Former journalist Jesmond Saliba has been appointed Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations.

The government had announced its intention to appoint Saliba to the post last month.  He will fill a role vacated by Anthony Abela Medici.

Saliba has extensive experience in the public, private and voluntary sectors and is the founder of a policy, communications and strategy consultancy firm. He sits on the board of Dar tal-Providenza and forms part of the management team of Fondazzjoni Sebħ, and also served as president of the Malta Volleyball Association. 

The Office of the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations was set up in 2007, with academic Kenneth Wain becoming the first person to serve as NGO Commissioner.

Wain stepped down from that role in 2018 and was succeeded by forensic science expert Anthony Abela Medici. 

Abela Medici handed in his resignation in July after he flagged concerns to the auditor general that some voluntary organisations had received compliance certificates in previous years despite almost 2,000 annual returns going unvetted between 2012 and 2020. 

Malta Today reported that Abela Medici faced government pressure to withdraw his request to the NAO.