PM's 2008 transparency pledge - OPM issues expression of interest for board appointees

The Office of the Prime Minister has issued a belated expression of interest for candidates to submit their names to be considered for appointments to government boards after a public call for applications.

The system being explored is that of having a database that would incorporate the basic details and a CV of people who express an interest to work in a specific area.

Candidates must also declared they are not aware of any possible real or perceived conflict of

interest which might arise either personally, in relation to their employment, or in relation to their connections with any individuals or organisations which conflict with their appointment.

Lawrence Gonzi’s pledge for transparency in government appointments was one of the prime minister’s electoral planks in 2008, in a bid to overturn the image of a government besieged by so called ‘friends of friends’ networks.

But the pledge was never followed up after the Nationalists’ re-election in 2008, with OPM spokespersons later saying the proposal was part of a five-year programme, implying that there was no specific rush for the public call for appointments.

In the meantime, several public appointments took place without the call for applications, namely within the Malta Environment and Planning Authority where reform was one of the main promises during the 2008 election. People like MEPA chairman Austin Walker, CEO Ian Stafrace, and environment director Petra Bianchi were direct political appointments.

The PN’s electoral manifesto, under the heading of “more transparency”, had pledged that appointments to government boards will be made after a public call for applications.

But the reappointment of boards and chairpersons at the Malta Transport Authority, the Malta Communications Authority and the Malta Enterprise were not preceded by public calls. These included Mark Portelli as the new chairman of Transport Malta, Philip Micallef as chairman of the Malta Communications Authority, and Alan Camilleri – Gonzi’s former communications man and euro changeover head – as Malta Enterprise chairman.

Gonzi had defended his position, saying there were appointments that could not wait until the government set up the new system. “The government is committed to implement this measure at the right time but the right system has to be found,” he said in August 2008. “This will be a new thing for the country and I want to get it right. When we're confident we have a system that works, we’ll launch it.

“In Mr Camilleri’s case, we couldn’t leave Malta Enterprise without a chairman until we found an appropriate system and Alan Camilleri is very competent."