Sunday, 28th December 2008
Jason Micallef given an 'ultimatum'
Labour Party general secretary Jason Micallef has been given an ultimatum to strictly abide by leader Joseph Muscat's instructions or face the sack, The Sunday Times has learnt.
Relations between Mr Micallef and Dr Muscat have deteriorated in the last fortnight, as more powers are transferred to chief executive James Piscopo.
Mr Micallef, who was convincingly reconfirmed in his post last August, was involved in a major clash with Mr Piscopo at the party headquarters recently, as he felt increasingly sidelined by the new Labour leader, according to party sources.
Dr Muscat drastically re-dimensioned Mr Micallef's role shortly after he assumed the reins of a party reeling from a third successive electoral defeat. He personally handpicked Mr Piscopo, a former Air Malta employee, to take over responsibility of certain crucial areas, including finance and planning. Mr Piscopo was also a member of Dr Muscat's core campaign team during the leadership race.
His appointment to the post of CEO, which was created as part of a large-scale administrative reform promised by Dr Muscat, was largely perceived as a move aimed at downsizing the role of Mr Micallef, who would be relegated to a purely administrative role.
"Micallef feels he should still be in charge of certain areas, such as the financial and planning areas of the party, even though Muscat made it clear he should no longer be responsible for them. Piscopo has Muscat's blessing, but Micallef is reluctant to accept his instructions," sources said.
"Muscat firmly believes Micallef cannot continue acting like the party supremo. Muscat doesn't want to commit the mistakes of his predecessor and his managerial ways are different. He feels Micallef is not up to certain jobs, though he is good in others."
Sources said Mr Micallef was also annoyed at the fact that Dr Muscat was openly challenging his predecessor's legacy. The Labour leader was also being accused of keeping warm relations with former MP Lino Spiteri, a politician with whom Alfred Sant had fundamental differences.
Mr Micallef can only be removed from his post by the same delegates who appointed him, although party sources said it would only take a directive from the Labour leader to convince them to call an extraordinary conference and unseat him.
Not all was lost for the Labour general secretary, though, as in the last few days he has started "complying", the same sources said. Given this situation, Dr Muscat would keep him on board for "at least" another year.
Among the many changes being carried out at the Labour headquarters, Dr Muscat appointed former PRO Mark Farrugia as his personal link to the newsroom, temporarily suspended online portal Maltastar.com in view of an upgrade, and picked Kurt Farrugia as party spokesman.
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Comments
Helllooooo????? Do you think that Dr. Joseph Muscat is just sitting pretty? Sorry to disappoint you but he is delivering as he always did! Dr Muscat is implementing the proposals of the latest 2 reports as he wants to make sure that PL would not need a 3rd report!!!!! Then we would be reflecting on the PN defeat report ....
PN supporters are making the most of such trivial issues to make more time for PN to get away with murder as the media spotlight is remaining stuck purpousely on PL. However, please note that the actual wounds still not healed are not the PL's CEO but the excessive electricity bills I am forced to pay unfairly to make up for irrisponsible decisions and mistakes within PN, and for the ministers' salaries that I have to continue contributing from my taxes (as in our country, nobody is ever kept accountable)!!!!
Well its a good move JM is doing by removing powers from a party secretary..... nowadays we know that they can't be trusted with a simple e-mail either!!
On a side note, if Dr.Muscat wants to rid the PL of the bad reputation it gained under certain leaders, he has to start removing some of the old blood which is still in the party. Simply changing the party crest is not enough.
At this stage J Muscat must try to get out the best of every member within the party and not play the part of the bully. I dont think labourites are happy with these new conflicts. Respect your supporters at least.
I also agree 100% with J Magro's comment.
@Mike Magri
GOOD MOVE JOSEPH??!!
I'M SURE YOU'RE KIDDING MESSIERS.
A GOOD MOVE BY JOSEPH WOULD HAVE BEEN HAD HE STOPPED JASON FROM CONTESTING FOR SECRETARY GENERAL IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!
No wonder Mickey Mouse is coming to town, he'll sure be made to feel at home and we might just consider making - Pajjiz tal-Mickey Mouse Lyrics - our National anthem.
And you think that with your comment, jason & his Klikka, are going to feel happier ???
Poor jason a wacthdog over him ! after all the ...... ahh !
happy New year to every body.
Perhaps J Martinelli can return from self imposed exile to help us fix it.......?
