This was a reference to Arrigo’s final speech as PN deputy leader last July, in which he criticised the PN leadership for sidelining him during the 2022 election campaign.

“They told me I was only capable of fundraising. Well, I did raise a lot of money and I did so till the very last day,” he said back then.

Arrigo would later say in an interview with Times of Malta that the PN caused him more pain over the last two years than the cancer he had been diagnosed with.

Bonaci said that thousands of Maltese people of different political affiliations, including his own son, had criticised the PN for the way it treated Arrigo.

“When you spoke so openly, Malta lit up,” he said as he asked Arrigo whether the PN had ever apologised to him. Arrigo said he was yet to receive such an apology.

He adopted a coy stance when asked whether he ever received an apology from PN leader Bernard Grech, stating that he “doesn’t want to enter these things” and that everyone is responsible for their own actions.

In a recent interview with Lovin Malta, Grech was asked about Arrigo’s criticism of the PN in light of his [Grech’s] pledge to be a bridge-building leader. 

“Robert is passing through a tough time and coincidentally I just spoke to him 20 minutes ago… we regularly message each other,” he responded.

“I ask him how he’s doing and how his treatment is going. It’s important that we take care of each other. It’s wrong for people to hurt others. You must understand that in any family, be it natural, friendly or political, someone can slip up and hurt someone else.”

“However, it’s important that there are those who make sure we take care of each other as I have done and am doing.”

Do you think the PN should issue a posthumous apology?