As the government continues to be warned on the way it spends public funds when many struggle to make ends meet, blue-eyed boys and girls enjoy the best of times, literally. They keep getting top jobs accompanied by lucrative pay packages, irrespective of their competence and suitability.
It is musical chairs but with a difference. In musical chairs, one competitor after another is eliminated as chairs are removed. In this game, however, Labour adds more chairs to reward its cronies.
Evidently, planting lackeys in key positions was an intrinsic and crucial part of Joseph Muscat’s much-vaunted road map. It continues to be so.
Soon after first elected to power in 2013, Muscat replaced the police commissioner, held in high esteem for his rectitude. A good number of permanent secretaries were also removed. The engagement of so-called persons of trust was unprecedented. Political appointments became the order of the day.
Granted, certain members of the prime minister’s office and a minister’s private secretariat need to be individuals the incumbent politician trusts blindly. However, the fact that there have been too many political appointees is worrying. At one point, even a security guard, a maintenance officer and a crane/forklift operator had been engaged on the basis of trust.
That had rightly given rise to concerns about the principle of merit and integrity in public administration.
In fact, the Venice Commission commented in 2018 that “any exception to procedures that provide for appointments on merit are a danger to the quality of the civil service, which is the backbone of a democratic state under the rule of law”.
In a resolution two years ago, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe said: “The high number of political appointees and lack of legal regulations governing these positions increases the vulnerability of Malta’s civil service to conflicts of interest and cronyism.”
As the first commissioner for standards in public life had observed, individuals handpicked by the prime minister or ministers owe their jobs to them and may not necessarily be qualified or fit for their post.
“This would politicise Maltese public administration and result in the further lowering of standards of ethical conduct and service delivery,” he had written almost four years ago.
How right he was. Yet, the cronyism continues. Certain jobs keep going to blue-eyed boys. The latest such example was the appointment of unsuccessful Labour MEP candidate Steve Ellul as chief executive officer of Infrastructure Malta. Times of Malta put it so graphically when it said he goes from ‘green to grey’ since he had been Project Green’s CEO before resigning to contest the European elections.
Being a financial analyst and university lecturer, Ellul is, of course, academically qualified. But is he the right man for the job? Surely, this country, notwithstanding its size, has adequate talent to choose from and match a candidate’s competence with the designated role.
Sadly, experience has shown that, rather than appointees aligned to the administration ensuring laws and regulations are implemented and enforced, they bend over backwards to find loopholes to appease the network of friends of friends.
Rather than bringing innovation, fresh air and new approaches to governance that could lead to better public administration, cronies tend to be no more than their master’s voice. The political master’s wish is their command.
The string of political appointments we have been witnessing – and which is likely to continue – clearly indicates that the ‘spoils system’ will not make way for one that is merit-based.