News • 31 August 2003

MLP vigilance board warns Alfred Mifsud on Sant-bashing

Kurt Sansone
The axe has come down on former Super One chairman Alfred Mifsud. The Labour Party Board for Vigilance and Discipline yesterday publicly warned the candidate that unless he stopped criticising the party in his articles the Board would be "constrained to take ulterior action" against him.
However, MaltaToday can reveal that the terse statement faxed to the media yesterday afternoon had already been sent to Alfred Mifsud two weeks ago. MaltaToday can also reveal that the Board is in possession of Mr Mifsud’s reply to the accusation that he was "harming the Labour Party" with his writing. No mention of this reply was forthcoming in the Board’s statement issued yesterday.

What prompted the vigilance board to go public remains a mystery, but it is a definite blow to Mr Mifsud’s political ambitions. The former Super One chairman was entertaining the possibility of contesting the post of secretary general next November after having failed the deputy leadership contest.
Attempts to contact both Alfred Mifsud and Board chairman Tommy Roberts proved futile yesterday.
The statement signed by Mr Roberts stated that the Board acted on its own initiative. However, a senior MLP official told MaltaToday that the vigilance board was pressured to act against Mr Mifsud by party delegates. The official said that during the assemblies, which were closed to the media, Mr Mifsud’s name cropped up repeatedly with delegates expressing their opposition to his style of criticism.
The statement said: "On its own initiative the Labour Party Board for Vigilance and Discipline has warned Labour candidate Alfred Mifsud that should he not stop writing in a manner that is harming the Labour Party immediately, it will be constrained to take ulterior action in his regard."
However, the decision to lambast Mr Mifsud contrasts heavily with how the Board has acted in previous cases concerning far more serious incidents.
The Board did not issue any warning when allegations of overcharging by Prof. Louis Buhagiar surfaced in MaltaToday last year. Neither did the vigilance board take action against Labour Gozitan candidate Joseph Vella, who was indicted in court on charges of human trafficking this week.
And while picking on the sharp criticism that has characterised Alfred Mifsud’s opinion articles in l-orizzont and maltastar.com since the election, the vigilance board has overlooked the far more serious criticism made by former leader Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.
The statement issued yesterday contrasts glaringly with what Dr Alfred Sant told journalists on Friday. Dr Sant said that the MLP was a democratic party and divergent opinions were important, when asked about Dr Mifsud Bonnici’s behaviour. However, the vigilance board does not seem to share the same appreciation of divergence.