Minister's purchase of Preti painting a waste of money, Opposition MP warns

The €371,233 would have been better spent on fixing Gozo's roads, restoring historic buildings and investing in jobs, PN MP Chris Said says

Opposition MP Chris Said has accused Gozo minister Anton Refalo of getting his priorities all wrong when he decided to spend €371,233 to acquire a Mattia Preti painting.

In his parliamentary adjournment, the shadow Gozo minister lambasted his counterpart for not using the money to fix the roads in Gozo or to restore historical buildings.

MaltaToday reported on Sunday that Refalo purchased the painting – Daniel Interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream – at a Sotheby’s auction, despite Heritage Malta expressing its opinion that it would not have considered purchasing it.

The painting, which will be sited at the as-yet unopened Gozo Museum in Rabat, almost totals the entire value of acquisitions by Heritage Malta made since 2014.

Refalo has defended the acquisition, arguing that Preti played a crucial role in the development of Baroque art in the Maltese islands and that the painting will therefore feature prominently in the museum.

However, Said questioned why Refalo went against the advice of experts at Heritage Malta and where the money to purchase the painting came from.

“Only €50,000 has been budgeted for the Gozo ministry, an eighth of the cost of the painting,” Said said. “Where did the money come from and did the finance minister give the green light? No matter how beautiful the painting is, the fact is that Gozo definitely has other priorities.”

He said that Refalo should have instead use the money to fix Gozo’s roads, to restore historical buildings such as the Giordan Lighthouse and the Qbajjar Tower, to build a much-needed breakwater in Marsalforn, and to invest in new job opportunities for Goztans.

Said also lambasted the Labour administration for falling short of most of its pre-electoral promises for Gozo, such as the Marsalforn breakwater, an airstrip, a second fibre-optic cable, a new court building, a new museum, a casino, a yacht marina, and a cruise liner terminal.

In particular, he noted that the government has so far failed to deliver on its promise to set up a fast-ferry service between Gozo and Malta.

“The fast-ferry service is no longer the responsibility of the Gozo minister but of the traffic minister [sic] Joe Mizzi,” he said. “It appears as though the fast ferry will now go the same way as the Gozo-Malta tunnel and the search for oil, both of which were Mizzi’s responsibility.”

He also sought to verify rumours that the planned fast ferry will only carry 80 people at a go and no cars at all, that it will only travel to Valletta, and that Gozitans will have to pay €4 to use it.