Education minister breached ethics code over school promo video

The Education Minister breached the Code of Ethics for Ministers by appearing prominently in a sponsored video promoting the new Msida Primary School, the Standards Commissioner has concluded.

The breach, described as "relatively minor", concerned a video shared on the Ministry of Education’s official Facebook page that featured Clifton Grima 11 times in a 46-second montage showing officials touring the school.

The video, which had no narration and verbal or textual information other than a caption. The caption read: “The new Msida Primary School – the first carbon-neutral public school ever built locally.” The first tag beneath the video linked directly to the minister’s official Facebook page.

The video was sponsored by the ministry and cost €100. 

The investigation was launched following a complaint by Nationalist Party MP Karol Aquilina, who claimed the video amounted to the use of public resources for personal publicity.

The Standards Commissioner concluded that Grima's involvement breached several clauses of the Code of Ethics, including provisions that ministers must respect the political impartiality of the public service and exercise prudence in the use of public funds.

Specifically, the report cites:

• Ministers must keep their roles as Ministers and as Members of Parliament separate, as well as their role as members of a political party.
• Ministers must respect the principle of political impartiality of the public service.
• Diligence – since Ministers administer public assets on behalf of the general public, they must exercise the highest level of diligence, including in the spending of public funds, and must act prudently and diligently in the performance of their duties.
• Ministers must respect the impartiality of the public service and ensure that their influence over the public service is not abused.

The Standards Commissioner also referenced the August 2021 Guidelines on Government Advertising, including a provision that government advertisements should not feature ministers’ names or photographs.

According to the report, Grima was contacted during the inquiry and asked to clarify the cost and production of the video. He said it cost €100. The Commissioner allowed the minister to close the case with a formal apology, but Grima declined, insisting no ethical breach had occurred.

The minister told the commissioner he was not aware the video had been posted online before the complaint was raised.

Since Grima refused to apologise, the Standards Commissioner has referred the case to the Parliamentary Standards Committee, which can now take further action.