Update 2: Election candidates 'forced' to take leave
The Office of the Prime Minister is forcing all local council candidates who work in the public service to take 15 days special unpaid leave for contesting local elections, Alternattiva Demokratika said this morning.
The government however said that the governmet policy was to widen civil servants' opportunities for participation in public life while safeguarding public administration.
Public administration officers who presented themselves as candidates for local election coul duse a special unpaid leave, if they did not want to utilise their normal leave, the government said
AD general secretary Ralph Cassar said that because of government policy, many candidates, including most AD candidates, will not be in a position to contest local elections.
Michael Briguglio, AD Chairman, said it was absurd that the OPM was penalising local candidates for offering to give a voluntary service to their locality.
The PL called on the government to revise this position which went against the spirit of service and which did not encourage people to be of service.
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32 Comments
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MALCOLM SEYCHELL
Feb 8th, 21:41
X jindahal il prim x jaghmlu jew le il kandidati. Policy ohra ta dittatur.
Mr M Spiteri
Feb 8th, 21:15
Is this Gonzi's solution to the deficit. That is why is is always begging Muscat for proposals as Gonzi ssems not to have any.
Mr leo attard
Feb 8th, 19:43
what happens in the case of those contesting the general elections?
Joe Morana
Feb 8th, 18:12
'15 days forced unpaid leave!!!!????? are we going back to the future!!!????
Robert Callus
Feb 8th, 17:45
@Lucas North
“giving the option of forced unpaid leave is a bonus...”
I hope you realize your statement is an oxymoron. There is no “option” in “forced unpaid leave”.
I, for one intend (intended?) to contest LC elections, continue working, or if need be take leave from the Vacation Leave I’m entitled to so that if elected I can work for my community from my FREE TIME and UNPAID. As well as hopefully have a louder voice against the obnoxious development in Wied il-Ghasel which, like this stupid regulation is nothing more than a spit in the face of democracy.
http://robertcallus.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/what-has-wied-il-ghasel-got-to-do-with-democracy-everything/
I am sure that on this issue as well as others concerning our natural heritage, most people are on our side. However, the ruling elite wants to remain unhindered and keep us out with ridiculous electoral laws like this and others.
Get it?
Lucas North
Feb 8th, 17:56
I think that dabbling around in linguistics is being a bit picky...
you have the "option" of taking the forced leave or else go to work... of course it is an option...
no one is stopping you from contesting... on the contrary.. but you have to incur 15 days of forced leave... and the arguments brought about in another newspaper by a public official (impartiality issue) make a lot of sense...
rather than invoking democracy and at local level etc...
you form part of a national political party... that is national politics not local... and what is funny is that AD is making a whole issue about it.. and of course now the PL has jumped on the bandwagon... when this is going to affect all those contesting.... does this mean that all AD candidates are public service workers?
whilst here for the record i totally disagree with national politics at local government level... if people want to work for their locality they do not need a political affiliation... whether you are AD, PL or PN...
also for the record I wish you AD guys luck for the LC elections.... a new party presence (since these LC are politicized anyway) might bring about a breath of fresh air... than the usual biparty bickering that takes place
David Hill
Feb 8th, 16:44
Slightly off the topic.
If a person is employed by a local council, is he/she alloweds to stand for election to that council?
If so he/she could end up as their own employer.
In the UK it's not allowed for a person to stand for election to the council that employes them,
As for taking leave,i a person thinks they can campaign in their spare time, so be it.
Joseph Scerri
Feb 8th, 16:07
Li tkun haddiem tal-gvern u ta kull sena titlaq min fuq ix-xoghol biex tmur fuq il-fososs halli tarma ghall-attivitajiet li jaghmel il-P.N. ta l'Indipendenza, hekk tista . Grazzi tal-kuragg li qedin tghatu lil dawk kollha lio offrew li jaghmlu xoghol volontarju ghal-lokal. Tal-misthija
arnold cassola
Feb 8th, 15:51
CIVIL SERVICE OFFICIALS DO IT AGAIN
Not content with having discriminated against the former AD General Secretary when he was asked to resign his post for contesting with Alternattiva Demokratika a few years ago, Civil Service officials are doing it again: they are asking the present AD Secretary General for LOCAL ELECTIONS to take forced unpaid leave. Funny haow no PN or PL candidates have been approached byu the Civil Servants!
If this measure were to be applied, many AD candidates and around 35% of Nationalist and Labour candidates would be forced to forfeit their salary or simply not contest elections.
Is this democracy? Who is the wise guy in the civil service who is taking these ridiculous decisions?
Lucas North
Feb 8th, 16:34
with all due respect you are seeing this from a rather one sided perspective...