To the NP: If it ain't broken, don't try to fix it!
There lies the difference.
Good One Joseph, even though I am not on your side
These and any other such important issues, are a very serious matter for ANY political party, and thus should only be trusted into the hands of Compitent and Qualified people...
Good show Joseph..
The PL statute includes a list of responsibilities of the secretary general, including taking minutes and correspondence of the administration, reporting on general conferences, serve as a go-between with local committees and other sections and carry out other tasks entrusted by the deputy leaders, administration and executive.
I am saying this to make you feel better now that you know that Dr Muscat is not harming Jason Micallef when engaging James Piscopo as the party's CEO in an administrative role to carry out assigned tasks.
And for all those stating that Jason Micallef 'helped' Joseph Muscat for the PL leadership ... just an advice: try to switch your TV to other news to get your facts right! Otherwise, you will end up in this situation, stating nonsense comments initiated on the PN media.
(No wonder why news broadcasted on NET always acquire the least number of viewers!!!!!!)
Dr Joseph Muscat has always been liked and loved by one and all. Maybe this is the only problem of those who see just BLUE and find it hard to call a spade a spade!!! More soap operas on Dr. Muscat to follow from this section of our society!!
Same like:
No Martini. No Party.
given an 'ultimatum' same old party, jason is not going to give up that easy, and I dont think
the pl supporters are very happy too !!!
jason, lewwel Haslek iss sa Jhasrek , u mela .............
I am very surprised how many of these contributors attribute the loss of the last election of the Malta Labour Party to its general secretary Jason Micallef.
Why is not the leader of the party Dr. Alfred Sant not mentioned in this report?
I should think, the main responsibility lies with its leader and therefore the main culprit and responsible person for the loss of the last election is none other than DR. ALFRED SANT.
So please stop shifting the blame on somebody else.
I would like to ask a question:
Whose merit would it have been if the MLP in fact won the last election and eventually would get all the accolades?
../..
../..
I have never heard of an earthquake which had a positive aftermath - this one will definitely not be the first such event, leaving hopeful reeling once again! Whilst objectives may be right (particularly in this case) the end should never justify the means! Traits of past MLP leaders as evident as can be!
This is, in my opinion, a childish comment which shows that JM is not leaving any issues which the usual PN apologists can criticize for their destructive purposes.
If you really want to mention inappropriate slogans.... what about the "Flimkien kollox possibbli" and "Finanzi fis-sod"? Quite a good laugh aren't they?
Please grow up.
Keep it up Dr. Muscat.
On the other hand the PN has a secretary gen. who might have the backing of the chosen few yet has lost the trust of the wider section of the population. How can PBO retain his post after committing such a grave mistake of using people's complaints for purely political/electoral reasons?? What has Gonzi done to reprimand PBO apart from silence????
In my opinion JM is doing something to eradicate the "uneeded fat" while Gonzi is comfortable with the elitism, arrogance and conservativism which have overtaken a party which is past its sell by date
Thanks what Joseph Muscat did in the PL !
Get rid of those who failed and acted irresponsibly in their job!!
Good Luck
The PN internal problems are infinite: JPO, PBO, Agostino Pio Gatt, an invisible untrustworthy Gonzi (he promises things and does the contrary), and much more.
He is the elected leader, so he should have the best people around him.
A good leader has to make the best use of every person in the party.
If he thinks that Mr Micallef is not good in certain areas, then the leader should delegate them to someone else.
After the so called back stabbing of GBO the PN lost only one election and the defeat lasted just 22 months.
No need to mention the back stubbing and the night conspiracies to remove the prior leader Dr GBO. That's part of the pn game.
I was only quoting Mark Cassar.
Dusty, JPO was elected by the Maltese people, therefore we simply can't remove him until the next elections. Joseph on the other hand wasn't elected by the Maltese people, he was chosen by the delegates and an elected representative of the people (not the person he was replacing) stepped down and gave him his place in parliament.
I suggest you to read the book "the boy who cried wolf" you'll find that in the kid's section at your local library, then trace back to the incidents before the March elections, then trace even further back by reading Dr Sant's false accusations. Then you'd understand why JPO was elected . It was Dr Sants Credibility problem that got JPO elected and not his Split personalities and his ways of crying, because he got caught.
I dislike Jason Micallef, I can understand the image Joseph is trying to portray, but I think he is naive if he doesn't know that this strategy is going to more bad then good.
