Almost half of the Armed Forces of Malta are still awaiting some form of redress over injustices they allegedly suffered pre-2013, despite a grievances procedure that has been pending since 2017.
The group of 700 soldiers had been interviewed by a board of injustices set up by the government in 2017, chaired by former prisons director Alexander Dalli.
Even though the process was concluded more than four years ago, the soldiers are still in the dark about whether their requests have been upheld. So much time has passed that some of them retired from the army while others have died.
Sources said Dalli had concluded the process and submitted his report to the relevant authorities before he was appointed to head the Corradino Correctional Facility in June 2018. However, the soldiers have still to hear of the outcome or see any form of justice.
Some of them told Times of Malta on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution that the government was dragging its feet on the matter because it was unsure of how to tackle the internal ripples that the redress would create.
A spokesperson for the Home Affairs Ministry told Times of Malta when asked about the matter that “the process is still ongoing” and that the government was committed to seeing the process through.
“The process is ongoing and when it is finalised everyone will be given what he or she is due,” he said, adding that a meeting was held with the General Workers Union about the matter in recent weeks where the government reiterated its commitment.
The spokesperson would not divulge what’s holding the process back and neither would be drawn into giving a date by when these soldiers might finally see justice.
Following a meeting with the GWU’s Disciplined Forces’ Section, which is pushing the government to conclude the grievances process, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri promised to continue supporting AFM staff.
The union said the minister also promised to conclude the pending grievances procedure “early in the new legislature”.
Sources said the process aims to address injustices that took place “under the pre-2013 administration, which saw many people suffering from discrimination”.
Contacted by Times of Malta, some of the soldiers who are waiting for redress said they had been expecting – in vain – for some form of news in the run-up to the election, as had happened in 2017 when half the army had been promoted during the electoral campaign, an unprecedented move in the army’s history.
Eight hundred and eighty-five promotions had been handed out during the 33-day-long electoral campaign, some of them backdated by 20 years. This was the result of an AFM Complaints Board set up by then Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela, also to look at injustices which allegedly took place pre-2013.