Former Gozo Minister and Labour MP Anton Refalo has fired a new public broadside against his successor, Justyne Caruana, for placing ‘fibre’ monuments in the centre of Gozo’s capital, Victoria.
Dr Refalo, currently the government-appointed chairman of Heritage Malta, called the recent unveiling of a monument dedicated to sculptor Wistin Camilleri by Dr Caruana as “shameful” and “degrading”. Resorting to his social media page, the ex-Labour heavyweight said that it was “shameful” that the Gozo capital now had monuments made out of fibreglass.
While showering sculptor Camilleri with praise for his outstanding career, he said that a bronze monument should be commissioned in respect to this outstanding artist and not use cheap material such as fibreglass to be placed right in the centre of Gozo’s capital.
Many of Dr Refalo’s ardent supporters joined in, writing critical comments of “the authorities” for this decision.
Sources close to the Gozo Ministry said that although they respect the former minister’s ‘expertise’ in the subject, his comments were “uncalled for” as the monument unveiled by Dr Caruana was not a ‘new’ monument as described by the former minister.
“The monument of sculptor Camilleri has been in place at a school in Għajnsielem since 2009 and remained there even during the time when Mr Refalo was Gozo Minister,” the sources said.
All that was done was to relocate the same monument
“All that was done was to relocate the same monument to a central place near Villa Rundle in Victoria. We cannot understand why it was only now that Dr Refalo found fault with this monument as it was originally made of fibre.”
It is a known fact among Gozitans and observers of the local political scene that there is no love lost between Dr Refalo and Dr Caruana.
Appointed Labour’s first Gozo Minister in 2013, on the party’s return to power, Dr Refalo was replaced by Dr Caruana in 2017, despite getting more votes than her.
Upon her appointment, one of the first decisions taken by Dr Caruana was to order a stop to the building of a new Gozo Court House, one of the major projects Dr Refalo was working on, ordering a complete change of the original designs and also changing its location.
Through the unexpected decision, the project has still not seen the light of day.
Although following his replacement, Dr Refalo was visibly detached from the party and made it a point not to attend Labour activities, he recently mellowed his resistance.
His appointment as chairman of Heritage Malta by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat helped his reintegration in government affairs.