Mitts chairman 'acted ethically'

The chairman and chief executive officer of the Malta Information Technology and Training Systems, David Spiteri Gingell, has entered the controversy over the government's consolidation strategy for ICT, saying he had informed all staff about the government's decision as soon as this was communicated to the board.

The Labour Party has expressed disagreement with the way the strategy is being implemented - although not with the principle - and accused IT Minister Austin Gatt of treating workers badly.

Mr Spiteri Gingell said that contrary to what the opposition's IT spokesman Leo Brincat had said during a news conference, he had proceeded in the most ethical and professional manner, both with regard to the shareholder - the government - and employees.

He said he had explained to staff that the direction embarked upon by Mitts Ltd in the past five years was in its entirety consistent with the direction established by the government for the company.

Since 2001, he said, Mitts proceeded on a strategy of re-alignment in order to focus its core business on:

¤ the operations of the ICT infrastructure and core services;

¤ the continued development of bespoke applications designated as "strategic" that MITTS Ltd had already developed;

¤ the provision of consultancy, project management, contract management and implementation management of off-the-shelf systems and associated process re-engineering.

¤ IT security.

This strategy has since 2001 been discussed on a rolling basis with Mitts staff during the preparation of the annual business plan, he said.

Mr Brincat yesterday said that Dr Gatt had yet again failed to shed any light on the future of workers. He had failed to make solid arguments against the MLP's position, which was that having one data centre with all the disaster recovery procedures was very costly and left the informatics sector in Malta in a vulnerable position.