Details of people holding a position of trust should be made public, the Malta Employers’ Association has reiterated. 

The MEA said that it was incongruous for the government to be secretive about people it hired itself, while on the other hand pushing for pay transparency and equal pay for equal work in the private sector.

“This position casts serious doubts on the manner in which these persons are recruited and also their output,” it said.

While every government had to engage people on a trust basis, this could not be used as a premise for cronyism for a privileged circle of people, the employers' lobby group argued. 

In many cases, employees quit productive roles in the private sector to take up lucrative positions in the public sector, being paid substantially more than what is allowed in the public sector salary structure, for doing practically nothing.

"This is an important aspect of good governance," the MEA said, noting that the government was duty-bound to be accountable for how taxpayers’ money is used. 

It said it made numerous proposals about the matter over the past years, including setting a limit to the number of persons that can hold such positions, full disclosure of remuneration packages, qualifications held, and periodical auditing to assess whether such persons are actually fulfilling assigned tasks and the time they have spent on them. 

The MEA appealed for consensus between the political parties on this matter so that abuses are curbed irrespective of who is in power.