Education Minister Evarist Bartolo has hit back at specific critics this morning, saying he feels pleased when certain people make fun of him and threaten him.

“If these same people begin to praise me, then I’ll start worrying,” Bartolo said in an early morning status today. “We don’t need prima donnas right now, who think they are the world or the world revolves around them.”

While Bartolo doesn’t name him, his comments come shortly after controversial OPM staffer and Keith Schembri confidante Neville Gafa publicly called out Bartolo, saying he and his friends wouldn’t ever forget that Bartolo had criticised the Prime Minister.

He called on people to move forward in these politically tumultuous times with humility, and without having to resort to theatrics.

“We all have to learn,” he continued. “We all have to change if we want the country to be run in a way that is honest, just, serious, and democratic. Everybody: the parties, the politicians, the citizens, businessmen, unions, the church, the educations people, the cultured people, and all of civil society.”

This is just the latest in a series of near-daily social media posts by the Education Minister, where he has spoken openly about the compromising circumstances the country has been put in by a small group of people with all-powerful political leverage.

He called for a future where citizens don’t just ask for favours in return for votes and for Malta to embrace a culture where citizens and politicians come together to solve the island’s problems.

“I’m surely not saying anything new when I say that if we aren’t going to change our system and political culture then honest, serious, intelligent and talented people will find it increasingly difficult to serve the people and the country by way of politics.”

What do you think of the Education Minister’s words?