There appears to be no end to the abuses taking place today, some,apparently, even with the blessing ofthe administration.
It is a first-class scandal if, as it has been reported, the staff employed on a position-of-trust basis in the private secretariats of two former government ministers have been retained in the government service elsewhere.
Yet, there has been nary a whisper about this, a matter that, by all accounts, ought to have stirred outrage at the extent to which the system of employing people in positions of trust is being abused. No wonder the Ombudsman has been repeatedly drawing attention to what has become a standard practice by successive administrations.
Judging by the kind of positions of trust that have been created, there is hardly any doubt that the system is being grossly abused. Keen Labour supporters may take comfort in the fact that the Opposition party had done the same in its time but Joseph Muscat promised to do things differently when he asked for the people’s trust in him in the 2013 general election.
He had undertaken that, if elected, he would go for meritocracy, transparency and accountability. His government has so far failed miserably on the three counts as more examples of poor governance emerge, not to mention scandals as the so-called Gaffarena deal.
Dr Muscat admits his government has made mistakes but the wrongdoing being resorted to can hardly be described as ordinary errors. Members of former ministers’ secretariats are not retained and employed elsewhere by mistake.
There has to be a stop to this blatant political patronage.
Dr Muscat is not only failing to stick to his own pledge over meritocracy but he is torpedoing ethical standards. In his latest report, the Ombudsman remarked that the question had arisen, under successive administrations,of whether the practice to appoint persons from outside the public service on a position of trust conformed to the Constitution.
He said: “If it does so conform, concerns have been raised over the limits that should regulate such employment, what is the right definition of position of trust and whether the degree of trust should be related to the position or to the person authorising such employment.”
In just one paragraph, the Ombudsman, Chief Justice Emeritus Joseph Said Pullicino, succinctly summed up what needs to be done to stop abuse and put the system on a firm basis. Yes, there must be a limit to the number of people that ministers ought to employ in their secretariats. It will be up to the drafters of the rules and regulations to see how this limit is to be worked out.
Laying down a limit will reduce the possibility of a minister going overboard when making political appointments in his secretariat.
As to the definition of position of trust, this too ought to be well laid down. Should a dog handler and a cleaner qualify for positions of trust? It seems some Cabinet members think they can fool people all the time, which is not the case, as Dr Muscat must be learning to his cost.
As to the third point raised by the Ombudsman, that is, whether the degree of trust should be related to the position itself or to the person authorising the employment, it would seem at first consideration that it should be related to both.
Clearly, it is time to put an end to this charade, done at the expense of the taxpayer.