Ombudsman Joseph Said Pullicino is questioning whether the practice conforms to the Constitution. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

The Ombudsman intends to pursue the issue of people appointed to the public service in positions of trust, saying he had already alerted Parliament on the need to address it.

This position was outlined by the Ombudsman, Chief Justice Emeritus Joseph Said Pullicino, in his 2014 Annual Report tabled in Parliament last week.

He says the question has arisen, under successive administrations, of whether the practice to appoint persons from outside the public service on a position of trust conforms to the Constitution.

“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.”

It has been a longstanding practice that staff within ministerial secretariats are recruited on the basis of trust, without resort to calls for applications.

But Malta’s supreme law stipulates that employment with government should follow a public call.

The Constitution also lays down that, in recruiting officers from outside the public service, no distinction can be made on the basis of political opinion, with the employment being made “solely in the best interests of the public service and of the nation generally”.

The Ombudsman says the major political parties have sanctioned the practice, which is also subject to regulations.

“While there is agreement that an element of personal trust is inherent in certain positions to ensure the correct implementation of policies, there are obviously sharp disagreements on the extent of the use or abuse of this procedure.”

He adds that the controversy that has arisen over the years under successive administrations is sometimes fuelled by a reluctance to provide information on the conditions of service of those appointed in positions of trust.

Last March, the Times of Malta had reported that the number of employees recruited directly in these posts had reached 184 under the Labour government, with some given the vague job description “to do what is necessary”.

Concerns have been raised over the limits that should regulate such employment, what is the right definition of position of trust

Among those employees was a dog handler recruited by former minister Manuel Mallia, a ‘China liaison expert’ employed by the Ministry for Education and a full-time driver by the non-executive chairman of the Malta Sports Council (Labour MP Luciano Busuttil). Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella employed a charwoman in his ministry on a person-of-trust basis.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had defended the direct recruitment, saying he had a right to choose his office cleaner, as he needed to trust them

Last September, in his ‘Ombudsplan 2015’, Dr Said Pullicino had said the issue merited a debate in Parliament, as “an area of concern and an important matter of public interest”.

During the previous administration, the Ombudsman had also voiced concerns about the lack of clear parameters governing positions of trust, with the widening of the definition possibly leading to lack of transparency and accountability.

The constitutionality of positions of trust has also been raised in previous years by the Public Service Commission (PSC).

In its 2012 annual report, it said that “if this practice were to continue, it would represent a mechanism to bypass the provisions of the Constitution on the appointment of public officers”.

The PSC’s latest report, however, made no comment about the practice.