Valletta mayor, councillor clash over Peter Andre debacle
The controversial decision to nominate former British (he’s actually Australian...) chart-topping singer and reality TV star Peter Andre has revealed a rift within the Valletta Local Council.
It has inspired a 1,600-strong petition, got Malta some questionable press in the British tabloid media and now, it appears that the controversy surrounding Peter Andre's nomination as Cultural Ambassador to Valletta has even revealed cracks in the local council itself.
Valletta Mayor Alexiei Dingli and minority leader within the council Ray Azzopardi (PL) are presenting two seemingly contradicting versions of how the Peter Andre nomination story unfolded.
In comments to the original MaltaToday story which revealed that former British chart-topping singer Peter Andre was given the title to help promote the city abroad, Dingli said that the decision was a "unanimous", taken by the council "during its last meeting on the 29 January".
However, after the story inspired vociferous backlash among Maltese social media users - a petition to strip Andre of his 'honours' even made its way to British tabloid newspapers The Sun and The Daily Mail - Valletta council minority leader Ray Azzopardi said that no vote had been taken in the council for Andre's appointment.
Writing on MaltaToday's comments board, Azzopardi said that "the decision was taken by the mayor the week before, and he informed us about the decision, which he took on his own. There was never any discussion about it".
But a snapshot of Azzopardi's Facebook page sent by Dingli to MaltaToday reveals that, far from opposing the nomination, Azzopardi appeared enthusiastic about meeting Peter Andre, and in a comment under the same photo, wrote: 'Ghamilnieh Ambaxxatur tal-belt valletta fejn jidhol il kultura... nahseb kienet idea tajba' ('We have made him into a Cultural Ambassador for Valletta... I think it's a good idea').
READ MORE: BLOG – Peter Andre: the Ambassador nobody asked for
Contacted to elaborate on the reason why he chose to distance himself from the decision after he appeared to endorse it, Azzopardi explained that he had "nothing against Peter Andre per se".
"I chose to take the photo with him because - who wouldn't? Meeting him was a once in a lifetime opportunity. And I think that the idea to nominate him was a good one. It just irked me that there was no proper consultation on it."
Describing the 'timeline' of events that led to the decision, Azzopardi said: "On the fateful Tuesday [January 29] when the fateful appointment took place, I happened to be at the Local Council to oversee a few matters when an employee introduced me to a promoter of Peter Andre's. I began to suspect that, what with Enrique Iglesias being made into a Valletta Honorary Citizen when Paul Borg Olivier was mayor in 2008, something similar was going to happen now too.
"After the local council meeting had concluded, it was clear to me that the mayor had made the decision to appoint Andre as Cultural Ambassador. The only thing I sought to question him on was whether this would incur any expenses from the local council.
"He told me there wouldn't be, and that all the council would have to do would be to present Andre with a commemorative plaque. But I never got the impression that the decision was in any way open to discussion."
Asked whether he thinks the Dingli will think twice about making a similar decision on his own steam after the furore that the Andre nomination stirred up, Azzopardi predicted that this wasn't likely. "The mayor is certainly not one to shy away from constructive criticism, but this isn't the first time that he took a decision without proper consultation," Azzopardi said, citing the renovation of Valletta's Peacock Gardens as another example.