The Nationalist Party this morning urged the government to explain the reasons which led to the resignation of Brian Montebello, permanent secretary at the Environment Ministry.

Mr Montebello was one of the permanent secretaries appointed by the government after the March general election.

The PN asked whether a number of ministers were unhappy with the work of their permanent secretaries but had not been removed following insistence by Mario Cutajar, the head of the civil service.

The party said the indications were that the choice of the new permanent secretaries was not a good one since it was not made on the basis of meritocracy. Instead, the civil service had been politicised.

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