Labour is passing a bill that will transform MCAST into an autocratic institution, under the direct control of the minister. As the opposition was distracted by the Prudente case, Labour stealthily proposed Bill no. 35. The bill amending the Education Act is straight out of China’s Uyghur re-education strategy.

“A member of the board of governors (of MCAST) may at any time be removed by the minister,” Labour’s proposed bill reads. That is shocking enough. But there’s far worse. The minister will have the authority to sack any board member “if such member is disruptive and or a source of frequent conflict causing hindrance to the proper functioning of the board”.

But that wasn’t sufficiently tyrannical. Labour needed to give the minister absolute power. The bill gives the minister the power to kick out any board member “for any other reason due to which the member would no longer be fit to occupy such office, which shall include a breach of confidentiality”.

That clause means one thing and one thing alone. If you are on the board, you will do the minister’s bidding, whether you like it or not. And if you squeal on any of the multiple violations committed at MCAST, you’re finished.

Of course, it’s highly unlikely that any MCAST board members will displease the minister. Because the minister picks practically every single member of that board. The new bill increases the number of board members to 13, with the possibility of appointing a further three “senior advisors… to assist the Board of Governors in its work”.

Needless to say, all 13 board members and three senior advisors will receive their financial remuneration out of taxpayers’ money, thanks to the minister.

Who are these 13 board members? The president of the board is chosen by the prime minister. The vice president is chosen by the minister. Another three members of the board will be chosen by the minister too.

Another member is Malta Enterprise chairman William Wait, Konrad Mizzi’s golden boy. The chairperson of the National Skills Council, also chosen by the minister, is another. To ensure absolute control, the minister will have his very own permanent secretary sitting on the board.

Labour cannot tolerate the rule of law. Its ministers must have absolute power and total control- Kevin Cassar

The permanent secretary’s role should be to oversee the functioning of institutions that fall under the remit of his ministry. How could he possibly do so if he is a board member of MCAST himself? But Labour’s not fussed about proper checks and balances. It’s only interested in asserting absolute control over another major educational institution hosting thousands of young people.

It gets worse. The board, which is entirely at the mercy of the minister, chooses who becomes the principal of MCAST. The selection will not be based on academic brilliance, educational expertise or merit. The choice won’t be through a rigorous external call and a thorough peer-reviewed process. No. It will just be at the total discretion of the board.

The problem is that the principal himself will decide who becomes his deputy. “Deputy principal means the person or persons designated by the principal to support his office.” There won’t be an open competitive call to fill those deputy principal posts either. It will just be the principal who decides.

Sadly, that principal has been given devastating and terrifying powers. The principal will have the power to advise the minister’s hand-picked board to sack any academic working at MCAST. The principal can also recommend the sacking of any administrative staff member.

The bill does not specify reasons why the board should “abolish any post of an academic”. Presumably for the same reasons the minister might kick out board members – for being disruptive, or causing conflict, or for any other reason.

MCAST’s recent past sheds light on the reasons for the draconian bill Labour is proposing. When Peter Gatt, a renowned geologist, voiced concerns about the curriculum, his post was vindictively terminated with immediate effect. Gatt had been teaching at MCAST since 2014. When he criticised the syllabus of a unit on which he lectured, MCAST turned its powerful ammunition on him. In a clear attempt to destroy him, he was given no timetable and no students to teach.

The deputy principal of the college ordered him not to contact students. The principal ordered notices to be affixed to MCAST’s main entrance displaying a photo of Gatt and ordering security guards to bar him from entering the premises. That picture and attached memo were visible to all students and staff entering the college.

Not surprisingly, the education ombudsman ruled that this “was an act which was oppressive and tantamount to degrading treatment”. Instead of relenting and backing down, MCAST vindictively decided to terminate Gatt’s employment on June 11, 2021. But he was only informed on June 17 and told that the next working day would be his last.

Gatt took his case to court. The court found that MCAST had terminated Gatt’s employment vindictively. It barred MCAST from demoting him by transferring him, one of its most experienced and qualified lecturers, to a secondary school. The court found that MCAST’s decision was abusive and breached Gatt’s rights. The judge highlighted both the financial and psychological impact of MCAST’s abuse on Gatt.

MCAST cynically claimed it ‘transferred’ Gatt “with the sole intention of utilising his skills and competencies more appropriately”. The court wasn’t fooled. “The court cannot fail to observe that such an ‘altruistic’ intention on the part of MCAST is certainly tarnished, if not irreversibly tainted”.

More than a year later, MCAST continues to defy the court’s ruling.

Labour cannot tolerate the rule of law. Its ministers must have absolute power and total control. No ombudsman, no court is going to interfere in who they kick out, who they ruin. Nobody is going to force them to keep a stickler amongst their staff.

The utterly appalling Bill 35 is nothing short of the legalisation of oppression and degrading treatment. But barely anybody will notice, until it’s too late.

Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.

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