What PL needed was a clean sweep.
All one can say is that the PN's leadership process has delivered a winning team for most of the last 20 years. Maybe there is something to learn from their processes.
You probably haven't ever seen the statute at all and surely haven't been present during the workshops that overhauled it. You are wrong, Joseph is not acting against the statute at all, since it does not give a job description for the secretary general. Also, as stated here, it would be a general conference that would have the power to remove the person holding the post.
@ r.mizzi
Who told you that Joseph is party leader because he was backed by JM? He was the favourite of the majority of the delegates and party members from the start and everyone within the PL knew this. But even if you were right, the secretary is answerable to the leader and never vis-versa. You are certainly intelligent enough to understand this but you clearly prefer or pretend to think otherwise.
Yes, this shows that now the PL has a real leader and that the leader cannot be chosen simply for the purpose of having someone else removed. Joseph is simply not accepting the past childish behaviour of a very limited number of people and the sooner they realise this the better for their own sake.
Up until the PL started its restructuring programme, all our political parties were working with an outdated system where non qualified delegates were expected to choose technical people on their meritocracy. That system didn’t work well for any party but until Joseph Muscat came about nobody had the courage to promote the essential changes. The old structure was giving perverse results like a similar system would give to a group of people, privately owning a hospital between them, electing by vote the required Professional Medical Staff and other specialised resources.
As a person to the Labour born I would like to see the PN working with their present system as it would give my party an enormous advantage in the field, as a Maltese National I would like to see the PN adjourn its systems of management as that would be a good thing for my country.
@ Mary Farrugia. Part One.
You give me the impression that you don’t know much about Political and public entities management structures.
A political party belongs to its supporters but since we live in a democracy not an anarchy it can’t be run without a professional set up so they (the owners) elect delegates who are empowered to act on their behalf in ‘General Conference’. The General Conference draws its statute, elect a leadership and the executive body ( Board of Directors) In a truly professional organisation the role of the director is to plan policy however its executions of the policies is entrusted to a non elected senior executive, the CEO, who in turn hires non elected technocrats that are professional in their respective sphere. This body is called the Senior Executive Management.
2. If Jason Micallef was truly being given an ultimatum, the 'sources' mentioned here wouldn't tell it to the Sunday Times, I think they learned their lessons well. This story is just another exercise of tarnishing Jason's reputation. If Jason made mistakes before the general election, are we all perfect? Go tell it to Dr Paul Borg Olivier.
3. James Piscopo is the party's CEO, he has an administrative role, which certainly won't be mentioned in the party statute. Do we ever see James Piscopo in political debates/programmes? No. It's because his role is purely administrative. He's not elected by delegates? So what! A company's CEO is not chosen by the employees.
With George Abela, Jason Micallef wouldn't have been there in the first place!
Amazing, labour had someone like George Abela willing to take the leadership and instead they went for Joseph, Anglu, Toni Abela, Jason Micallef and Charlon Gouder!
The leader is acting against the party statute. Are we going to end up with the same old party infighting that wrecked Alfred Sant's leadership and cost us three elections and 15 years in opposition? I never expected this from Joseph.
How about electing your leaders and council members in the way it is done in the PL with an open process eh?
First he needed Jason Micallef to beat George Abela.
Now Jason Micallef is, as right and proper, insisting on the supremacy of his post
within the Labour Party structures according to Labour's own statute.
James Piscopo is just an unelected unrepresentative and unaccountable
CEO chosen by Joseph Muscat in typically Hbieb tal-Hbieb fashion
with which Labour so loves to castigate the PN.
Why didn't Joseph write the post of CEO into Labour's statute
rather than wasting energy and time
changing Labour's name from Labour Party to Partit Laburista?
In a democratic party, people occupying the top decision-making posts
contest elections and are elected and accountable, unlike James Piscopo.
Jason Micallef, on the contrary, had the courage to contest and win an election
fair and square even though all guns were blazing against him.
Labour has always suffered because many important party posts where run by incompetent people who have not grasped the difference between "doing a job" and "doing a good job".
A news that bides well for PL and for the rest of the country.
Any reform we know of hasn’t come easy – be it within a limited organizational sector or at a national level. The pros and cons will always be there and all those who are unable to understand or who are not up to the necessary standard, are bound to suffer and may cling to any last straw to protect themselves, retain their posts and survive. It is all a natural process, no doubt on that!
