate discernment between those who have the political responsibility of having brought the city to its knees and Sicily compared to those who have always fought for public water or the citizens’ fair protests will be ineffective or rendered futile.”
Ida Carmina, deputy of the M5S, intervenes after today’s demonstration which saw a large number of citizens take to the streets in Agrigento due to the continuation of a water crisis in Sicily and in our province, which is taking on the contours of a real social, economic and health drama for citizens and businesses. “It was an important day of awakening for the territory and seeing the people demanding a primary right such as water is a strong signal towards those who govern the territories who have collected a series of unjustifiable failures repeatedly on the water service front integrated, affecting all categories of Sicilians and the driving economy of the island. Even today I was among the people as I have always been for the battle for public water, ever since I was mayor and recently, lastly, alongside the farmers attending their protests in Santa Margherita Belìce and Palermo, to say enough to this shameful page of inefficiencies and abandonment, which cannot be attributed only to drought and climate change but which has precise political responsibilities. And it is a battle that I will continue in parliamentary offices and with citizens with all the tools to my disposition because it is a question of civility and one of the 5 stars of the M5S. In Agrigento just over ten years ago 33 million euros were wasted for the reconstruction of the water network and today, history repeats itself, another 44 million euros have been lost. This is unheard of in a city that is literally “dying of thirst”, considering that more than half of the water supplied is lost due to the age of the water network. And losing the economic resources that were there is not acceptable. It’s all a continuous succession of failures for which someone should take responsibility. First the citizens who complain about politicians but then always vote for the same ones who caused the damage to the city and Sicily. I would like to remind you that in 2021, 31 projects to strengthen the infrastructure of the water network for farmers, for a total of 422 million euros, presented by the Regional Department of Agriculture were completely rejected and lost. Today I was the only parliamentarian present and my fight for the primary rights of citizens and for public water will continue. Due to personal history rather than politics, I am not used to raising walls against anyone, and I am convinced that the civil battles that concern everyone are not won with the logic of the “I” but of the “we”. To solve problems you need to include, not exclude. Politicians are not all the same and there are those who work and work for the collective good to resolve and find solutions, not to unroll barbed wire. On the positive side, the people of Agrigento took to the streets. Now we need to take the essential further step. The real revolution takes place in the voting booth with pencil in hand, denying consent to those who hold Agrigento and Sicily hostage or have demonstrated that they do not know how to operate. It is the political responsibility with respect to an impunity that is given by citizens who continue to always vote the same, or worse, abstain from voting, essentially keeping power in the hands of those who massacre them. In a democracy the people always get what they deserve.”
