Angelo Gafà’s selection as the next police commissioner has raised widespread concern and scepticism. The selection process adopted by the government for the filling of this sensitive position proves that Prime Minister Robert Abela is determined to continue with his disgraced predecessor’s custom of having a commissioner who suits his whim.
The selection process has been turned into a farce, and the farce is destined to continue after Gafà actually takes office.
A key criterion that had to be satisfied by applicants to be eligible to apply was that of being of a conduct appropriate to the same position. However, beyond all expectations, the Public Services Commission considered former disgraced assistant police commissioner Mario Tonna to be eligible for this highly sensitive position.
It did not seem to matter to the PSC that he was arrested and subsequently resigned from the corps after his partner filed a police report of domestic abuse against him, and that he was later arraigned on charges related to a hit and run after crashing into a number of cars and failing a breathalyser test. [Lawyers for Tonna say he was acquitted in both incidents].
By accepting Tonna’s application, the PSC’s credibility has once again been put into question. It has abused the power conferred upon it by law to exempt an applicant from any particular requirement in a call for applications, and by so doing failed to abide by its constitutional obligation of guiding itself solely in the best interests of the public service and of the nation generally.
It appears that the PSC has a habit of shutting it eyes whenever the name of Tonna comes up before it. In 2013, the newly-appointed members of the PSC chosen by former disgraced prime minister Joseph Muscat had quickly removed a ban on Tonna from seeking further promotion that was imposed upon him the previous year, after the court of criminal appeal had found him guilty of harassing his direct superior officer and refusing to hand over his mobile phones to the police when requested to do so.
The PSC continued to behave suspiciously when it failed to communicate the result of the selection process to the participating candidates by means of personal correspondence, according to normal procedure adopted in the selection for a top public service position. Police Inspector Sandro Camilleri, who was a candidate, said he only got to know through the media, like anyone else, that Gafà had been chosen for the position by the cabinet.
Here it is pertinent to point out that the particular selection process for police commissioner entailed a stage of short-listing of applicants, where the PSC was required to select two candidates who in its opinion were the most suitable for the position.
We know that Gafà was one of these two candidates, but it has not been disclosed who was the other short-listed candidate and why the cabinet, whose members are currently all under a criminal investigation, preferred Gafà to the other candidate.
This secretive attitude raises suspicions, particularly when considering that in 2016 Gafà was selected for the newly-created position of CEO within the Malta Police Force, with a contract that was never published and that was confirmed after three years. This position appears to have been meaningless and created solely to provide Gafà with a stepping stone for the post of police commissioner.
Ironically enough, at that time the Labour government, headed by Muscat, said that the position of CEO had the aim of relieving then police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar from the burden of the administration of the corps, thus (sic) allowing him to concentrate on investigations.
Angelo Gafà will either accept to be submissive to the prime minister like his predecessor or else risk getting sacked- Denis Tanti
Cutajar however, was reluctant to investigate reports by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit that exposed serious suspicions of financial crime relating to Muscat’s top aide Keith Schembri and to former minister Konrad Mizzi.
Under Cutajar’s watch the country has plummeted down Transparency International’s annual corruption perception index, placing it well below the average for EU and Western European countries.
Gafà is known to be very close to Cutajar and is considered by many as the police commissioner of continuity, just as Robert Cutajar has been Muscat’s continuity prime minister. Gafà’s appointment as commissioner of police is further subjected to a parliamentary grilling where questions are submitted beforehand, and to a favourable recommendation by the Public Appointments Committee following a hearing. These are tests that Gafà is expected to pass without difficulty considering the government’s majority representation.
The real test for Gafà will start when he takes office. The government seems to be taking no chances and has reduced the police commissioner’s current five-year tenure to four against the recommendation of the Venice Commission, and subjected the position holder to a one-year probation period.
Dangling before him Gafà will find a carrot since he can be ousted out from his position anytime during his probationary period if he fails to live up to Abela’s expectations, while his maximum 20 per cent project-based allowance and 15 per cent performance bonus can be slashed anytime by Principal Permanent Secretary and Cabinet Secretary Mario Cutajar.
Recent past experience shows that Gafà may well be facing a Hobson’s choice: Either accept to be submissive to the prime minister like his predecessor or else risk getting sacked without even the need for a reason to be given.
Denis Tanti is a former assistant director, Ministry for Health.