Opinion: All in the family

Minister Miriam Dalli appointed Minister Roderick Galdes’ wife to Wasteserv’s board of directors despite her complete lack of qualifications, expertise, or knowledge in waste management.

Minister Anton Refalo gave Minister Chris Bonett’s wife, Maxilene Bonett, her fourth government job as his consultant.  He also appointed Minister Clayton Bartolo’s girlfriend, now his wife and former bank clerk, as his consultant too.

Silvio Schembri appointed Minister Owen Bonnici’s partner and Andy Ellul’s partner to the Board of Directors of Kordin Grain Terminal. Both know absolutely nothing about grain or terminals. One is a social worker, and the other is a communications graduate.

The Shift revealed all of these cases, and it was crystal clear to everybody what was going on. Ministers and parliamentary secretaries are precluded from appointing their own partners and wives to government boards and entities, so they got their Cabinet colleagues to appoint them for them.

Decent citizens were appalled at the flagrant abuse, but the Standards Commissioner decided there was nothing wrong.

The Standards Commissioner was asked to investigate the sleazy arrangement between Cabinet friends. He’s now issued his pathetic decision, which is just six pages long. He concluded that no ethics breach was committed by any of those ministers.

According to him, those appointments were absolutely and entirely ethical. What’s his excuse this time?  How did he extricate himself from this one?

Article 8.6 of the ministerial code of ethics, the Commissioner explained, states that “no minister should partake in decisions that affect members of his own family or persons close to him”. So, you see, those ministers didn’t do anything wrong.  There was no breach of ethics. They didn’t appoint their own wives and girlfriends – just those of their Cabinet colleagues.

Besides, Commissioner Azzopardi pointed out that the Code of Ethics does not explicitly prohibit ministers from appointing the wives or partners of their Cabinet colleagues to government positions. He also said there are no specific criteria for the appointment of board directors of governmental entities and companies.

So, ministers can appoint whomever they like, whether incompetent or unfit.  “The law and established procedure gives the minister wide discretion regarding appointments to Boards of Directors,” the Commissioner said in his report.

Ministers are like little emperors, the Commissioner seems to think, appointing their courtiers and advisors on their own whims. They don’t need to think about the public good or the welfare of the State. They can do whatever they please. And now, the Standards Commissioner has reassured them that their reckless disregard for the national interest is all above board.

The Standards Commissioner closed the case. There were no ethics breaches here, he ruled. There was nothing to see. Of course, there was plenty to see, and it’s entirely hilarious.

Take Miriam Dalli.  She was asked to explain why she appointed Roderick Galdes’ wife as a director of Wasteserv when she did not have the remotest clue about waste management. Dalli told the Commissioner that she wasn’t the one who appointed Joanne Galdes first.  She detailed in her letter to the Commissioner that Galdes was first appointed in September 2021 when Dalli wasn’t the minister responsible.

Dalli argued that it’s not her fault that Galdes’s wife is a director of Wasteserv. The problem with Dalli’s defence is that Galdes’ appointment expired in 2022. Guess who reappointed her director? Yes, the very same minister, Miriam Dalli.

Dalli’s blame-shifting did not work, so she came up with a new excuse. Dalli told the Commissioner that she was satisfied with Joanne Galdes’ performance in her role as director of Wasteserv and found no valid reason not to reappoint her.

Maybe not knowing anything at all about waste management might be one. No training, expertise, or qualifications in the field of waste management or any other field might be others. Just a suggestion, Minister Dalli.

But Silvio Schembri takes the biscuit for the funniest justification for appointing, not one, but two of his cabinet colleagues’ partners as directors at Kordin Grain terminal.

First, Schembri argued that he’s such an important minister that he makes more than 360 appointments to Boards and governmental entities. He told the Commissioner, “Those two appointments only constitute 1/180 or 0.55% of all appointments I made.” How could the Commissioner pick on him for just 0.55% of his appointments?

Schembri then engaged in the most amazing acrobatics to explain how Remenda Grech, Owen Bonnici’s partner, a social worker by profession, was suited to be a director at the Kordin Grain Terminal.

Schembri’s hilarious argument was that since the Kordin terminal provides storage facilities for grain and animal fodder, and since the price paid by the clients of Kordin terminal affects the cost of their products, and since those products are used in the production of food, such as flour and animal feed, which determine the price of bread and meat, then surely the social aspect is very important for Kordin Grain terminal.

That’s exactly what Schembri wrote to the Commissioner.  Read it for yourself. It’s document F in the Commissioner’s report.

But that wasn’t all.  Schembri told the Commissioner that the fact that Remenda Grech was director of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services “puts her in a strong position to contribute to the Board’s decisions by keeping in mind the social aspect because of the implications of those decisions on the prices of essential products used by local consumers”.

Schembri also argued that Claudia Cuschieri, Andy Ellul’s partner who has a bachelor’s degree in communications, is so great for Kordin Grain terminal because “her experience in media and communications offers benefits and advantages by guiding the Board on how to communicate its decisions, both internally and publicly”.

What’s most shocking is not how daft Schembri’s circuitous excuses are;  it’s that the Standards Commissioner accepts such nonsense.  It’s that the man tasked with maintaining standards can even countenance this brazen drivel.

This is the level of disdain with which Labour’s Cabinet ministers treat the public.  And the Commissioner simply exculpates them from all guilt.  What a sham.