The recent appointment of former Labour MP Deborah Schembri as the new director-general for the Malta Developers Association has raised a few eyebrows.
The ink on (former PN MP) Marthese Portelli’s resignation had barely dried when news of Portelli’s move to a key post at the Chamber of Commerce triggered a lightning-quick change of guard.
The MDA, one of Malta’s most powerful lobbies, can thus boast of engaging the services of two former Members of Parliament, both of them with extensive knowledge of the Planning Authority.
While Portelli had been the PN’s representative on the PA board – voting, among others, against the case officer’s recommendation to refuse a Joseph Portelli hotel in Mellieħa – Schembri spent the last few years offering “legal services” to clients.
This consultancy, which saw her join forces with fellow lawyer, architect and planning expert Robert Musumeci, included the provision of services to the government of Malta and its authorities, while both were already employed as consultants to the Lands Authority and also representing it in court.
Government consultants representing an authority should not be offering private consultancy services in the field of planning – which by extension, may involve Lands – since this can create a multitude of conflicts of interest.
Schembri’s appointment at the MDA, however, betrays a lack of consideration for the concept of revolving doors.
The construction lobby swooped quickly onto the lawyer to replace Portelli, who had already drawn the ire of some in her former party.
In Schembri’s case, her knowledge of the Lands Department amounts to an unfair advantage for the developers’ lobby, at a time when green areas and open spaces – not to mention town cores – are under sustained pressure from construction.
The new director-general is a very powerful weapon in the MDA’s hands, whose interests are clear for all to see especially after its behaviour in the run-up to the setting up of the Building and Construction Authority.
It would have been prudent, for Schembri and Portelli alike, to spend some time out on gardening leave instead of switching sides so quickly: both have moved from a role meant to represent and serve the common citizen, to the role of lobbyist for powerful private interests.
Even more surprising was former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s endorsement of Schembri’s appointment. While MDA supremo Sandro Chetcuti has remained silent, it seems that Muscat has stepped in to offer some much-needed PR support to the embattled MDA, especially in the light of the bad press surrounding Chetcuti after the Fomm ir-Riħ saga. What interest should a political grandee have in the doings of a private lobby, too often accused of being in cahoots with politicians?
Conflicts of interest seem to be the norm, however, in the eternal affair between politics and construction. In April, Minister Aaron Farrugia announced the formation of a new Building and Construction Authority, replacing the recently set up Building and Construction Agency, mysteriously chaired by Minister Ian Borg’s right-hand man, Jesmond Zammit.
Despite the MDA confirming (through Portelli herself) that they had no interest in a seat on the BCA board, the list of nominees includes Denise Micallef Xuereb, daughter of construction magnate Angelo Xuereb and AX Holdings director, and also vice-president of the Malta Developers Association. While it remains unclear as to what led to this appointment, the triple conflict of interest faced by Micallef Xuereb is clear for all to see.
Schembri may be a very good replacement for Portelli, and possibly more than that. She brings to the MDA a wealth of knowledge about lands and planning; a substantial baggage that will further shift the balance in what is a badly lopsided playing field.