HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Lorry Sant (26 December 1937 – 5 October 1995) was a
Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Malte ...
activist, trade unionist and
Malta Labour Party The Labour Party ( mt, Partit Laburista, PL), formerly known as the Malta Labour Party ( mt, Partit tal-Ħaddiema, MLP), is one of the two major political parties in Malta, along with the Nationalist Party. It sits on the centre-left of the p ...
politician who held a number of ministerial offices between 1971 and 1987. Sant was a controversial figure who had an aggressive leadership approach. In the 1980s he was involved in incidents of political violence, and he has been held responsible for violating the
human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
of his employees.


Early life and activism

Sant was born in
Paola Paola is a female given name, the Italian form of the name Paula. Notable people with the name include: People In arts and entertainment *Paola Del Medico (born 1950), Swiss singer *Paola e Chiara, pop music duo consisting of two sisters born i ...
on 26 December 1937. He studied at the Technical Institute and then worked at the
Malta Drydocks Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It ...
. He joined the Labour League of Youths (LLY), which was the youth wing of the
Malta Labour Party The Labour Party ( mt, Partit Laburista, PL), formerly known as the Malta Labour Party ( mt, Partit tal-Ħaddiema, MLP), is one of the two major political parties in Malta, along with the Nationalist Party. It sits on the centre-left of the p ...
(MLP), and became its secretary general. In August 1959, he became the editor of the LLY's newspaper ''The Struggle''. After he wrote an anti-clerical editorial which commented on a February 1960 pastoral letter by Archbishop
Mikiel Gonzi Sir Michael Count Gonzi, (born Mikiel Gonzi: 13 May 1885 – 22 January 1984), was Roman Catholic Archbishop of Malta from 1944 until 1976. He had been enthroned as Bishop of Malta in December 1943, and was consecrated as the first Archbis ...
, Sant was
interdict In Catholic canon law, an interdict () is an ecclesiastical censure, or ban that prohibits persons, certain active Church individuals or groups from participating in certain rites, or that the rites and services of the church are banished from ...
ed by the Catholic Church on 9 April 1960. The Struggle was discontinued after nine issues, and Sant continued to contribute in ''The Knight'', which was a publication by the MLP. Sant was also active in the General Workers' Union, and in May 1961 he became the secretary of the union's Metal Workers' Section. He was married to Carmen Sant née Pace, who was also elected to parliament, as was his brother Salvu Sant.


Political career

Lorry Sant was elected to
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...
for the first time in the general election of 1962. He was subsequently reelected in the next five elections, in
1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo is ...
,
1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
,
1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phil ...
,
1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major off ...
and
1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airpor ...
. When the MLP was Malta's governing party between 1971 and 1987, Sant held a number of ministerial roles. Sant was appointed as Minister of Works in 1971. The following year, he accompanied Prime Minister
Dom Mintoff Dominic Mintoff, ( mt, Duminku Mintoff, ; often called ''il-Perit'', "the Architect"; 6 August 1916 – 20 August 2012) was a Maltese Socialist politician, architect, and civil engineer who was leader of the Labour Party from 1949 to 198 ...
on a diplomatic visit to China. In 1976, Sant was appointed Minister of Works and Sports, and he later became the Minister of the Interior in 1981, and Minister of Works, Sports and Housing in 1983. He remained in office until the MLP was defeated in the elections of 1987. Projects which Sant was involved in include the conversion of the former Sacra Infermeria into the
Mediterranean Conference Centre The Mediterranean Conference Centre (MCC, mt, Dar il-Mediterran għall-Konferenzi) is a conference centre in Valletta, Malta. The building was built as a hospital in the 16th century by the Order of St. John, and it was known as the Sacra Inferm ...
, the construction of the National Stadium, Ta' Qali and the National Sports Pavilion at Kordin.


