Prime Minister Robert Abela does not care about what experts say and prefers to simply take decisions by himself, PN leader Bernard Grech said on Monday.

In a short video statement, Grech said that the removal of the head of the Covid-19 response team Kenneth Grech from his position after he recommended caution when it comes to the opening of schools for the second semester belies the ‘arrogance’ of the Prime Minister.

“He decided to remove a public health consultant because what he recommended did not agree with what he had already decided”, Grech said.

“We cannot have a Prime Minister who takes decisions by himself without taking into consideration the possible negative effects of those decisions on your health and my health”, Grech added.

He said that after today’s news, the country knows for certain that Abela had been advised against immediately opening schools, but that he went ahead and did it anyway to the potential detriment of students, teachers, educators, administrators, and all their families.

“So we have a Prime Minister who doesn’t even let medical experts give advice which goes against his own – we have a Prime Minister who takes decisions by himself and doesn’t care about what experts say”, he concluded.

In news which was first revealed by the Medical Association of Malta, it emerged on Monday that Kenneth Grech, a consultant and lecturer specializing in public health, had been removed from his role over the weekend after he recommended that schools should remain shut for now – a recommendation which was eventually leaked and which proved to be the catalyst, along with record high numbers of Covid-19 cases, for a teachers’ strike.

The strike was lifted after two days, with teachers physically returning to classrooms on Monday.