President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca’s staff has been boosted in the last year by more than 40 former Enemalta employees, the Times of Malta is informed.
A spokesman for the President explained that the additional staff were necessary in order to make good for posts which had remained vacant during the previous years.
Times of Malta is informed that although most of the former Enemalta employees are highly skilled in various trades – particularly engineering services – they are now doing maintenance jobs and gardening in the three Presidential palaces – San Anton, the Grandmaster’s Palace and Verdala.
“It seems that the government had no place for us any longer at Enemalta. From taking care of the power station, we are now building rubble walls and toiling soil at San Anton,” a 55-year-old employee complained.
We are also being made to do very small odd jobs like cleaning and other things which are very far from what we used to do at Enemalta. However, it’s better than ending up without a job
“We are also being made to do very small odd jobs like cleaning and other things which are very far from what we used to do at Enemalta. However, it’s better than ending up without a job,” another employee at Verdala shrugged.
Times of Malta is informed that the reduction of staff at Enemalta was the result of China’s Shanghai Electric buying a 33 per cent stake from the government in the Maltese state energy company.
From a payroll of some 1,486 in August 2014, the number of employees at Enemalta was slashed to less than 900, saving the company some €10 million a year in wages.
Apart from those who took early retirement, other former Enemalta employees who were not needed were transferred to a newly-formed government entity known as Engineering Resources Ltd. Their wages are now coming out of public coffers.
It is from the latter company that some 44 employees have ended up with the Office of the President.
Asked to state how many employees there are on the books of the new company and to give details of where they are deployed, Fredrick Azzopardi, executive chairman of Enemalta refused to give details.
“It is not Engineering Resources Ltd’s policy to divulge specific details about its employees or the entities it provides services to.”
He also declined to confirm that 44 employees were transferred to the President’s wage bill.
The Office of the President, however, confirmed that its staff increased significantly following the recruitment of the former Enemalta employees.
“Resources for gardening, maintenance and restoration of the three palaces have, over the years, been reduced due to various reasons including old age retirement,” the President’s office said.
“As a result, the Office sent a request to government asking to supplement its depleted workforce to ensure the appropriate maintenance of national palaces,” the office said.
Last year the budget for salaries and wages at the Office of the President was increased by €500,000 annually.