Let Dr. Joseph Muscat do his duty as he is well doing ... that is why he is elected as party leader!! Dr Muscat explains that “We are progressive because we believe in the need to change, a change which is taking place in a new style”.
Maybe you'd better start looking into the problems and unsolved issues within PN and maybe remind your leader something said by General Norman Schwarttzkoph: By not demanding accountability, you fail to protect your people from their own incompetence.
... I guess if he would need some advice, I am sure Dr. Joseph Muscat would be glad to help him out!! Otherwise ... we'll have to wait 4 years to read these recommendations in the PN electoral defeat report.
Start doing your own homework!!
Of course checks and balances should be in place in a democracy. A political party, however, is not a democracy, albeit regulated by a clear statute. A political party is an election-contesting machine, where winning is the prerogative. If this aim fails, then it's either given another chance, or scrapped. A new machine will then be built, repeating the cycle.
To go a step further to my previous point: leadership races should be contested by teams. The roles would be already defined, ready to spring into action once the leadership race is over.
This would have avoided the accusations levelled at Alfred Sant and those who supported him by the likes of Michael Falzon, who, from the very beginning, did not feel part of the Labour machine at all.
Not unlike the general practice, the positions of all party executive members are given a statutory clear cut list of their duties and responsibilities that also include any other added duties that may be required by them and as delegated by the party leadership.
The former and current General Secretaries had a number of the latter responsibilities and now that the party had changed its statute, and in-keeping with the old and new norm, the leadership decided to use its prerogative and democratically down size the added responsibilities. Does anybody find anything untoward in that?
I never had any problem to express my personal views about Jason Micallef’s lack of credentials to fulfill a meaningful role and I am still of that opinion today. Hopefully, with his wings severely clipped, he might mould himself modestly to fit in the new party structure, but I have very serious doubt about that too. The party delegates will, in the end, have to let the man go.
I don’t expect the PN to applaud the PL for these measures, I’m not so naïve.
May i remind you all, that Mr. Jason Micallef is the ONLY elected member of the PL Executive Committee with a MINORITY of votes, representing ONLY 40.6% backing of the Delegates. ALL other members have got more than 51% backing...
Also, Mr. Micallef had been named on the PL election analysis report, as one of those resposible for the loss of the last general election, causing a lot of internal friction between him and other executive members.
I honestly firmly beleive that Mr. Micallef should immediately seek other pastures...
So as a Nationalist you may know how much your secretary general is bothering the rest of the party, no?
Each time this journal hears something about Labour it gives it the usual traditional look to make the blue ones come out of their shells after a long hibernation period!
The contribution by J Busuttil shows that this person is missing one important aspect of the whole argument; that each post in the party needs to fulfill its jobs defined in the statute. Any extra tasks or potential areas for each organ of the party (in or out of the administration) are solely given out by the leadership.
According to the "source" Jason Micallef had understood such circumstance and at the time we're writing these comments, he's already "complying". Don't worry, dear Nationalists who
open your mouths only for the benefit of Labour, Muscat's reform will continue at an accelerated pace!
First he keeps Jason Micallef close to him knowing that he needed him big time to win the Labour Party leadership contest (Jason Micallef has strong support amongst the Party's delegates, thus the people who elect the Leader).
Then when the time came for Jason Micallef to re-contest the post of Seg Gen Dr Muscat had to support him.
The rest is history and we all know the negative public reaction that followed Jason Micallef's reappointment. Faced with such criticism Joseph Muscat appointed James Piscopo as CEO to try and soften the party's image, but as illustrated by this Sunday Times story Jason Micallef is still strong and rules the day.
Joseph Muscat's problem is clear: HE TRIES TO PLEASE EVERYBODY AND ENDS UP PLEASING NOBODY! THIS IS NO LEADERSHIP MATERIAL AND DEFINETLY NO PRIME MINISTERIAL STUFF!
Under your proposed system, may I ask you where the checks and balances.
How about your own JPO & your general secretary being removed?
The only "democratic" election in any Party should be that of the choice of leader. Everybody else, including Deputy Leader, Secretary, President and so on should be the prerogative of the winner of the leadership race.
This is what would constitute real responsibility and accountabilty for any party decision taken by the party Leader.
You don't seem to learn, ever.
So, continue shooting yourselves in the foot ... and hail the new, strong Opposition!