It is a pity Harry Fenech (June 30) decided to respond in the public domain now and not through a handover, as he was asked to do a number of times by the treasurer and by the MCCF accountants, Spiteri Baileys, for continuation’s sake.

It is also strange he refers “to regularising collective agreements going back to 2002” when these were definitely not within his competence because such agreements appertained to the staff at the Office of the President and not to Kitchen Garden employees.

He stated that “this cast aspersions on the work of several of her predecessors”.

This is very unjust and many can vouch that the sole aim of this Presidency is to enhance the sterling work that had been done by previous presidents.

Reference was not made to the opening of the Kitchen Garden but to articles published by Times of Malta (‘President denies claims over his Kitchen Garden – allegations of maladministration, poor service ‘unfounded’’, November 13, 2012) and by The Malta Independent (‘Kitchen Garden staff list grievances to President’, October 17, 2012), whereby employees reported a number of grievances including about work practices and wage calculations etc.

Only one employee has, to date, confirmed he had a contract of service with the Kitchen Garden.

Spiteri Baileys and KPMG, the audit firm, together with the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations, confirmed they were never aware of any contracts of service for Kitchen Garden employees.

If Fenech knew of any files and documentation on the matter, it would have been much easier for him to hand them over.

Unfortunately, his response may cause more confusion rather than ensure continuation and convey accurate facts.

Hence, MCCF will not indulge in further public replies and invites Fenech to discuss further if he truly wants to help out.

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