One of the biggest disappointments of the new government is how quickly it did away with the "Malta Tagħna Lkoll" slogan and used its newly acquired power to put its closest people on the state payroll and to exercise control over every state authority and corporation. This was a far cry from the promise of meritocracy made before the election.
It even went so far a to change the laws of the country to allow government MPs themselves to sit on Boards of regulatory authorities. Notwithstanding the conflicting role of representing the people and chairing the authorities regulating them and government itself, authorities which should be above partisan bickering and not subject to government control.
To make matters worse, these politically-appointed Chairpersons and Board members serving in public entities, authorities and corporations, seem unable to rise above partisan politics as is expected in their new roles.
Aaron Farrugia, chairman of Labour's think-tank and newly appointed chairman of the Malta Freeport Corporation, and Gavin Gulia, former Labour MP and newly appointed chairman of the Malta Tourism Authority, haven't yet stopped acting as if they're politicians campaigning for the Labour party. Gulia doesn't lose an occasion to attempt to ridicule the Leader of the Opposition. Luciano Busuttil, the MP who has been appointed chairman of the Malta Sports Council, was widely criticized for his highly partisan speech during the Ġieħ l-Isport Malti award ceremony. Alfred Grixti, Labour mayor of Ħaż-Żebbuġ and newly appointed chairman of ETC, even went as far as penning an article urging government to bulldoze over the Opposition and behave in an "eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth" towards the Nationalist Party ("għajn għal għajn u sinna ghal sinna").
The Prime Minister was right. In one year we have seen things we never saw in the previous twenty-five. Can you imagine a situation under the Nationalist administration where the Chairman of ETC, the Malta Freeport, the Malta Tourism Authority, or some other public entity or authority, expressing his sentiments in public and campaigning for a political party? No, because it is not done and it is unheard of in developed democracies.
Unfortunately, seriousness and good governance are not on the high cards of this government. These new appointees need to decide whether they want to serve the Labour Party or to serve the general public. Till now, these "meritocratic" appointees have not been able to rise up to what is expected from their new roles, reflecting badly both on them and on those who appointed them.
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