A survey showed there were over 450 people employed as positions of trust in ministries and government entities, including 112 in the Office of the Prime Minister.

On attaining independence, Malta inherited a precious legacy: a first-class civil service. Tragically, between 1971 and 1987 this institution, so vital to the success of any parliamentary democracy, was undermined, stripped of its best people and left demoralised.

Attempts at rebuilding the Maltese public service began in earnest between 1987 and 1996 under the first and second Fenech Adami administrations. But the project lost momentum and it has made only faltering progress since.

What has happened in the last 20 years as a result of the increasing interference by ministers in the public appointment of officials is an object lesson of what occurs when ministers mess with the constitutional rule book on public appointments. The way appointments have been abused is only one of a string of constitutional lacunae where ministers have tampered with institutions at their peril, not least where so-called positions of trust (POTs) have been concerned.

The Public Service Commission (PSC), which inter alia is responsible for appointments to and discipline of the public service, had long accepted as justifiable the practice of recruiting political appointees to ministers’ private secretariats on the basis of “trust”, though it ran counter to the strict letter of the Constitution.

The unarguable logic for this was that ministerial secretariats are a critical part of the team supporting ministers since they add a political dimension to the advice and assistance available to them, while reinforcing the political impartiality of the permanent civil service by distinguishing the source of advice and support.

But in 2007, the then Nationalist administration under Lawrence Gonzi went a step further when it arrogated to itself a power that belonged to the PSC by granting “indefinite status” to persons who had been employed on the basis of trust without requiring PSC agreement.

In 2011, the Gonzi administration carried this arrangement a step further by extending the engagement of POTs to those in the public service more widely – not confined solely to those posts employed in ministerial secretariats. Although it was an arrangement introduced ostensibly to be applied in exceptional cases, in practice ministers were able to approve requests for the engagement of anybody as a POT simply on the basis of recommendation.

These positions were filled ignoring the merit principle by eliminating any competitive exercise through a call for applications under the guidance of the PSC as normally required. The irregularity of these appointments was further compounded by the successful incumbents being given fully-fledged public offices without any reference to the PSC. They were effectively appointed at the whim of ministers.

When Prime Minister Joseph Muscat came to power four years ago, he found the ground on the appointment of POTs firmly laid. Despite his manifesto commitment to meritocracy, accountability and transparent recruitment, the abusive practice of the appointment of POTs to any department of the public service by ministers was retained. The rot had set in two years before.

The word “trust” has fallen into disrepute and “positions of trust” have become a byword for clientelism

To establish how widespread the system of POTs became, the Malta Independent conducted a comprehensive trawl of government departments in 2015. It concluded that there were over 450 people employed as POTs in ministries and other government entities, including 112 in the Office of the Prime Minister.

Posts occupied by those recruited on a trust basis ranged from cleaners, estate keepers and crate-washing service coordinators, to dog-handlers, a crane and forklift operator, a charwoman, a “China liaison expert” and the commandant of the police academy, as well as ministerial secretariats.

The picture is one of widespread abuse of a system which had originally been designed to ensure ministers were able to receive targeted political advice alongside the policy advice being provided by the permanent civil service. Instead, it has developed into the recruitment, on a minister’s decision, of a private army of civil servants designed to favour “clientelism” and to circumvent the PSC’s rules for the selection of officials on the basis of competition and quality standards of entry.

This is the very antithesis of the system which our Constitution was designed to safeguard.

There is a danger that if the Nationalist Party were elected on June 3, they will be tempted to adhere to the bad practice which they themselves introduced some six ago. The pressure from his own party on Simon Busuttil to provide similar “jobs for the boys” will be huge. On the other hand, if the leader of the Opposition is true to his word that he wishes to overturn the bad governance to which Malta has been subjected these last few years, he will resolve to do away with this rotten system.

Will he be strong enough to withstand the pressure to go down the same path?

Trust has been betrayed. The current system is an unregulated wild west. The PSC has been by-passed and gelded. The word “trust” has fallen into disrepute and “positions of trust” have become a byword for clientelism. The name given to POTs is in any case a misnomer since trust is a very elastic word which – as has been the case since 2011 – can be misused to cover for ministerial nepotism and sleaze.

What should happen now? POTs must be replaced by a more ordered and objective method of recruitment, restricted only to specific, named posts perhaps numbering not more than 50 throughout government. The current discredited system should be abolished and replaced by a system of appointment of “Special Political Advisers (SPADs)”. The PSC’s authority and oversight in this field must be re-established, ensuring that the public service is subject to clear and unambiguous laws on accountability.

SPADs should be seen as a critical part of the team supporting ministers. They add a political dimension to the advice and assistance available to ministers.

They should be fully integrated into the functioning and structure of government. They are part of the team working closely alongside civil servants to deliver ministers’ policy priorities. They will also help ministers on matters where the work of government and the work of the party in government overlap, where it would be inappropriate for permanent civil servants to become involved.

SPADs should work closely with the ministerial team and with other civil servants to establish mutual relationships of confidence and trust. Thus, they should give advice and assistance on any aspect of ministerial or departmental business.

They should undertake long-term policy thinking and contribute to policy and media planning within the ministry. They should write speeches and undertake related research, including adding party political content to material provided by permanent civil servants. They may also review and comment upon – but, most importantly, not supplant – advice being prepared for ministers by civil servants.

Most crucially, however, the rotten system of POTs as currently practised must be ended.