Over the last few days, a number of press releases and statements have been published by the Malta Health Students’ Association (MHSA) and some of the organisation’s members. Although the statements themselves are clear in content, little to no information explaining the reasons for the series of events related to the organisation have been made public.
In summary, last Friday 10th March, MHSA published a Press Release on their official Facebook Page that effectively relieved the organisation’s Secretary General, Gabriella Sutton, of her duties within the organisation. Sutton responded to this by releasing statement from her personal Facebook page a few hours later.
On Saturday 11th March, another Press Release was published by MHSA Facebook page and this time entitled “Termination of President by Executive Board Members”. In other words, this resulted in MHSA’s President at the time, Christoph Schwaiger, being voted out and therefore, terminated as President of the organisation.
In response to the notification of his termination, earlier today, Schwaiger released a public statement on his personal Facebook page. In his statement the following set of questions have been addressed directly to the remaining members of the MHSA Executive Board:
1) Can you confirm that a number of minutes of crucial executive board meetings are yet to be circulated? Is the board trying to hide anything in particular?
2) Can the MHSA confirm that some EB members favoured inaction against rule breakers? Some of the excuses for inaction included those of an approaching AGM and in order to avoid embarrassment. Therefore, certain members would have preferred to brush things under a carpet, correct? Will the members who supported a cover-up be asked to resign? Are members who find nothing wrong with gross misconduct fit to lead the MHSA?
3) Would the board be able to confirm or deny that certain members wanted yet another cover-up of the fact that the secretary general was fired? In the event that the board confirms this, will said members be asked to resign?
The full press release, as taken from Christoph Schwaiger’s facebook profile may be viewed below:
“Dear all,
Apparently I’ve been fired as MHSA President after less than 24 hours of making an internal announcement that in light of new evidence, I will be investigating the conduct of certain members of the MHSA. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the current state of the MHSA which according to its latest PR “believes in negotiation and a democratic approach”.
The latest official statements of the MHSA following my departure are riddled with inconsistencies. For starters, I was apparently fired for not taking into account Sutton’s “hard work and dedication”, yet I was dismissed without a second thought despite being the one with the most experience on the board.
Sutton was fired on the 23rd of February 2017. Apparently taking the necessary action against a rule-breaking member is being cited as one of the reasons for my dismissal… a whole two weeks later.
An interviewing panel (of 3 members) decided to vote against Sutton’s reinstatement. If any of the board members were irked by the fact that correct procedures were followed, then I’m sorry to say, that they are not fit for purpose. Kindly note that the 2 other members of the panel weren’t fired.
At this point, in order to safeguard what’s left of the association, I will be awaiting further instructions from the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations regarding my presidential handover. I invite the executive board of the organisation to set up an independent taskforce composed of competent individuals to investigate the conduct of certain members and former members of the association, and to help to decide on a way forward.
Furthermore, an official reply by the MHSA to these preliminary questions would be greatly appreciated;
1) Can you confirm that a number of minutes of crucial executive board meetings are yet to be circulated? Is the board trying to hide anything in particular?
2) Can the MHSA confirm that some EB members favoured inaction against rule breakers? Some of the excuses for inaction included those of an approaching AGM and in order to avoid embarrassment. Therefore, certain members would have preferred to brush things under a carpet, correct? Will the members who supported a cover-up be asked to resign? Are members who find nothing wrong with gross misconduct fit to lead the MHSA?
3) Would the board be able to confirm or deny that certain members wanted yet another cover-up of the fact that the secretary general was fired? In the event that the board confirms this, will said members be asked to resign?
To the active students on campus: The above is just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more to this story than just gossip.
Dear students, please allow and encourage the media to ask the really difficult questions to the current board and to the dismissed members (myself included). I look favourably upon them investigating the MHSA in order to safeguard the association. The issue is complex, and it will take some time to reveal what has led to these recent events. However, understanding the climate within the MHSA will make things much more comprehensible.
Step by step, all will be revealed.
Hoping that justice will prevail,
Christoph”