[WATCH] Ministers can retain private jobs 'in national interest'

Cabinet members to retain private jobs 'if in national intrest'

The head of the civil service, Mario Cutajar, has said that a ministerial code of ethics had been left unchanged, after The Times reported that ministers would be granted the faculty of working privately and that the need for Cabinet members to include the assets of their spouses and underage children had been removed.

Cutajar insisted that “the code of ethics was revised to strengthen governance and transparency” and the procedural aspects of the code had been now compiled in the “Cabinet’s manual for procedures”.

The 'new' code of ethics will however still allow ministers to retain those private jobs, considered to be “in the national interest”. Such decision will be taken by the Cabinet itself.
The principal permanent secretary said that the Code of Ethics had been left untouched. “The code of ethics does not stand on its own because there is a manual complementing it. The 1994 code incorporated different procedures – what we did was collect those procedures into a manual, and the code of ethics must be seen in the light of this manual.”

So items such as the need for ministers’ spouses to have their assets declared, will now form part of the accompanying manual.

Cutajar said the discussion on the new code, which was approved by the Cabinet in February but so far unpublished, had nothing to do with the case of Franco Mercieca, the former parliamentary secretary who was granted a waiver to continue his ophthalmological surgery.

He claimed that the revised code was more transparent “because it emphasises the standards, accountability and values” and what the cabinet expects from each member.

“We didn’t publish it before because we are reviewing other codes and incorporate the documents,” he said, adding that at times there were issues where the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing.

The new code of ethics spells out that ministers will be allowed to retain their private profession if their Cabinet colleagues approve. Cutajar said this practice would be left unchanged from that in 1994, that allowed ministers to lecture at university as long as it did not interfere with their official duties.

“With its limited resources, the country can’t afford to lose specialisations. The cabinet would decide whether a member should retain his private work and a waiver would be issued,” he said.

So far the only two minsters carrying out part-time work are Owen Bonnici and Helena Dalli, who lecture at the University of Malta. The justice minister lectures at the University of Malta during the first semester and does so pro bono.