Taxpayers are forking out more than €1 million a year to cover the salaries and perks enjoyed by more than 30 spokespersons employed by the government – which for this newspaper has a poor reputation for answering its questions.

By comparison, the European Commission – which has to deal with media enquiries from 28 Member States – has 20 spokespersons, 22 assistants and 34 press officers.

The local number of spokespersons is well in excess of the parameters set in the ministerial code of ethics issued two years ago, which states that ministries are only allowed one “communications secretary” each.

Despite having this army of communications people at its disposal, by the time of writing the Office of the Prime Minister had not yet replied to questions about the same issue sent by The Sunday Times of Malta two weeks ago.

In the media section of Malta’s EU Council presidency website, the number of “spokespersons” is given as a total of 30, of whom six are employed with the Prime Minister’s Office.

Apart from the government’s head of communications, Kurt Farrugia, the OPM list includes a deputy head and another five coordinators.

The office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Louis Grech, is next with three officers bearing the same designation.

The website goes on to list the names of 16 communications coordinators engaged by the various ministries and parliamentary secretariats. However, a Who’s Who guide downloaded separately from the presidency website names different spokespersons for two of the ministries, Justice and Home Affairs.

The local number of spokespersons is well in excess of the parameters set in the ministerial code of ethics

The former told this newspaper he was exclusively catering for questions related to EU presidency matters, while his colleague at the Home Affairs Ministry dealt with local issues.

The guide also lists five Brussels-based spokespersons: one each for the two Committees of Permanent Representatives (Coreper I and II), a technical attaché, a media and marketing director and a press officer.

These bring the overall total to 33.

Excluding the Brussels-based posts, the remaining number of coordinators is well above that laid down in the revised Ministerial Code of Ethics published in 2015.

According to this guide, there should only be a head of government communication within the Prime Minister’s secre-tariat and just one spokesman within each ministry’s secretariat. Extending this set-up to include parliamentary secretaries as well, there should be no more than 22 spokespersons, whereas in reality there are 28.

The code of ethics also states that the head of government communications shall receive an annual salary of approximately €34,000, an overtime allowance of €5,900, a €4,658 transport allowance or car, a free telephone and a further allowance of €1,630.

As for the ministry spokespersons, they are entitled to a basic €25,000 salary, a further €4,700 as overtime allowance, free telephone and a car allowance.

Based on conservative estimates, the total wage bill for the entire group of 33 spokespersons would exceed €1 million per year.

Two weeks ago, this newspaper asked the Office of the Prime Minister why so many spokespersons were engaged, despite the capping established by the ministerial code of ethics.

The OPM was also asked if these coordinators had been employed on a temporary basis for the duration of the six-month EU Council presidency or permanently.

Despite various reminders, no reply had been received by the time of writing.

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