'Don't run for exit', PN urges Muscat to heed Broadcasting Authority staff’s petition

Nationalist Party says it hopes the prime minister will not run for the emergency exit but choose instead to take immediate action in the interest of the employees

PN spokesman Clyde Puli (left) says party had accepted Borg Cardona's nomination
PN spokesman Clyde Puli (left) says party had accepted Borg Cardona's nomination "in the interest of consensus"

The unprecedented petition signed by all employees of the Broadcasting Authority against the chairperson of the same authority merited immediate direct action by the Prime Minister, the Nationalist Party (PN) is insisting.

“The PN has lost all trust in the authority’s chairperson, not only for the way she’s behaving with the employees but also because her appointment was not based on merit, but on serving the interests of third parties,” said Clyde Puli, the party’s spokesman for broadcasting.

Puli, who was addressing media on Monday in front of the Authority’s offices in Hamrun, said that all the employees at the BA had signed a petition against Tanya Borg Cardona’s bullying and intimidating tactics, and sent it to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

“We hope the prime minister will not run for the emergency exit, as he tends to do, but to make a decision in the interest of these workers,” he said.

Puli recalled that the PN had immediately expressed reservations upon learning of Borg Cardona’s appointment, but had gone on to accept the nomination, ‘in the interest of consensus’.

“One year after the appointment, the PN has lost all it trust in the chairperson, so much so that no protests are held any more because everyone acknowledges that these are not taken seriously,” Puli claimed.

He questioned Borg Cardona’s decision to allocate BA offices for use by Economy Minister Chris Cardona and asked whether this agreement had been finalised and if it had been approved by Muscat.

“Is the new building that the BA is moving to, following the chairperson’s decision, suitable to serve the authority’s purposes?” he asked. “And did anyone benefit from the chairperson’s decision to move to new offices?”