The Malta Union of Teachers will soon have a new President as Kevin Bonello, the incumbent president, has decided to step down citing health reasons, among other things. His departure will not be as smooth as he hoped, however.

Speaking to The Malta Independent in an interview last week, Mr Bonello had mentioned, in passing, Marco Bonnici’s candidacy, and that he hopes Mr Bonnici holds to the thought of running for MUT President.

However, a few days later, before the interview was published in full, Franklin Barabara, a Union member who currently serves as Secretary General of MUT, announced his intention to run for the post. Mr Barbara made his candidacy known through a Facebook post.

“Mr Barbara (above, left) never spoke to me personally about his intentions. I got to know about his wish on Facebook. That is why I only mentioned Mr Bonnici, because I wasn’t aware of Mr Barbara’s intentions,” Mr Bonello explained.

MUT president election is rarely contested. In fact, the last time that two candidates had to face each other to sit for the same post was twelve years ago. Mr Bonello had explained that normally, these elections are uncontested.

What is causing more worry to the outgoing President is the fact that this faceoff will probably see one important member of MUT walking out of the union. But Kevin Bonello, when speaking to this newspaper, said that he’s not trying to favour one candidate or the other. “Other newspapers have reported that I apparently favour Marco Bonnici. But this is not the case. I deny this completely.” he explains.

There is also one other issue which needs to be addressed before confirming the two candidates for the election which is to be held in three weeks.

According to the Malta Union of Teachers Statute, a sitting Secretary General cannot run for president of the union. This means that, as things stand, Franklin Barbara who is the current general secretary, needs to step down from his positon before formally becoming a candidate.

Mr Bonello spoke to Mr Barbara regarding this situation and explained to him that before stepping forward as candidate; he needs to decide if he intends to resign from his post or not.

“This is an uncomfortable situation – one which I could do without at this moment,” he added.

Early last week, Marco Bonnici (above) who is currently serving as Senior Vice President of the Union officially launched his candidacy to fill in the post which will soon be vacated by Kevin Bonello who has been at the helm of the union for the past six years.

For the first time in some twelve years, the presidency election is being contested by someone from within the MUT.