Recently, some information by a media outlet was released regarding Maltese citizens who were deported to Uganda and through this write-up I want to make specific clarifications on things mentioned on the media by certain individuals which are not quite historically accurate, especially with regards to Enrico Mizzi.

First I would like to mention the fact that there was no doubt of Mizzi's loyalty to the British Crown: he took an oath to the King twice in fact, first when he achieved his lawyer's warrant and the second time when he was elected to the Council of Government. In fact Mizzi went so far as to offer his services to the allied cause during the Great War. In the Council he had voted in favour of Maltese officials serving in the British Army, he worked effortlessly so that the second anniversary of the Armistace be commemorated, gaining the support of the Gozitan priests, the Chamber of Lawyers and University students for that cause, he made a number of declarations of loyalty to the royal family in the Council of Government and on a proposal of his in the Council, the death of the Duchess of Connaught was commemorated. In a way, Mizzi's court-martialling was simply an attempt to tarnish an honest and well-practicing lawyer who only defended innocent clients.

This brings me to my second point, that Mizzi never wanted to strain relations between His Majesty and foreign countries. On the contrary, Mizzi's proposals were based on an Anglo-Italian Alliance. Enrico believed, and rightly so, that the Maltese were linked to Italy culturally, religiously and historically. He had the idea that Italy's position in the Mediterranean, including the colony of Libya, was of great importance to his nationalistic cause. In fact Mizzi had stated that "the stronger Italy becomes, the better will England take care of us, by respecting our Italian nationality and granting us civil liberties". When talking about our Italian nationality, Enrico stated that "I do not mean irredentism".

Furthermore, the idea that Mizzi was a staunch supporter of Fascism is incorrect. He was a practicing Catholic with Liberal ideas as far as national autonomy was concerned. In fact during his time in Italy, he was associated quite a lot with the Italian liberals. There, he was a co-founder and member of the Gruppo Romano, which was the core of the Partito Nazionale Italiano. To Mizzi, Italy was a second home and he would always support the Italian cause irrespective of who was in power there, but one cannot go beyond this. He was, above all, a democratic nationalist as can be examplified by his own initial party name, the Partito Democratico Nazionalista. His political ideology and impetus was nationalism. In an article written in 1950, Mizzi speaks about a democracy open to all classes of people, especially the most vulnerable ones. He argued that his party was "democratic in the known Catholic sense".

Lastly, Mizzi's and other fellow nationalists' deportation to Uganda was done under the most vile manner. On 8 February 1942 it was established that no governer had the authority to deport Maltese citizens. In reaction to this, the Council of Government called a meeting in order to approve authorisation of deportation. During the debate regarding deportation, Sir Ugo Mifsud, who strongly opposed it, died with a heart attack, and so from the Nationalist side, only Giorgio Borg Olivier was there to vote against. The Deportation Warrant was released on 12 February but was declared illegal by the Civil Courts and the Ordinance invalid by the Court of Appeal. Nonetheless, 47 Maltese citizens found themselves on a vessel heading to an unknown destination to them, this destination ultimately being Uganda.

Rather than try and slander our forefathers, let us take them seriously and appreciate what they had to go through due to both their political beliefs and their dream for an independent Malta, something which would eventually happen in 1964. In the words of Vincenzo Maria Pellegrini: "We will not deny our past, we will not be deluded by our present, we will not be afraid of our future, because for the glory of our Island we will dare everything and we are sure that Victory will not disappoint us."

Photo courtesy of the Fortunato and Enrico Mizzi Foundation