Four months after promising that the new ministerial code of ethics would be published “soon”, the government now says it is “imminent”.
This time last year, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had announced that the code was due for an overhaul, complaining that it was “too voluminous” and that it had been drafted 20 years before, in “completely different circumstances”.
He had also complained that the code was “tailor-made” for lawyers because they were allowed to continue lecturing at the University, even if they were part of the Cabinet.
Once this process is ready, the code will be made public in a reasonably short time
His comments were made in the wake of the controversy surrounding a decision to allow then parliamentary secretary Franco Mercieca to still practise as an ophthalmologist in breach of the code. Mr Mercieca no longer forms part of Cabinet.
Last June, at the height of the controversy, the Prime Minister had indicated that things were moving at a fast pace, saying the first draft of the new code had been completed and would be discussed at Cabinet level. However the initial momentum seemed to have been lost as no further announcement was made.
Five months later, then junior minister Owen Bonnici had told this newspaper the revised code would be out “soon”. In November, he had said a second draft document had been drawn up and was being discussed internally.
“Once this process is ready, the code will be made public in a reasonably short time,” he said.
Still, the new ministerial code of ethics has yet to see the light of day, almost a year after it was promised. This has raised questions on whether the issue had been relegated to the backburner, especially after Mr Mercieca relinquished his post, to return back to his private practice.
However, last Thursday, Dr Bonnici, now Justice Minister, told Times of Malta that publication of the new code of ethics was “imminent”, declining to comment further. Thus, it could not be specified whether, by “imminent”, the government meant it was on the verge of publishing the revised code.
The waiver granted last year to Mr Mercieca was limited to highly-specialised cornea operations, due to the limited pool of experts in the field.
However this newspaper had reported that the Gozitan ophthalmologist had also been performing routine eye operations.
Definitions
The online Oxford dictionary defines soon, imminent and on the verge thus:
• Soon – in or after a short time;
• Imminent – about to happen;
• On the verge of – an extreme limit beyond which something specified will happen.