Opinion: Owen’s abject cronyism

“I go for those I believe have the best competencies.  I have faith that Norma Saliba has all the competencies and, in fact, from the feedback I’ve received, there is agreement that Norma Saliba has the necessary competencies.  I have no doubt that Saliba will be carrying out very good work.”

That was Minister Owen Bonnici trying to convince the nation that he appointed Saliba to head his newly hatched Centre of the Maltese Language because she’s “the best”. Nobody’s taken in.

Bonnici appointed Saliba because he had to.  Certainly not because of her Maltese language qualifications – she has none.  She graduated in Contemporary Mediterranean Studies and European Studies. The head of the Council of the Maltese Language, Olvin Vella who’s a linguist and lecturer in Maltese at the University of Malta has no clue who Norma Saliba is.  And that’s no surprise.

Saliba has made no contribution to Maltese, has no qualifications and is a complete unknown among academics and council members. “I do not know who Saliba is… and do not know much about her work,” Dr Olvin Vella commented.  Of course he doesn’t – there isn’t any.  She’s done no work relating to Maltese. The minister didn’t appoint her because of her competence in the language, she was appointed only because Labour was panicking.

Saliba was kicked out of her role as PBS head of news. She’d previously been forced out on long leave after repeatedly clashing with PBS executive chairman Mark Sammut.  As the tension between the two escalated, Saliba had to go. She’d got her first blow in 2021 when she was stripped of her other role – as TVM News Editor – barely one year into the job.

On 25 July 2023, Saliba was forced out of her TVM head of news role. She was furious but commented, “I’ve taken this decision serenely”.  So serenely that she lobbed grenades in Mark Sammut’s direction. “I’ve been targeted by a character assassination campaign” she moped. In a bizarre Facebook post, she threatened, “I never committed any vengeful actions in my work and I never took advantage of my position to favour or destroy anybody”.

Her father chimed in. He wrote to all the ministers complaining about how his daughter was treated. Saliba is not a six-year-old. But her father felt comfortable leaping to his daughter’s defence in the most Labour way possible – by writing to all Labour ministers.

Norma Saliba felt entitled to a replacement role with the same or even better conditions than she had in her previous one.  After all, she had stuck her neck out for Labour repeatedly.  She even censored the Pope to shield Labour.

She was repeatedly denounced by the Broadcasting Authority for her partisan reports, earning TVM the moniker of ONE-2. Besides that, she must have been privy to some very sensitive information about Labour and its sleaze. Labour couldn’t afford to leave her disgruntled.  Her ominous Facebook comments made it clear she wasn’t going to go away quietly.

In a mad rush, Minister Bonnici set up a new structure.  He created a new Centre of the Maltese Language specifically for Norma Saliba’s appeasement.  In a frenzy, he issued Legal notice 201/23 announcing the new Centre would be set up to “serve as the executive organ of the National Council of the Maltese language”.

Bonnici didn’t care that he was breaking the law – specifically the Maltese Language Act – to placate Saliba’s wrath. That law specifies that the Minister must consult with the Council of the Maltese Language when making regulations that impact its work.

Owen Bonnici didn’t consult the Council. In fact, the Council’s chair wasn’t even informed the Centre was being set up or that Saliba would head it.

“I didn’t know about the Centre, I didn’t know about the new legal notice…but I fully agree with both,” Olvin Vella commented, adding that he didn’t know who Saliba is. He’ll soon find out.  Saliba has been given huge powers. She “may establish units, divisions and sections that are necessary in the organisational structure for efficient management of the affairs and work of the council and the Centre”.

In other words, Saliba will soon be bossing around Vella and his Council colleagues.

Owen Bonnici’s panic was so acute that he got the English version of the legal notice completely wrong.  It refers to Article 24 of the Cultural Heritage Act rather than the Maltese Language Act. In another embarrassing move, the commencement notice was issued three days after the legal notice and was backdated to Friday 11 August to justify Saliba’s precipitous appointment.

What was the rush, Bonnici was asked. “When I was appointed Culture Minister, I had several meetings with the Council and every time the Council encouraged me to set up this Centre. I saw the validity of the Centre and I saw to it and set it up,” Bonnici replied.

He was appointed Culture Minister in 2014.  He spent the next six years in that post. He was reappointed in 2022.  He had a decade to set up the Centre. He had ample time to discuss it with the Council.  He didn’t. He sprang it on them as a “pleasant surprise” because giving Norma Saliba a plum job had become an emergency.

And what will Saliba be paid? “If you send me a written question, I will be able to give you the precise details…but it’s a normal salary for this role,” Bonnici sneakily replied.

Bonnici takes the people for a bunch of fools.  Everybody knows why he set up the Centre – and it’s not because he saw its validity. Everybody knows why he appointed Saliba – and it’s not because she’s the most competent. It’s to keep her quiet.

Bonnici abusively treats the national coffers as Labour’s piggy bank.  With his cabinet colleagues, he doles out millions of euros to paper over the ever-widening cracks within Labour’s ranks.

By rewarding Saliba with another top job, he’s trying to stuff more Labour skeletons into that cupboard.  Thankfully, skeletons have a nasty habit of tumbling out at the most inauspicious moments.