[WATCH] Government’s promotions creating brain drain in armed forces, PN says

Undeserved promotions had led to a demoralised force and a chain of command lacking in moral authority, the PN said

Undeserved promotions were creating a brain drain within the armed forces, the PN insisted
Undeserved promotions were creating a brain drain within the armed forces, the PN insisted

The government’s promotion of individuals close to the Labour Party had resulted in demoralisation a brain drain within the Armed Forces of Malta, Nationalist Party Homes Affairs spokesperson Beppe Fenech Adami said on Friday.

Fenech Adami was addressing a press conference on a report by the Office of the Ombudsman, published in February, which found a number of promotions within the force back in 2013, including that of commander Jeffrey Curmi, had taken place as a result of a “vitiated” process which lacked integrity.

Curmi rose from major to brigadier – four promotions – in a matter of months.

Fenech Adami said the report was further confirmation of how the present administration had hijacked the country’s institutions.

“Today we have a report, which is a clear condemnation of the government’s actions,” Fenech Adami said, adding that the AFM’s higher ranks had lost their moral authority as a result.

The promotions, he said, combined with the fact that the government appeared to have no interest in implementing the Ombudsman’s recommendations had diminished officers’ sense of justice as well as their hopes for career progression within the force.  

The PN, he said, would remain the voice of those suffering injustices.

PN MEP candidate Dione Borg said that in government, the PN had always strived to distance the AFM from politics, adding that since being elected the Labour government had gone and done the opposite.

“Such reports enforce our calls for positions like these to be granted through unanimous parliamentary approval,” Borg said.