Delia calls for political responsibility to be shouldered for Ivorian’s murder

Opposition leader Adrian Delia urges people not to allow Joseph Muscat and Konrad Mizzi to decide for them on election day, but to go out and vote against corruption

Adrian Delia was speaking at a party event on Monday evening in St Julian's
Adrian Delia was speaking at a party event on Monday evening in St Julian's

Adrian Delia has called for the shouldering of political responsibility following the implication of two soldiers in the murder of Ivorian migrant Lassana Cisse Souleymane.

The Nationalist Party leader said that, since an Ombudsman’s report into promotion in the Armed Forces of Malta had determined that people had been appointed to positions within the army for purely political reasons, then the responsibility which had to be assumed for what had happened had to be political in nature.

Delia, speaking at a party event in St Julian’s on Monday, thanked “the majority of officials in the AFM, who are serious”, but said that the incident involving the two armed forces soldiers had tainted the good work the army did.

Referring to reports that one of the soldiers had a chequered criminal record, he said it was “shameful” that the army had justified this by using the excuse that the man’s conviction had happened after his recruitment into the army.

“As an excuse, the armed forces said that the soldier’s conviction for a crime took place after he was recruited in the army, not before. This is shameful."

"If the conviction came afterwards, why were no steps taken?" he asked, directing his question towards the Prime Minister, Home Affairs Minister and Brigadier.

“The Ombudsman’s report into the AFM noted not just a scandal of promotions, but said the promotional process from the start was nothing but a rubber stamping of political decisions which had already been taken,” he stressed, “The Ombudsman is saying that the appointments in the AFM were purely political. Therefore when it comes to responsibility, political responsibility has to be shouldered.”

The government, he said, had taken under its control the Police Commissioner, the Attorney General, the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, the Malta Financial Services Authority, the army and the courts.

He called for the people to ensure that the government did not go on to also take their vote, as he urged them to make their own decision on election day, and to not allow Muscat or Konrad Mizzi to make it for them.

“Make sure that the government does not also take your vote. Assume responsibility, understand what it happening in Malta. Do not allow Joseph Muscat to enter the ballot box for you. Do not allow Konrad Mizzi to vote for you,” he said, “Decide yourself - one way or the other - but you be the people to make the decision.”

“And you will look at your children’s faces and tell them that you made a decision, and instead of having stayed home pointing fingers, you voted to show you were against corruption,” he added.