Tribute to Catherine Galea

I would like to add to Paul Borg's contribution on Catherine Galea (February 19), without going into the merits of the present circumstances which go beyond my comprehension. Normally the public is fed only half-truths about any situation.

It is apparent that Ms Galea has a quality not commonly found in our culture, i.e. that she is not glued to any chair or position. She is a person of strong determination. She served as a chairman of the Housing Authority during part of my tenure as executive secretary. She resigned from the Housing Authority, followed by other board members, on the same principles. She had served with great diligence, integrity and impartiality. She did not give in to any political pressure, even during elections. She insisted on total transparency and justice.

She took many initiatives. She was instrumental in the move of the Housing Authority offices from Baviera, in spite of all the opposition.

She invariably preferred to take the stairs to her office greeting every employee she met whatever his grade. She had time for everyone, listened and gave all possible help. It was her daily practice to spend time chatting with minor staff. She was interested in the individual circumstances of employees. She enjoyed excellent relations with the unions.

Examinations and interviews were conducted to classify the so-called irregular employees for a regular engagement. The satisfaction of staff could be noticed from the anguish that followed her final departure.

She always looked with sympathy upon beneficiaries who faced problems. Whatever their political colour, she would take up their case with the greatest interest in an effort to solve it.

During the development of Mtarfa town, she held many meetings with the Mtarfa Residents Association and each time it appeared that no consensus would be reached she lingered on for a compromise. I do not remember one instance where the members left without a thank you to her.

Thousand of liri have been saved to the nation through the negotiations with the Social Fund of the Council of Europe, by gaining the opportunity of choosing only those loans that were advantageous, eliminating the initial losses on issue of loans and gaining a right to choose the most advantageous foreign currency. These conditions did not exist before.

She was very conscious of the responsibility to use public funds efficiently. During her tenure the annual subvention claimed was only that amount of money which the Authority forfeited between cost and allocation of apartments. She always claimed that the running of the Authority had to be financed from operations and internal economies and refused any preferential treatment to directors or herself.

She spared no pains to remove bad practices against all odds, which were only re-permitted after her departure; this then instigated my resignation. Two politically different administrations would not recognise her correctness. It had to be another woman chairman to follow in her footsteps and clean up again.