Out: Manuel Mallia.

The Prime Minister had to sack Manuel Mallia yesterday after he refused to resign.

Joseph Muscat formally terminated Dr Mallia’s job just before Carmelo Abela was sworn in to replace him as Home Affairs Minister.

Dr Mallia was asked to step down on Monday night after an inquiry into the shooting incident involving his driver found the minister failed to correct an official statement claiming that warning shots had been fired, when the facts indicated otherwise.

Addressing a press briefing at Auberge de Castille after Mr Abela’s appointment, Dr Muscat said the decision to ask for Dr Mallia’s resignation was “a courteous way” of telling him to leave.

“The decision I gave Dr Mallia was whether to leave voluntarily or face the sack and not whether to resign or not as implied by the Opposition,” the Prime Minister said.

Dr Muscat said Dr Mallia did not want to resign and this prompted him to take what he described as “a difficult decision”.

Manuel Mallia chose not to leave and I followed on with my decision

“It is the Prime Minister’s prerogative to choose ministers. He [Dr Mallia] chose not to leave and I followed on with my decision.”

He thanked Dr Mallia for his work, adding that he respected him personally, professionally and “as a friend”.

Asked whether he had expected Dr Mallia to act the way he did, the Prime Minister in a subdued tone acknowledged this was a difficult period for his former minister. He also expressed confidence that Dr Mallia would contribute to the Labour Party parliamentary group.

“Dr Mallia is passing through a difficult time and I am sure he will contribute in Parliament... although he paid the ultimate political price, I would like to see him in a future role because I believe nobody should be sidelined.”

Flanked by Mr Abela and new Police Commissioner Michael Cassar, he said the priority was to restore the people’s confidence in the police force.

The shooting incident worried people because a police officer – the minister’s driver, Paul Sheehan, was a police constable – had used disproportionate force.

The inquiry showed there was a culture of silence in the police force that prompted the attempted cover-up by police officers close to Mr Sheehan.

Dr Muscat defended his decision to wait for the result of the inquiry rather than take immediate action against his minister and the former acting police commissioner, Ray Zammit.

It showed how different this government is from its predecessor because we took action to investigate the case and the allegations of a cover-up

“Politically this was not a good period but it showed how different this government is from its predecessor because we took action to investigate the case and the allegations of a cover-up. The facts were established but more importantly these led to hard decisions being taken.”

He said this was the start of a culture of accountability and asked Opposition leader Simon Busuttil to shoulder his responsibility for omitting a part of the transcript that showed it was the former police commissioner who first used the words “warning shots”.

Asked whether the former minister’s chief of staff, Silvio Scerri, would be retained, the Prime Minister said it was up to Mr Abela to appoint his secretariat. But he pointed out the inquiry found no fault with Mr Scerri.

Mr Abela’s portfolio includes the police and the army but Public Broadcasting Services has been transferred to the Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government, Owen Bonnici, and the Film Commission to the Tourism Minister, Edward Zammit Lewis.

The Prime Minister said Mr Abela would no longer be the government spokesman and Labour Party Whip.

The government was also communicating with the Opposition to have the motion for a vote of no-confidence in Dr Mallia transformed into a parliamentary debate.

“The motion is now redundant but the government wants a parliamentary debate, because in a democratic society, the removal of a minister and the police commissioner cannot not be taken lightly,” Dr Muscat said.

That debate is due to be held today, it was decided last night.