Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi’s directive to Enemalta Corporation to immediately terminate the engagement of a police inspector led to a lengthy game of ping-pong yesterday between the leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister.
The inspector, Daniel Zammit, was boarded out in what the Opposition said was a speedy procedure and then engaged in the corporation’s internal audit department on a salary of €60,000.
Dr Busuttil repeatedly asked pointedly about the engagement of Dr Mizzi’s wife, Sai Liang, without a call for applications, at a pay of €13,000 a month, and just as repeatedly, Dr Muscat said Ms Mizzi should be judged by the results she was achieving.
The Prime Minister said Dr Busuttil would presently be visiting China and he would be able to see those results for himself. In next few weeks, he would be invited to the local launch of just one such achievement.
Claudette Buttigieg (PN) referred to Dr Mizzi’s “It’s not on” about the police inspector and asked how and why “It was on” for his wife. Intervening, Dr Muscat said Dr Buttigieg had received the same monthly amount as Ms Mizzi from Super One, Labour’s broadcasting station, after her company went bankrupt. It was not fair to attack Dr Mizzi like this.
Dr Busuttil asked: “If the government felt the engagement of Inspector Zammit with Enemalta was not what it stood for, why did it not feel the same way about Ms Mizzi’s engagement?”
Dr Muscat said the government was not usually informed of boarding-out procedures for reasons of the individual’s privacy. Enemalta did not have access to police data, and vice-versa.
Dr Mizzi said that the fundamental issue was not the former inspector’s engagement in the corporation’s internal audit department handling theft of electricity, but the fact that boarding out meant one was not fit for their assigned duties.
The PM said it was not an issue of payment. He wondered what Dr Busuttil used to be paid as head of MIC, to which he was appointed by the previous government. People in the former PN government used to be given consultancies while holding on to their executive jobs. Everyone had a right to criticise, but to do so without looking at results was “very cheap”.
While being warned by Speaker Anġlu Farrugia not to repeat questions, Dr Busuttil said the Prime Minister seemed to see nothing wrong with a direct engagement without a call for applications.
Dr Muscat retorted that Dr Busuttil himself had been selected for his MIC job without such a call. The government did not judge people by their identities, spouses or siblings. He could name many people whom the government had kept on in appointments or on contracts given to them by the previous administration.
To Opposition MPs’ applause and government MPs’ derision, Dr Busuttil said a future PN government would not accept the spouse of any minister without public calls for applications. How had the government known that Ms Mizzi was the best person for the job?
Dr Muscat said it was in the same way that former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi had felt that a person related to him, to an Opposition member and even to a present government member should be made head of the Foundation for Medical Services.
Dr Busuttil said the person alluded to was paid just €7,000 a year and was not any government stalwart’s spouse. What about meritocracy? The government had never told the House what results Ms Mizzi had achieved. The Prime Minister replied that while Dr Busuttil had been given about €1 million in direct orders under the PN government, Ms Mizzi was being paid the same as any ambassador and much less than Dr Gonzi’s right-hand man, Richard Cachia Caruana, who was also called “ambassador”. He was not miffed by criticism for having kept people on the government’s payroll from the previous administration.
Dr Busuttil said the Prime Minister was lying when he said he had received €1 million in direct orders and he had instituted four libel actions to this effect. It would have been very good if Ms Mizzi had achieved the same results as Mr Cachia Caruana. Had it not been for him, Dr Muscat would not have been flying to and from Brussels. Through Mr Cachia Caruana, Malta had received €2.5 billion from Europe for modernisation.
Dr Muscat said he thought it had been Dr Gonzi who had got over €1 billion for Malta.
The back-and-forth was eventually cut short by the Speaker when question time ran out.