Busuttil: ‘Muscat has thrown meritocracy out the window’

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil today accused Joseph Muscat of having failed to live up to his lofty pledges of meritocracy and transparency that saw him elected in 2013.

In a mock-up of Labour’s public consultation roadshow slogan ‘A government that works’ (Gvern li jahdem), the backdrop to Busuttil’s press conference was the slogan ‘A government that exploits you’ (Gvern li jahdmek).

Busuttil took Muscat to task over the removal of competent leaders in the civil service, saying permanent secretaries and head of departments had been removed – “some of them vindictively” – and public appointments given to “friends from the inner core”.

He made special mention of energy minister Konrad Mizzi’s wife Sai Mizzi, appointed as a Malta Emteprise investment envoy to Asia; former secretary-general Jason Micallef who was appointed chairman of the Valletta 2018 council “to occupy a post he knows little of”; Labour MP Silvio Schembri, whom Busuttil accused of taking four salaries from the public service; the new Armed Forces commander Jeffrey Curmi, whom he said was a “personal friend” of the Muscat family; and Michelle Buttigieg, a business partner of Muscat’s wife who was given a €60,000 salary as a tourism director for the Malta Tourism Authority to New York.

“Muscat threw meritocracy out of the window, having removed people who had been appointed through competitive exams, to instead place people from inside the inner core,” Busuttil said.

Asked about what institutional structures could guarantee a more meritocratic appointment, Busuttil said it was time to consider some form of constitutional consultation with the Opposition and the parliamentary scrutiny of people appointed to public positions.

Busuttil also took Muscat to task for changing laws preventing MPs from serving as political appointees on government companies, and of interfering in the course of justice.

“Instead of zero-tolerance on corruption, Muscat did not take criminal steps when faced with the clear bribery of public officials,” Busuttil said of the hacking of Enemalta smart meters. “This is interference in the police’s work,” the Opposition leader said, accusing Commissioner of Police Peter Paul Zammit of being “a puppet in the hands of the government.”

Busuttil also said that parliamentary declarations by certain Labour MPs and ministers were “false”, and accused Muscat’s government of displaying utter disregard for the value of transparency.

“He hides on simple matters. Twice I asked him to publish the contract with Henley & Partners, and information on salaries being paid to public officials is being withheld.”