Siġġiewi’s PL-led local council is seeking to overturn a decision by the director-general for local government to strip a former Labour MP of the locality’s highest award.
Bertu Pace was last month handed Onorifiċenza Mertu Siġġiewi despite a stalemate by councillors on whether he deserved the award.
While three PL councillors had in February voted in favour of Pace receiving the award, three PN councillors raised concern as they said he was “a person who has been embroiled in controversy”.
In 2016, Times of Malta had reported that Pace, consultant to then agriculture parliamentary secretary Roderick Galdes, had been suspended after the police launched an investigation into a permit for his daughter for a villa outside a development zone.
Back in February, Mayor Dominic Grech did not use his casting vote to decide the matter, however, he still went ahead with presenting Pace the award on July 13.
However, in an email seen by Times of Malta, the directorate informed the Siġġiewi council it had broken the law and it was therefore annulling the award.
On Monday Grech asked the councillors to vote on whether Pace should keep the award.
Grech, deputy mayor Rodianne Haber, councillors Kurstein Nicholas Sant and Adrian Farrugia voted in favour, while minority leader Alessia Psaila Zammit and councillors Julian Borg and Francine Farrugia voted against.
They were told the vote was being sent to the directorate’s monitoring unit to decide whether Pace should retain the award.
When contacted, Psaila Zammit said that Monday’s vote confirmed the “incompetence” of the council’s leadership.
“Not only has the mayor taken a divisive approach to the 2021 Jum is-Siġġiewi events, but he has ignored very clear instructions by DLG, ignored basic democratic principles and has now sought to fix a mess he brought himself onto the council," she said.
“All these events confirm the extent of how far the mayor and PL councillors are willing to go to defend an award to a person who has been embroiled in controversy. Siġġiewi deserves better and as PN councillors we are determined to keep representing the locality and its residents against such shameful behaviour from the mayor and PL councillors."