Auditor-General sworn in

Anthony Mifsud was this afternoon sworn in as Auditor General by President Eddie Fenech Adami.

Charles Deguara was sworn in as Deputy Auditor General. His appointment starts from November 3 so that the terms of the two officers does not end at the same time.

The ceremony took place at the Palace.

The appointments took place after the House of Representatives late month unanimously approved the two appointments. The nominations were made by the Prime Minister and seconded by Charles Mangion, leader of the opposition.

Mr Mifsud is a former permanent secretary at the Resources and Rural Affairs Ministry and Mr Deguara is a former permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice and House Affairs.

Mr Mifsud succeeds Joseph Galea whose second term of office expired some months ago.

The Auditor-General is an Officer of Parliament and independent of the public service.

Comments

Joseph Ellis (on 7/8/08)

Actually, the term of the Auditor-General had expired more than a year ago. It is incomprehensible why the Labour opposition never agreed to a nominee in the previous legislature or at least, suggested alternatives. It is also incomprehensible why the government side never forced the issue by presenting a resolution in Parliament so that the opposition would have been forced to take a decision.

The Select Committee discussing changes to the Constitution should seriously consider changing the relevant article so that when an incumbent is not immediately replaced, and there is no deputy to replace him, the incumbent can stay in his post until he is replaced. If such appointment is not made within three months of the post becoming vacant, the President, after consulting the PM and the Leader of the Opposition, should be empowered to appoint someone to the post. Such a nominee would have the same term as a Parliamentary appointment and these provisions should also apply to a deputy auditor-general.

The safeguarding of public finances should not be the object of political games that we have just witnessed.