Johann Buttigieg has to go

There is no doubt that since his reappointment as the Planning Authority’s executive chairperson in 2025, Johann Buttigieg has served the government’s pro-development agenda well. 

He was specifically drafted back into the fold to shave off the backlog of permits that had started to pile up amid grinding bureaucracy and indecision. Buttigieg is a doer with the added quality of being audacious enough to sit down with developers and discuss how their plans can conform to policy. 

It is no wonder that the Malta Development Association came out full of praise for Buttigieg last week, while slamming the Nationalist Party for joining the chorus of voices calling for his removal. 

Buttigieg is an efficient loyal servant of the government and this was on full display last week when answering journalists’ questions at a conference gate-crashed by environmental activists calling for his resignation. 

Buttigieg insisted that he does not decide on individual permits but only makes recommendations and that it is his “job to speak to developers”. He then added: “I have no problem serving the country.” 

Buttigieg emphasised that if anyone has a problem with him, they should take it up with government that appointed him. 

In short, Buttigieg will not resign of his own volition and instead passed the ball into the government’s court. His removal will depend on what Planning Minister Jonathan Attard and Prime Minister Robert Abela decide, and so far, they do not seem perturbed by the pressure. 

The spotlight was recast on Buttigieg after the full exchange of WhatsApp chats between him and Tumas Group magnate, Yorgen Fenech, was published recently. The chats prompted multiple calls for Buttigieg’s resignation or removal.  

The chats went back to 2019, when Buttigieg was still the PA’s chief but on his way out. Really and truly, Buttigieg was in the process of moving from one public authority to another—the Malta Tourism Authority. 

Also, at the time, it was not known publicly that Fenech was being investigated for involvement in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. 

But what was so compromising in the chats? 

They revealed the proximity between the PA’s top dog and an influential businessperson. Significantly, they were not discussing restaurants, wine or sports but land deals and the willingness to do business together. 

In his comments last week, Buttigieg denied wrongdoing but admitted that with the benefit of hindsight, today, he would not speak in the same manner to developers. It’s his way of atoning for the highly questionable exchange. 

Buttigieg may have done nothing illegal but his behaviour was grossly unethical and contributes to an erosion of trust in public institutions. Any ordinary citizen reading those chats would get the impression public authorities are there simply to accommodate big developers at the expense of everyone else. And that is not an “unsubstantiated allegation” as the MDA implied in its statement defending Buttigieg. 

The PA has a problem of credibility. It has failed to live up to its name as a planner for the common good and instead leaned towards encouraging development. Buttigieg’s WhatsApp exchange with Fenech has simply contributed to the credibility problem. 

Now, for those who believe the PA should do everything in its power to keep on encouraging development, Buttigieg’s exchange with Fenech is a simple indiscretion—the use of wrong words at the wrong time. This is why they defend him and want him to stay on. They do not want to lose their voice at the top table. 

But when someone like Buttigieg loses the trust of so many stakeholders, including those in the business community who shun toxic intimate connections that are just a step away from corruption, it is more than obvious what should happen. 

Buttigieg has to go. He must realise that his position is no longer tenable. And if Buttigieg does not find it in himself to resign, the government must remove him. Robert Abela and Jonathan Attard cannot stand passively on the sidelines. If they do, they are telling us that unethical behaviour is not something to be censored in any way, irrespective of how significant the transgression is. 

We would have thought that in the aftermath of the Fenech trial by jury, where the sleazy and compromising relationships between public office holders, politicians and businesspersons were on full show, the Abela administration would have learnt a lesson or two.

But, it seems, the allure of big money is too much to resist, which is why Buttigieg has not been removed yet. It is a sad reflection of the institutional decay and moral erosion that has been normalised.