Blame it on Arrigo? MPs who push their men for mayorships

Nationalist MP Robert Arrigo has been catapulted straight into the eye of a political storm that has wreaked havoc within two of the PN’s most important electoral strongholds.

Arrigo, who garnered the most votes for the PN on the 10th district and second highest on the 9th district – just behind party leader Lawrence Gonzi in the last general election – has been singled out by party activists for ‘recommending’ to the electorate to vote for ousted Sliema mayor Nikki Dimech, and disgraced San Gwann Mayor John Agius.

During the respective Sliema and San Gwann local council elections, Robert Arrigo ‘fielded’ both men and conducted door-to-door visits in the localities with the candidates, inviting voters to give them their first preference.

But now even the MP’s most loyal campaigners are finding it hard to control the damage from the political fracas in the resignations of Arrigo’s choice mayors.

Contacted yesterday, Robert Arrigo stressed he found it unfair to be blamed for what happened in Sliema and San Gwann.

“I backed a number of candidates in both localities. My job was to get them elected and they were,” Arrigo said, adding that what should be said about Nikki Dimech was that “he jumped camp” soon after the 2008 general election.

Arrigo argued that what is happening now is that Sliema and San Gwann residents are being fed ‘misinformation’ by the media.

Speaking to MaltaToday.com.mt, a number of Sliema residents expressed disappointment at Dimech, 31, who is being charged in court for asking for commissions on a council contract – as it happens, from Robert Arrigo’s former personal driver Stephen Buhagiar – and who has now been ousted as mayor after a vote of no-confidence by PN councillors.

Buhagiar, known as ‘il-Tipo’, was once remembered as a Labourite. Indeed, his father was a well-known canvasser to the notorious Patrick Holland, a Labour minister in the 70s.

The new mayor is Joanna Gonzi, a relative of the Prime Minister.

In the meantime, more trouble brewed in San Gwann, where mayor John Agius resigned, both as mayor and a PN member, when he was arrested together with his son Noel over bribery.

But their stories say even more of the workings of party politics than about everyday misdemeanours.

Both men represented formidable planks for Arrigo, himself a former Sliema mayor, a major tourism entrepreneur, and a former president of the Sliema Wanderers FC: a ‘big man’ of Maltese politics.

Commanding great voting power thanks to his extensive gold chest, Arrigo’s backing of local council candidates in the ninth and tenth districts, would consolidate his influence. Both Dimech and Agius were also on the PN’s sectional committees for Sliema and San Gwann, respectively – Dimech was even president – making them both Arrigo’s extended arm, with voting rights in the PN general council, that elects senior party officials and approves party policy.

In the case of Dimech’s bribery charges, the accuser came from familiar quarters: the former driver of his patron Arrigo, showing signs of a fall-out between the two men.

That Dimech’s 1,800 vote-count in Sliema was potentially the reason he was considering contesting the general election was even more reason for him to be considered a threat to Arrigo’s vote base.

With the PN in full pursuit of Dimech, it was evident that Arrigo had washed his hands of his protégé: the PN’s secretary-general Paul Borg Olivier choosing to expel Dimech less than 24 hours after he signed a statement of admission to bribery charges.

The Dimech affair still embarrassed the PN, even though this was mainly down to Borg Olivier’s mishandling of the situation, particularly over the way he forced former PN councillor Sandra Camilleri to sign the impeachment motion.

Borg Olivier later wrote a letter of explanation to all Sliema households, explaining Dimech’s expulsion. But by this time, the lukewarm sensation among voters had already set in, arguably due to the disappointment at the state of affairs inside the council.

As for Arrigo, his armour may be dented, but he remains in form to regain election on both districts.

And even in the aftermath of the successful impeachment of Dimech, the PN machine managed to score yet one more point on the opposition. It accused Labour of supporting “corruption” and Dimech by abstaining from voting him out of office.

Not victors, but certainly not losers either.