Muscat distances himself from Sant

Labour leader Joseph Muscat yesterday distanced himself from the comments made by former leader Alfred Sant about the tragic death of a young soldier last February, even as Dr Sant stood by his controversial remarks.

Speaking during TVM’s current affairs programme Dissett last Tuesday, Dr Sant said Gunner Matthew Psaila had joined the army without the necessary requirements, as part of the government’s pre-election frenzy of jobs for votes.

He said the young man did not know how to swim and had still joined the army’s special duties company just before the election.

Both the government and the family have since made it clear that the young soldier joined the army after the election and strongly denied there was any favouritism in his employment.

However, although he “deeply regretted” that his comments had hurt the family concerned, “as a matter of principle and duty to the nation” Dr Sant yesterday stood by his remarks “in the way I said them”.

“As a nation, we cannot continue to excel at organising national funerals while taking no adequate steps to prevent the recurrence of the slackness, favouritism and scandal that give rise to them,” Dr Sant said, strengthening his attack on the authorities for the death of the young soldier.

When asked for a reaction, Dr Muscat said that Dr Sant’s views did not reflect his own or those of the party and he had “communicated (this) to the family” personally.

“Dr Sant is entitled to his own views, based on his knowledge of facts and for which he alone is responsible,” Dr Muscat added.

Gunner Psaila died in the early hours of February 16, days before his 20th birthday, after drowning during a military exercise at Chadwick Lakes three days earlier.

The incident is still the subject of a court case, but the fact that Gunner Psaila had difficulties with swimming prompted questions about how he had been allowed to take part in a training exercise that involved wading in depths of water. Recently, however, a fellow soldier testified that he had seen Gunner Psaila swimming before he went down during the exercise.

Dr Sant said the country must finally start to take the principles of personal responsibility and the duties of political and administrative accountability seriously.

“We cannot allow any longer these principles to be fudged and these duties to be shirked, for reasons of political convenience, of personal friendship and respect, or of commercial gain.

“For me, this goes beyond ‘politics’ and certainly at this stage of my political career, beyond any vote-catching considerations. It is an overriding moral issue, as it has always been.”

He then promised to keep speaking his mind about the need to radically discuss and reform the conduct of public affairs, “no matter what media and other manipulations are attempted”. The family of Gunner Psaila on Wednesday filed a judicial protest against Dr Sant, asking for an apology and holding him responsible for damages, for what they described as an offence to their son’s memory.

In the judicial protest, the family said it was unethical for Dr Sant to criticise the government by referring to a person who had died and who had never been in public life.

They insisted Gunner Psaila was qualified to join in his role and that, as had already been said in the media a number of times, the ability to swim had never been a requirement.

The government had also issued a statement confirming that Gunner Psaila was admitted after the election following the annual call by the army.