A call for applications for a job the government says is “politically restricted” has raised eyebrows among top civil servants who deem such a condition “strange”.
The vacancy is for the post of senior manager, international affairs at the Ministry for Home Affairs and National Security. Apart from the usual conditions listed when filling senior government posts, this call specifically states that “the position of senior manager (international affairs) is politically restricted”.
Asked to give more details and explain the meaning of this clause, no replies were forthcoming from the ministry.
Times of Malta wanted to know what a “politically restricted” post in the civil service consisted of and sought examples of other similar government vacancies that included such clauses in the past.
However, despite various e-mails and reminders, the ministry failed to reply.
When a colleague of mine enquired, no one was able to give him the exact meaning
A senior public officer, insisting on anonymity, said no one knew what the clause meant.
“When a colleague of mine enquired about it no one was able to give him the exact meaning,” he said.
“We already have hundreds of new government employees recruited on a position of trust basis and hired without any form of application.
“To state that an official post is ‘politically restricted’ is very unusual,” he added.
The government has been facing accusations of increasing the public sector wage bill by employing hundreds of employees on a position of trust basis. According to information given in Parliament, about 400 new government employees were recruited without any call for applications being made.
The new position-of-trust jobs vary from advisers to drivers, messengers and even a dog handler.
NSO data shows that, in the first 21 months of a Labour government, the number of public sector employees grew by 3,000. The latest statistics indicate that, between March 2013 and November 2014, the public sector increased by 2,974 employees, or 142 new ones a month.
This amounts to 26 per cent of the total increase in jobs since March 2013.
During the same period, there were more than 8,000 new jobs in the private sector.