Former television presenter Lou Bondì.

Former television presenter Lou Bondì should be retained as adviser to the Foundation for National Festivities because “winning teams should not be changed”, Culture Minister Owen Bonnici said yesterday.

The foundation, appointed by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat last year, is fast approaching the end of its one-year term.

Asked what would happen to Mr Bondì and the other foundation members once the contract period was over, Dr Bonnici said he would recommend keeping the organisation alive. Ultimately, however, the decision was in the hands of the Prime Minister, he said.

“They did some fantastic work; the results were fabulous. In my opinion the present team should remain,” he said, adding that the board was made up of people having different political views, something he felt the country had embraced.

Dr Bonnici said there was still a lot of work for the foundation to do including the organisation of the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting (CHOGM) next year and Malta’s stint at the helm of the EU presidency.

Mr Bondì, a former Nationalist Party employee who also used to present the TV discussion programme Bondiplus, receives a monthly pay of €4,500 for his consultancy services, apart from an annual €8,000 retainer fee, pushing his yearly package up to €54,000. According to his contract, he is engaged on a 40-hour week, “position of trust” basis.

The Office of the Prime Minister had originally refused to give details on Mr Bondì’s appointment but a copy of the contract was given to Times of Malta after it filed a freedom of information application.

According to the terms of the contract, Mr Bondì has to supervise the creation, organisation, direction and execution of national celebrations. He is barred from participating in any tender issued by the foundation. He is a director of TV productions and marketing company Where’s Everybody.

Before the last election, Mr Bondì had been repeatedly accused by the Labour Party of being a stooge of the Nationalist Party and of having been openly hostile to Labour in his TV programmes.

Dr Bonnici said the appointment of people having different political backgrounds had worked well.