Scale model of Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici monument unveiled by PM

Updated 4.55pm with details of sculptor

A scale model of the monument dedicated to former Labour Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici has been unveiled.

Prime Minister Robert Abela shared a photograph of the draft of the sculpture, which will be placed in Castille square in November, on the third anniversary of his death. 

Artist Manuel Farrugia has designed the bronze and hard stone monument, which is estimated to cost €170,000 and will be life-sized.

Abela said the memory "will never be forgotten" of the former prime minister, who would have celebrated his 92nd birthday on Thursday and that it was appropriate that he have a monument in Castille Square.

"This is fitting for a former prime minister of our country who was a strong voice for workers and a staunch defender of their rights," he said. "He worked tirelessly and without ever asking for anything in return for the benefit of the poor and vulnerable."

A Heritage Malta spokesman said the monument was commissioned by Heritage Malta to Farrugia. It said he was chosen directly, following a call for tenders for €150,000 which, “according to the evaluating committee, was unsuccessful”. 

The artist is perhaps known for his painting of murdered Lassana Cisse at Gozo's St George's basilica. Farrugia also created the official portrait and bust of former President George Vella, both displayed at San Anton Palace in Attard.

Artist Manuel Farrugia has been commissioned to create the monument.

It will be installed close to the monument of another former prime minister Gorg Borg Olivier with its back facing the Malta Stock Exchange. Monuments of former prime ministers Dom Mintoff and Paul Boffa are also in Castille Square.

Mifsud Bonnici was prime minister between December 1984 and May 1987 and was chosen by Dom Mintoff as his successor.

Born and raised in Cospicua, he died on November 5 2022, aged 89.

A lawyer by profession, he was known simply as Karmenu or KMB and had a chequered public life.

It saw him fighting Mintoff in his dispute with the Church in the 1960s, only to become the point of Mintoff’s spear in a new Church-State dispute in the 1980s before finally taking over from Mintoff himself in 1984.

His premiership was marked by political violence, when he struggled to control thugs within his parliamentary group and among the police force.