Top government official takes time off to campaign against divorce

Frans Borg, formerly Permanent Secretary in the Social Policy Ministry, has in fact taken two months’ vacation leave ahead of the referendum, at a time when he is also formally militating within the campaign lobby group Zwieg Bla Divorzju.

Frans Borg has represented this lobby in formal meetings with the Broadcasting Authority, and has also signed correspondence on behalf of a group which is officially campaigning for a ‘No’ vote in the May 28 referendum.

And yet, Malta’s Public Management Code explicitly precludes public servants like Borg– who is brother to media lecturer Fr Joe Borg, considered very close to the anti-divorce movement – from any form of involvement in political issues and campaigns.

Issued in May 2007, the code of conduct is very clear in this regard. Restriction 7.2.2.2 states that “(Public officers in Scales 1 to 5) are required to maintain a reserve in political matters and abstain from any public manifestation of their views which might associate them prominently with any political party.”

Restrictions for officers in Scales 1 to 13 are even more draconian, including an automatic ban on “speaking in public on matters of political controversy” and “expressing views on political matters in letters to the press, or in books, articles or leaflets”, among others.

The same code was however updated in January this year, and while the restrictions were reworded and somewhat relaxed, the general principles (Section 2) still apply: “It is of the utmost importance that Ministerial and public confidence in the impartiality of the Public Service shall not be impaired in any way. For this reason, activity in the political field, legitimately open to the ordinary citizen, is not considered compatible with the holding of certain posts in the Public Service.”

Furthermore the new directives make it clear that any position within Scales 1 to 5 – which include permanent secretaries within ministries – is considered ‘politically restricted”.

Nonetheless Dr Godwin Grima, head of the Civil service and author of the abovementioned amendments to the code, sees no contradiction between Borg’s involvement in the referendum campaign, and his role as deputy secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers (among other prominent public service positions).

“The introduction of divorce in Malta is not considered to be of a party political nature,” Dr Grima told MaltaToday.

Frans Borg himself said that he considers the two roles – political activist and civil servant – to be compatible: “Although I see no conflict between what I am doing and my official duties, I confirm that I requested the permission of the Principal Permanent Secretary for a period of vacation leave and permission was granted.”

But the divorce issue has since been elevated to the status of “party political” by the ruling Nationalist Party: which has not only adopted a clear stand against its introduction, but has also made clear – through its leader Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi - that it intends to campaign for a ‘No’ vote on May 28.

Furthermore, the provisions of the Referendum Act are such that involvement on an electoral level is automatically restricted to political parties, as reported on Sunday.

Effectively this means that for the purposes of administering and monitoring electoral proceedings, the divorce referendum is by definition ‘of a party political nature’.

Only political parties are automatically entitled to representation on the Electoral Commission, which is responsible for the entire electoral process.

Different weights and measures

The same Public Management Code has been cited in the past to pressure members of Alternattiva Demokratika and the defunct party Azzjoni Nazzjonali to relinquish their roles in the executive of these parties.

In 2008, former AD secretary general Victor Galea was pressured into resigning his political post on the grounds that he could not continue exercising his teaching profession, as teachers in public employment are precluded from any political activities.

A letter sent from the Office of the Prime Minister instructed the permanent secretary in the Gozo Ministry to inform Galea that as a teacher, he “may not hold the post of Secretary General of AD.”

Acting upon the OPM’s instructions, the Gozo Ministry duly informed Galea that he had to decide on whether he intends to continue serving as AD’s secretary-general.

The OPM’s letter to Galea claims that it was acting following “reports carried out in the local press… that Victor Galea has been elected as Secretary General of Alternattiva Demokratika.”

The OPM offered Galea the option of taking “unpaid leave to occupy a statutory post in the central executive of a political party” – according to another provision in the same management code.

Two Azzjoni Nazzjonali officials, the vice-president and treasurer of the party, likwise resigned their political posts after receiving similar letters.

But the Prime Minister denied any knowledge of the letter sent to Galea at the time, insisting that the case had been prompted by a “bureaucrat who had gone by the book” in issuing the letter to Galea.

The Prime Minister had also intervened by ordering the suspension of the letter and for the position to be reviewed.  The OPM also acknowledged that apart from Galea “there are other people who have positions in the civil service while occupying political posts.”