Half of the new employees in entities and authorities falling under Silvio Schembri’s Economy Ministry are from electoral districts the MP contested in the last election, according to information tabled in parliament.
Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri and Agriculture Minister Anton Refalo also have new employees disproportionately hailing from localities they contested in the 2022 election.
The information was revealed after Nationalist MP Mark Anthony Sammut asked each minister to state how many new workers were employed in authorities and entities their ministries are responsible for since the last general election.
Education Minister Clifton Grima and Health Minister Chris Fearne have yet to provide figures.
Of 145 new employees in entities and authorities under the Economy Ministry, 73 hail from the sixth and seventh districts, and 36 of those are from Qormi.
Schembri was elected from both districts in 2022 and chose to resign his seventh district seat. The sixth district consists of Qormi, parts of Żebbuġ, Siġġiewi, and Luqa. Dingli, parts of Żebbuġ, Mġarr, Mtarfa, Rabat, and Baħrija make up the seventh district.
Byron Camilleri’s Home Affairs Ministry saw over 500 employees joining entities and authorities such as the Local Enforcement Systems Agency, the Police Force and the Correctional Services.
Just over a quarter of new employees were from constituencies Camilleri contested in the last general election, districts two and four.
Vittoriosa, Senglea, Cospicua, Xgħajra, Żabbar and parts of Fgura make up the second district. Tarxien, Gudja, parts of Fgura, Santa Luċija, and Paola are in the fourth district.
Twenty-nine new employees in entities and authorities under the Home Affairs Ministry’s hail from Fgura. Camilleri was elected mayor of the town in 2010.
In Anton Refalo’s Agriculture Ministry, only 15 new employees joined bodies that fall under the ministry, but 10 are from Gozo.
Refalo, a former minister for Gozo, is a veteran Gozitan politician having first been elected to parliament in 1987.