OPM dismisses ‘speculation’ on Mifsud Bonnici ministerial post

The Office of the Prime Minister has branded claims by the Labour party’s One News that Home Affairs and Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici is to have his ministerial portfolio passed on to his parliamentary assistant, Beppe Fenech Adami, as “mere speculation”.

Mifsud Bonnici is currently awaiting surgery in hospital for an intestinal inflammation, for which he has been undergoing treatment over the past three weeks. “Labour is taking advantage of his situation,” the OPM said.

Another government source told MaltaToday the claims were “in bad taste”, referring to both the Labour claims and recent criticism by Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono. “He obviously cannot react and this unfair advantage is trying to be taken of him.”

It is unclear whether the OPM will deny claims that Mifsud Bonnici will step down his ministerial post over health reasons. Beppe Fenech Adami has already been touted for a Cabinet place in a rumoured pre-election reshuffle.

Mifsud Bonnici has been under pressure in the past month, with allegations of rubber bullets being fired at protesting asylum seekers in detention at Hal Far, the loss of police evidence that resulted in the acquittal of a suspect facing drug trafficking charges, the escape of an inmate from Corradino Correctional Facility, and news that cannabis plants were being cultivated inside the prison.

One News reported government sources saying that Lawrence Gonzi was “seriously considering” changing Mifsud Bonnici, with the latter citing health reasons so as to retain his seat in parliament.

Mifsud Bonnici has also faced fire from Nationalist MP Franco Debono, a parliamentary assistant to the Prime Minister, who opened up the attack during a court sitting. In a sustained salvo that lasted for some 15 minutes, Debono called on the minister to “wake up from his slumber” and overhaul criminal law procedure. He also criticised Mifsud Bonnici for penning a newspaper column about the Pope rather than address serious and more pressing matters.

In a statement, the Nationalist Party party accused Labour and its leader Joseph Muscat of once again “proving to be an unscrupulous and shallow party.”

The PN said that Joseph Muscat knows that Minister Mifsud Bonnici is currently in hospital, but this did not stop his media from stooping low to “fabricate a shallow and scandalous story.”

The PN deplored Joseph Muscat’s justification for the story when he warned that, “in order to justify this move, health reasons will be mentioned as the cause for his removal ”.

The party said that the story aired on One News was penned by someone who until a few days ago was Joseph Muscat’s personal assistant.

“Today he heads the Labour Party media. Through this appointment, Joseph Muscat wanted to make sure that he has total control of the Labour media. Hence, Joseph Muscat was aware and had a hand in that disgusting story,” the PN said.