David Darmanin
Journalists from the Slovenian national broadcaster, in Malta to film a documentary feature about the Marsa Open Centre Friday last week, witnessed an angry outburst by the centre’s manager Oliver Gatt, who invited a Somali resident to go back to his country while the cameras were still rolling.
The TV crew was being treated to a tour of the centre, but when Gatt claimed that the facility holds English language lessons on a weekly basis, a Somali interrupted him to tell the journalist that there is ‘no such thing as education’ at the centre.
“Come to my room, I will show you the state of it so you can film it,” the Somali added, while bringing to the journalist’s attention the fact that toilets at the centre do not work.
At this, Gatt lost his temper and made a scene under the watchful eyes of the camera crew, who filmed him shouting at the resident.
“You don’t even have hot water in Somalia!” he screamed. “No geysers, no such things as you have here!”
When contacted by this newspaper, Gatt confirmed that he also invited the resident to go back to his country during his outburst.
Asked whether he considers his language to be abusive, Gatt said: “I don’t think it was abusive for the simple reason that these people were rubbishing our government and country and I felt I had to defend them. They were the ones being abusive. I thought that their attitude was shameful. As a Maltese citizen I felt the need to protect our country’s honour. If someone had to come to your house and started rubbishing what you have to offer him, you would have done the same. They (third country nationals) are our guests here.”
Gatt said he had given the Slovenian journalists free access to all rooms at the centre. He said he was informed that the Somali interrupting the tour was not registered as a Marsa Open Centre resident, and that he presumed he came with a group from the tent village in Hal Far.
“We do whatever we can with the resources we have available,” Gatt told MaltaToday. “If they don’t like it I sincerely have no idea what there purpose is here.”
Gatt denied that he was lying when he told the foreign journalists about weekly English courses being held at the centre. But residents argue otherwise.
“It’s a lie,” one centre resident told MaltaToday. “When the media visits the centre, Oliver (Gatt) brings in someone to pose as a teacher. When the media leaves, so does the teacher.”
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