MCAST ICT lecturers given secret bonus for 18 years
The top-up was originally introduced in 2006 in an effort to help MCAST’s ICT institute attract and retain staff
A long-hidden €8,000 annual top-up paid to ICT lecturers at MCAST was unfair and showed serious problems in the way the college was being run, the Ombudsman has found in a report sent to parliament.
The report says the extra pay was awarded in secret for 18 years, with no explanation given to other staff members.
An investigation concluded there had been “maladministration” and a “lack of transparency” at Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology over the scheme.
The top-up was originally introduced in 2006 by the PN government of the time, in an effort to help MCAST’s ICT institute attract and retain staff when the private sector was offering much better salaries. It was approved during planning for the Smart City project, which was originally envisaged as a major IT hub.
The Gonzi government approved the special allowance exclusively for ICT lecturers provided they had certain qualifications – or could obtain them after being hired.
A 2023 tribunal hearing unrelated to the Ombudsman investigation, found that because the Smart City project “did not turn out as expected, it cannot be said... that such an incentive... is still needed”.
But while the lecturers were told about the allowance when they joined, it was never made public, mentioned in job adverts or added to any collective agreements.
A lecturer first raised the matter with the Ombudsman in June, alleging the bonus was being granted to “handpicked” colleagues after completing brief training courses.
The Ombudsman confirmed the existence of the scheme, and the report said the top-up had been “buried” in the “arcane internal administrative structure of MCAST”.It said the secrecy meant other employees couldn’t make informed choices about their careers and had no way of asking about equal treatment. Its investigation said the lack of transparency was “improperly discriminatory and wrong in principle”.
“Such secrecy is also wrong in principle, since it flies in the face of transparency, especially where public funds are involved,” the Ombudsman said.“It is difficult to determine whether this secrecy was and is deliberate, in which case it amounts to blatant subterfuge, or the result of crass negligence. Either way, it raises serious issues of maladministration".
Despite calling on MCAST principal Stephen Vella to publish details of the payments, the college did not act. Education Minister Clifton Grima was also sent a copy of the letter addressed to Vella. The Ombudsman then raised the issue with the prime minister in April but said “no action was taken”.
As a result, the report was sent directly to parliament. “It beggars belief that the secrecy surrounding this top-up allowance has been going on for so many years,” the Ombudsman said.The parliamentary watchdog said that throughout its investigation MCAST had been “hard pressed" to justify staff outside the ICT Institute not knowing about the allowance, which it said raised “serious issues of transparency and accountability”.