All serving permanent secretaries were yesterday asked to consider tendering their resignation in the first substantive move by the newly appointed head of the civil service.
This was a courtesy request to allow the Prime Minister serenity of knowing people will deliver the Government’s agenda
The request was made by the outgoing principal permanent secretary, Godwin Grima, on instructions from Mario Cutajar, the person designated to replace him.
The permanent secretaries, who head the civil service within each ministry, serve on three-year contracts but, although they can be removed by the Prime Minister at will, they are not political appointees and unlike chairmen are not expected to step down with a change of government.
The move, which has drawn a sharp reaction in the civil service, comes only a day after the announcement of Mr Cutajar’s appointment, which had itself created ripples on account of his former roles in the GWU and the Labour Party.
The OPM said Mr Cutajar would replace Dr Grima both as head of the civil service and Cabinet secretary but there would be a transitional period in which the ex-GWU official would act as designate.
“While it is understandable for a new Labour government to want a person of its trust to head the civil service, Mr Cutajar’s former role in the party runs against the impartiality expected from this position,” a civil service source told The Times.
The Office of the Prime Minister defended both Mr Cutajar’s appointment and the request for the permanent secretaries to resign. Through his experience in different sectors, Mr Cutajar over the years forged good relations with trade unions and employers alike, a spokesman for the OPM said.
Beyond this, in the different managerial roles he occupied within the civil service, he was never accused of mixing his political beliefs with his work.
On the request for the permanent secretaries to step down, the spokesman said: “This was a courtesy request for them to consider resigning to allow the Prime Minister serenity of knowing that the people in place will deliver the Government’s agenda.”
He insisted that the Government was wary of giving a shock to the system. “Some resignations may not be accepted and the Permanent Secretaries have already been told that the people whose resignation is accepted will be given the opportunity to indicate where they would like to work within the service.”
The new Labour government appears to be fearful of making “the same mistakes” of Labour’s 1996-1998 administration, which saw former Prime Minister Alfred Sant accuse elements of the civil service of sabotage.
But civil service insiders still complained about the message sent by the changes. “Putting a former Labour Party official at the helm of the civil service and asking for the permanent secretaries to resign so early into government simply jars with Labour’s electoral campaign slogan of Malta for all,” a high ranking civil servant said.
In an ideal world, permanent secretaries are meant to give government continuity when there is a change of political masters, be it the departure of a minister or a government as is the case now, he said.
“However, this move flies in the face of this concept.”
Another civil service source, more sympathetic to Labour’s concerns, said that while he understood the Government’s wish to change the “PN-leaning line-up of civil service leaders it inherited after almost 25 years of uninterrupted Nationalist administrations”, the haste could end up antagonising people and create the sort of problems Labour appears to be keen on tackling.
Mr Cutajar first joined the civil service in 1976 but he was eventually seconded to the General Workers’ Union in 1992, where he served as deputy secretary general before he fell out with union chief Tony Zarb in 2002.
He also worked in the secretariat of former MEP Glenn Beddingfield during his short stint in Brussels.
He recently edited Dom Mintoff’s biography for the Labour Party’s publishing arm and curated an exhibition on Labour’s history at the party headquarters.