Labour members of a parliamentary have blocked a proposal to ask the government to publish the names of the tourism and Gozo ministry’s consultants after the controversy over Amanda Muscat's job.
The Public Accounts Committee is currently discussing a National Audit Office report into the film industry as well as the tourism and Gozo ministry’s accounts.
It follows a standards commission report into how former tourism minister Clayton Bartolo's now-wife, Muscat, was hired on a lucrative consultancy contract, first in his ministry and later at the Gozo ministry.
The report found that Muscat was employed in a job she was not qualified for and did not do, while earning €62,000 at the tourism ministry and then €68,000 at the Gozo ministry.
On Tuesday, the PAC discussed a proposal by committee chair and PN MP Darren Carabott and asked for the names of those who were appointed as consultants, chief policy advisors, and heads of secretariats for the Gozo and tourism ministries between 2020 and 2024.
But the government’s members in the parliamentary committee voted down the request, saying it was nothing more than a “fishing expedition” meant for political purposes.
“The PAC’s role is to scrutinise public spending and should not be used as a fishing expedition or to persecute people who are doing their job in the public sector,” PL MP Alex Muscat said as he registered the government’s objection. PL MPs Andy Ellul and Glenn Bedingfield similarly argued that there is no point asking advisors to testify in front of the committee if they had no decision-making roles or the power to make financial decisions.
Carabott, however, argued that consultants, who are paid by the taxpayer for the advice they give should be answerable to the PAC’s scrutiny.
“The opposition is understanding that the members of the government want to keep the list of advisors who are paid via public funds a mystery,” he said.
‘Send a parliamentary question’- Alex Muscat
PL backbench MP Muscat suggested that the opposition should send parliamentary questions (PQs) if they wanted to know who the advisors in a particular ministry are.
PN MPs have asked most ministers for information about how they employ their consultants, often receiving a similar reply that advisors are appointed according to the Manual on Resourcing Policies and Procedures.
In December for example, agriculture Shadow Minister Toni Bezzina asked his opposite number Anton Refalo to state the number of advisors in his ministry, along with their educational qualifications, their expertise, the type of contract they hold, their salaries, allowances, and the number of hours they work per week?
Refalo replied only that the advisors were "employed according to the manual".
Transport minister Chris Bonett, Clayton Bartolo, and Gozo minister Clint Camilleri gave similar replies last year, as did culture minister Owen Bonnici in 2022.
In 2022, Home Affairs minister Byron Camilleri gave information about his advisors, saying he employed two in his ministry who worked 10 and 20 hours a week, respectively, at the government rate of scale 3.