Chris Said will not be seeking re-election as PN general secretary at the end of this month so that he can focus exclusively on Gozo, PN leader Simon Busuttil announced this afternoon. 

The decision was taken in the wake of Giovanna Debono's resignation from the PN parliamentary group (see separate story).

Giovanna Debono's resignation letter.

Mrs Debono resigned after her husband’s arraignment in Gozo court, where he faced 13 charges in connection with the works-for-votes allegations. The charges include misappropriation of public funds and fraud.

He denied all charges and was granted bail. 

Mrs Debono is to stay on as an independent MP.  

Dr Busuttil in a press conference confirmed he had received a letter of resignation from Mrs Debono after having met her yesterday.

He said he regretted her decision but her position was no longer tenable given the charges faced by her husband.

Asked whether he had asked Mrs Debono to resign, Dr Busuttil said he had a private meeting with her yesterday and received her resignation letter some time after the meeting.

The meeting was private and anyone could reach their own conclusions, he said.

Dr Busuttil said the PN's performance in Gozo was not as one would have wished and he was therefore acting to boost the PN in Gozo once more. Therefore he had asked Dr Said to relinquish his post as general secretary in order to focus exclusively on Gozo.

Dr Said had accepted his request and when his term expired at the end of this month, he would not seek re-election.

Dr Busuttil said he wished to thank Dr Said for his hard work in the renewal of the PN. He was sure that with his work in the future, the PN would strengthen itself in Gozo once more.

Asked whether Dr Said was being removed because he had known about the case, Dr Busuttil said he was not  arguing that Dr Said was not part of the problem but part of the PN's solution for GOzo.

The PN's situation in the sister island required extraordinary measures so Dr Said was asked to focus his energies for the PN to once again become Gozo's natural party.

Concluding, Dr Busuttil said that when he said he wanted a new style of politics based on honesty, he meant it, as he was showing today.

Asked he had confidence in the police force, Dr Busuttil said he did but added he also expected them to investigate allegations of abuse regarding the current Gozo Minister, Anton Refalo.

CHRIS SAID LOOKING AT NEW CHALLENGE WITH DETERMINATION

Speaking on Net TV’s programme Newsfeed this evening, Dr Said said he was looking at his new challenge with determination.

It was not an easy challenge but neither was that of being the party’s secretary general at a time when it was mired in problems.

He said that during his two-year-term, which comes to an end in the coming days, giant steps forward were made and the party’s media companies were now self-sustainable. A structural programmes for the party to pay its debts had also been also drawn up.

In the local elections, the party reduced the vote difference by half and increased its councillors, including in the south.

The trend was opposite in Gozo, where it only increased votes in two localities and reduced votes in others.

He said that once his term as secretary general was over, he would be giving a handover to new secretary general and start focusing on Gozo, which was a region on its own.

Although the decision was announced today, the party had been discussing it since the local election result, Dr Said said adding that this new challenge would be bringing him closer to his family and his constituency.

ATTENTION SHIFTS TO SIMON BUSUTTIL - PL

The Labour Party in a statement said that the attention after today’s developments was on Dr Busuttil, who met the whistleblower two years ago but failed to act on his allegations.

Dr Busuttil opted to defend Mrs Debono until today saying he was sadly accepting her resignation.

The PL said that the removal of Dr Said from secretary general was undoubtedly, a consequence of the panic which had taken over the Nationalist Party following the historic loss it suffered in the council elections.