Controversies

Lorry Sant had a very rough leadership approach which resulted in a number of controversies including
human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
violations. During his tenure as minister, Sant was hostile and aggressive to some of his employees, and in 2010 the courts found that he had breached the human rights of Renè Buttigieg who had worked as a government architect when Sant was works minister. After the government took over the
Marsa Marsa may refer to: Places *Marsa, Aude, a commune in the Aude départment of France * Marsa, Malta, a city in central Malta *Mârșa, a commune in Giurgiu County, Romania * La Marsa, a suburb of the city of Tunis, Tunisia *Mârșa, a village in Av ...
Sports Complex in 1971, Sant clashed with Hilary Tagliaferro, a Catholic priest who had established a youth sports centre within the complex. A dispute arose over the selection of football coaches, culminating in Tagliaferro being arrested for unauthrised possession of government stationery, although he was later released without any charges. Sant also instigated a dispute with the
Malta Football Association The Malta Football Association (MFA; mt, Assoċjazzjoni tal-Futbol ta' Malta) is the governing body of football in Malta. The Association organises the Maltese Football League and several other competitions, including a knockout competition ...
(MFA) because the association's president was a supporter of the Nationalist Party. The MFA had been allowed to use the national stadium at Ta' Qali after its completion, but in the early 1980s Sant prevented them from using it until they paid an annual rent of Lm 10,000. Sant also created another Football Association as a rival of the MFA. Roads built during Sant's tenure as works minister were generally of inferior quality than roads which had been built earlier. Lorry Sant had ambitions to succeed Dom Mintoff as leader of the Labour Party, but the two had a falling out and when Mintoff resigned as Labour leader and Prime Minister in 1984 he was succeeded by
Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, (17 July 19335 November 2022) was a Maltese politician who served as Prime Minister of Malta from December 1984 to May 1987.
. According to his wife Carmen, Lorry Sant "still loved Mintoff and he was hurt that ehad turned against him." Lorry Sant and his canvassers were responsible for various forms of political violence in the 1980s. On one occasion he reportedly broke the glasses of then-Nationalist MP
Josie Muscat Josie Muscat (born 31 July 1943) is a Maltese politician, a former Nationalist MP (1966–87), an independent local councillor in Marsascala Marsaskala ( mt, Wied il-Għajn), also written as Marsascala and abbreviated as M'Skala, is a seaside ...
in parliament and then beat him up and locked him in a bathroom. In 1986, Sant and Wistin Abela interrupted and almost assaulted Nationalist leader
Eddie Fenech Adami Edoardo "Eddie" Fenech Adami, (born 7 February 1934) is a Maltese politician and Nationalist politician who served as the prime minister of Malta from 1987 until 1996, and again from 1998 until 2004. Subsequently, he was the seventh presiden ...
in parliament while the latter was delivering a speech which condemned the murder of Raymond Caruana and the police's subsequent frameup of Peter Paul Busuttil.


End of career and death

In 1989, Lorry Sant was charged with corruption in court, but the case was abandoned after magistrate Carol Peralta ruled that although there was enough evidence to issue a bill of
indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of an ...
, the crimes were time-barred. After Labour
whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally ...
Wenzu Mintoff Wenzu Mintoff is a judge in the Superior Courts of Malta. He was appointed by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in 2014. Career Mintoff became a lawyer in 1984. He has worked in the Maltese mission in New York, and has worked at Malta Development Co ...
(Dom Mintoff's nephew) wanted to expel him from the party, Lorry Sant produced an envelope containing a number of photos in parliament, apparently in an attempt to blackmail either Wenzu or Dom Mintoff. The photos were never revealed to the public. Due to friction within the MLP, the party administration suspended Sant from all party activities in 1990, and he therefore did not contest the general election of 1992. The MLP leader
Alfred Sant Alfred Sant, (born 28 February 1948 in Sliema, tas-Sliema) is a Malta, Maltese politician and a novelist. He led the Labour Party (Malta), Labour Party from 1992 to 2008 and served as Prime Minister of Malta between 1996 and 1998 and as Leade ...
reversed this suspension on 24 April 1995 due to Lorry Sant's deteriorating health at the time. Sant died on 5 October 1995 at the age of 57.


Legacy

A bronze statue of Lorry Sant was inaugurated in his hometown
Paola Paola is a female given name, the Italian form of the name Paula. Notable people with the name include: People In arts and entertainment *Paola Del Medico (born 1950), Swiss singer *Paola e Chiara, pop music duo consisting of two sisters born i ...
on 10 February 2000. It stands within a garden which is also named after the politician. Lorry Sant owned a villa in
Marsaskala Marsaskala ( mt, Wied il-Għajn), also written as Marsascala and abbreviated as M'Skala, is a seaside town in the South Eastern Region of Malta which has grown around the small harbour at the head of Marsaskala Bay, a long, narrow inlet also kno ...
. His wife requested planning permission to demolish the building and replace it with six semi-detached villas in 2018.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sant, Lorry 1937 births 1995 deaths People from Paola, Malta Maltese trade unionists Government ministers of Malta Labour Party (Malta) politicians Human rights abuses in Malta 20th-century Maltese politicians