I was always taught about the impartiality of the public administration... and its supposed detachment from politics...
you call this stupid.... i call it actually stupid for allowing even the possibility of participating in elections... giving the option of forced unpaid leave is a bonus...
if you want to contest a political post you should not even be allowed to work in the public service, which should be above politics....
if the rule is written there, what do you expect, that this is waived just because someone wants to contest the election... if you do not like it then resign your post with the public service and do what you want then... take as much leave as you want...
what about those who work in the private sector? will those be paid for it? or are you expecting your boss in the private sector to pay for your electoral campaign...
shame on you... you are invoking democracy... I am invoking the fact that this is paid out of public funds, hence what you are proposing is daylight robbery from taxpayer's money...
R Axisa
Feb 8th, 15:24
minn x'imkien irid inaqqas in-nefqa ..... mhux hekk??? Skuza tajba!
francis Buhagiar
Feb 8th, 15:20
is this the thanks one will receive from GonziPN for offering his service to the comunity.
A. Schembri
Feb 8th, 15:19
Bis sejeta????? Laqwa li hadt dik il €500 ux gonz
Mr J Xerri
Feb 8th, 14:27
Has the OPM Officials, or whoever thought up this rule taken in consideration that some student would be deprived of their teachers if these contest the Local Councils election?
John Scerri
Feb 8th, 13:30
'The Office of the Prime Minister is forcing all local council candidates who work in the public service to take 15 days special unpaid leave for contesting local elections, Alternattiva Demokratika said this morning.'
Lets wait and see.....I bet my bottom dollar this will change within 24hours. These are workers earning a living to feed their families .
If not ..... whoever came up with this idea is right down STUPID
pat muscat
Feb 8th, 13:17
Panic stations! GonziPN tilef Franco Debono u issa, ghandu jkun, qed jitlef mohhu! Jaqaw, din il-bicca gherf harget minghand il-klikka li ihobb isemmi Dr Franco Debono? Ara li Austin Gatt jithallas ta ministru u ihaddem il-magna tal-partit, dik alright, mhux hekk?
Kevin Tanti
Feb 8th, 13:16
Ma jistghux jattendu ix-xoghol xorta wahda?
m. borg (slm)
Feb 8th, 13:04
Shameful if true.
Carmel Garcia
Feb 8th, 12:43
Kieku hiereg ghal parlament jew ghal-MEP nghid fiha u ma fihiex ghax ser indahal minn 27,000 jew elef hafna iktar jekk nkun MEP. Imma volunteer f'kunsill lokali li thobb lil rahal twelidek ser niehu hmistax leave u ma nithallasx ghas-semplici raguni ghax xi hadd fl-gholi iddecieda hekk? Ghax ma taqbdux u x-xolju l-kunsilli kolla u nergu mmorru fejn konna qabel ma nholqu dawn. Ara vera pajjis tan-n...h
Philip Hili
Feb 8th, 17:55
@ Carmel Garcia
Tajjeb, certifikat ta' kif irid jimxi Dr. Emails, immorru lura!!! Hekk mohhu.
Kemm hemm kunsilliera VERA! (MHUX KULHADD) li veru huma ddedikati ghal dan ix-xoghol u veru li jaghmlu, jaghmluh bil-qalb ? Nahseb l-anqas toghddom fuq ponot subajk!
Noel Gatt
Feb 8th, 12:43
Ma nafx x gara lil GonziPN. L-ewwel naqqas il flus lil kunsilli u issa din il-mizura..
ALBERT FENECH
Feb 8th, 12:18
Enforcing Unpaid Leave part of the 40 million euro budget cut? This administration splashes money around on lame duck projects to try and gain electoral votes but skimps miserly on essentials. They obviously assed the majority of forthcoming GonziPN local council candidates are not from the public service and have their own independent means of income. Another example of "democracy" in practice?
ALBERT FENECH
D Borg
Feb 8th, 12:16
very peculiar when the members of parliament (local and EU) have gone far to even take an oath that they spent a paltry sum on their expensive campaigns. Albeit two had the integrity to declare that they overspent.
So effectively we have 'honourable gentlemen and ladies' supposedly representing us - who all have lied under oath - nomatter what hollow excuses they come up with.
But obviously - insisting on forced leave is more convenient for the PNPL duopoly
Philip Hili
Feb 8th, 12:13
Mhux hekk jonqos Ralph!!
Ghax ma toqghodx id-dar u jgiblek il-paga wkoll!!!
Mela li ma tmurx ghax-xoghol u tippretendi li tithallas xorta wahda ma johloqx zbilanc fl-operat tal-Gvern, izjed u izjed jekk inti tkun impjegat tal-Gvern?
Jew l-izbilanc fejn tridu ssemmuh?
