Owen Bonnici is acting prime minister

Culture Minister Owen Bonnici is currently acting prime minister as Robert Abela leads a Maltese delegation at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Bonnici represented the government in Abela’s stead during the Independence Day celebrations yesterday.

Abela, who left Malta on Sunday, is currently in the US for the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly. He will also be meeting the Maltese community in New York and is expected back in Malta on Monday.

But unlike his longish absence while on holiday during August, this time around Abela will not be working remotely.

He appointed an acting prime minister, or rather two, to take his place while absent from the islands.

The notification in the Government Gazette published last week shows that Chris Fearne and subsequently Owen Bonnici assumed the additional duties of prime minister from Sunday 18 September.

Fearne is currently in New York, accompanying the Prime Minister and has addressed UN meetings on public health and anti-microbial infections. He joined the Maltese delegation on Tuesday evening.

During the summer, Abela did not appoint an acting prime minister despite being away from Malta while on holiday in Greece and Sicily. The decision raised eyebrows since it has always been customary for prime ministers to appoint someone in their stead when away.

The Office of the Prime Minister had told MaltaToday in August that the prime minister “never relinquished his duties”, which meant that there was no need to appoint an acting prime minister despite the prolonged absence.

It appears that Abela has now had a change of heart on the matter but not appointing an acting prime minister has been somewhat of a hallmark for the prime minister.

In August 2020, when Malta experienced a week-long spike in COVID-19 cases at a time when he was holidaying in Sicily, Abela eventually broke off the vacation to give an interview on ONE TV and meet the health authorities to draft new restrictions.

He then headed back to Sicily. At the time, the prime minister had said that he was teleworking from Sicily and keeping constant contact with the Cabinet.

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This story has been updated with a detail on when Chris Fearne joined the Maltese delegation in New York.