Prime Minister orders inquiry into Kamara murder

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi this evening asked Judge Geoffrey Valenzia to scrutinise the running of the Detention Services following the death of 32-year-old Mali national Mamadou Kamara.

In a letter he sent to Valenzia, Gonzi said that the inquiry should establish whether there had been negligence, non-observance of procedures or abuse of power from any other detention service officials involved in the case.

Gonzi also asked Valenzia to look at the recommendations made by another board of inquiry in 2011 following the escape and subsequent death of Nigerian migrant Infeanyi Nwokoye and to establish the outcome of the implemented recommendations.

Besides making his own recommendations, Valenzia will also look into the wider organisational structures within the detention centres.

Meanwhile, political parties have insisted that they will not commit themselves over whether Detention Services commander Brian Gatt should resign before the inquiry is concluded.

Even though insisting that Gatt should shoulder responsibility for the death of Kamara, Labour MP Michael Falzon would not commit himself on whether Gatt should resign.

"Whether he resigns or not is up to Gatt. The judicial process and an inquiry are underway and one must await the conclusions reached by these two separate processes," Falzon told MaltaToday.

MaltaToday also asked government whether it was going to ask for the resignation of Gatt in light of the incident. A spokesman for the home affairs ministry insisted that government would first await the outcome of the inquiry before taking any steps.

"The Independent Board of Inquiry set up today will establish whether the tragic death of Mamadou Kamara resulted from the failure of the management of the Detention Service or from the failure of individuals who did not follow established policies and standard operating procedures and abused their power," the spokesman said.