Min ma jistaqx jikkontesta l-elezzjonijiet, ma jikkontestax u mhux jikkontesta ghas-skapit ta' haddiehor bl-iskuza :- "to give a voluntary service to their locality."
M. Schembri
Feb 8th, 13:15
Min qallek li talab li ma jmurx ghax-xoghol mela ma tafx taqra bl-Ingliz - forced - sfurzat, kontra l-volonta tieghu.
Ralph Cassar
Feb 8th, 13:36
Nahseb qrajt hazin.
Li nippretendi huwa li l-persuna TMUR ghax-xoghol u tista' tikkontesta bla xkiel. Jew inkella jekk TRID tiehu leave, tiehu leave JEKK TRID u mill-leave normali li kull haddiem huwa intitolat ghalih. Jekk min jiddeciedi li jkun kandidat ha ngieghluh jitlef gimghatejn paga mela vera se nkomplu naqtghu qalb kull min jiddeciedi li b'xi mid jinvolvi ruhu fis-sistema demokratika tal-pajjiz.
Ms Xaxa Caruana
Feb 8th, 14:10
@Philip Hili
Tista tejdli fejn qrajt li dawn mhux ha jmorru xoghol u jithallsu xorta wahda?
Habib qabel ma tfajjar comments bl adocc, aqra u erga aqra.
Philip Hili
Feb 8th, 17:39
It-tlieta li intom :- M. Schembri, Ralph Cassar u Ms Xaxa Caruana tridu tilghabuha tad-dojoq!!
Nahseb li kollha tafu xi tfisser din l-esprssjoni!! "toqghodx id-dar u jgiblek il-paga wkol".
Ralph, ghandek ragun titkellem hekk ghax inti ma tiftakarx is-sisema li min irid jikkontesta xi elezjoni u jkun haddiem tal-gvern, l-ewwel li jrid jagmel hu li jirrizenja minn mal-gvern halli jkun jista' jaqdi dimiru jekk jigi elett. Jekk ma jigix, jerga jigi "reinstated". Saqsu lil dawk il-persuni li kellhom jghaddu minn din l-esperjenza. B'dan il-mod kienet tigi eleminata problema tas-salarju fejn issa wiehed jippretendi li jithallas, sew mil-post tax-xoghol fejn ikun jahdem u mil-entit, kunsill, jew parlament fejn ikun gie elett. B'dan il-moghod tigi eliminata il-problema tas-salarju u allura paga wahda tohrog u mhux tnejn.
Victor Vella
Feb 8th, 12:09
This is not new. Why forced. I worked for a parastatal company and during election time a person known for his PN political stance known as tup-tup hurry up, used to take three months away from work to help the PN marketing-machine at tal-Pieta. To make matters worse this tup-tup hurry-up, before he was given the golden-handshake to leave the company he was given about 4 years paid income because he said that during his time with the company he never took any leave. Eh that is the difference between giving your strength to the company and taking political mileage because you are an impatentjant Nazzjonalista.Hurrah! be happy. Vote PN.
Philip Hili
Feb 8th, 17:45
Nahsbe li hekk kienu jittrattawhom dawk li jippubblikaw "il-grunal indipendenti" Vic.!! Hallina siehbi. Kellu bzonn id-direzzjoni ta' din il-gazzetta tippermettili nsemmilek xi ismijiet ta' dawk li fil-waqt li suppost kienu qeghdin ghax-xoghol, kont issibhom il-Macina!!!
Vic, biex tiskongra trid tkun pur!!! U barra minn hekk, "Malta zghira u n-nies maghrufa".
Victor Vella
Feb 8th, 18:26
Vic, biex tiskongra trid tkun pur!!! U barra minn hekk, "Malta zghira u n-nies maghrufa". Thank you Mr Hili. Take this Maltese idiom to tal-Pieta` machine because it is time for the Gonzi PN biex jigi sgungrat. Intom dejjem taraw it-tibna f`ghajn haddiehor u qatt ma taraw it-travu li ghandkom f`ghajnejkom. Sur Hili dak li hawn Malta tajjeb li hija zghira u n-nies maghrufa.Dak li kontu titkazaw bih intom, illum qed taghmlu bhalu intom.
Philip Hili
Feb 9th, 00:11
@ Victor Vella
Sur Vella, ma rrispondejtnix ghal dak li ghidtlek rigward l-imghallem li jippublika "il-gurnal indipendenti".
Jekk trid xi ismijiet ta' hafna li suppost kellhom ikun xoghol izda x-xoghol taghhom kien "il-Macina", ghidli u nghidlek kemm trid. Dan biex nurik kemm kien jiehu "political mileage" il-PN fil-gvern. Jekk trid, anke mhux "il-macina" izda go xi stamperija, nghidlek ukoll!!!!!