NEWS | Sunday, 15 July 2007

I am not attached to the seat of power

Saviour Balzan talks to Jesmond Mugliett

I catch up with Jesmond Mugliett at the House of the Four Winds. He wears a brave face but looks sad. Nowhere in Malta can beat this view. The thought of leaving an office like this is depressing. I look out over the vast view of Marsamxett Harbour and pick out the tiny yachts trailing Tigné point.
But last Monday on the 2nd of July, Minister Jesmond Mugliett tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Gonzi. On Tuesday, the Prime Minister rejected his proposal and said the minister would indeed stay on. When I meet Mugliett I know I have to win his confidence, so lets make it very clear that I’ll be fair.
He looked shaken.
I begin by asking what could have made him think of resignation.
“The matter had escalated. Moreover the unfortunate spin that CEO Gianfranco Selvaggi’s resignation was related to this story did not help matters. I was getting the impression that Government was facing great embarrassment. My reasoning was that I had slipped up by being over cautious when probably I should have been clinical and absolutely detached.”
The week saw declarations bandied about by outgoing ADT Chief Executive Gianfranco Selvaggi and Chairman Joe Gerada, in stark contradiction with Mugliett’s decision not to dismiss two convicted ADT employees.
Do you feel betrayed by Selvaggi and Gerada?
“Their choice of words did not help. In my opinion it is in everyone’s interest that the Board takes stock of this issue and moves on. We need to recruit a new CEO, which is not an easy task, we need to re-establish confidence in the organization. I have no problem continuing to work with Joe Gerada in the future.”
Both individuals have been convicted and await the decision on a presidential pardon. It was the choice to postpone any resolution to dismiss the pair that led to the ensuing furore.
What was your first reaction when you heard that they were close to you politically?
“First of all I wish to clarify ‘individuals being close to me’. I only knew one of the individuals personally. As I said ‘canvasser’ is a word used very loosely in Maltese politics. Someone who spreads the word around for you as a candidate is described as a canvasser.”
He insists the anonymous individual never worked in the Ministry and they were certainly never involved in any election campaign together.
Mugliett said that when he got to know of the driving examinations bribes he became angry and disappointed.
“I was concerned because of the obvious negative image that I knew the whole thing would give the ADT, to its credibility. I was angry because although I had been questioning whether the driving examinations procedures were prone to abuse, no one had got proper wind of what was going on.”
But after all these scandals and allegations, will anything change?
He emphasises the ADT as a big organization with a very wide remit, probably the biggest collector of revenue for Government after Inland Revenue and the VAT Department.
“That there will be attempts at bribery is therefore obvious. With sincerity I feel that we have been rather vigilant in weeding out abuses. We have referred persons who took tips for people not wanting to queue for licence renewal. We have referred persons to the police on a case for forging a log book. We have referred the driving examinations abuse to the police authorities. We have investigated and audited the theory driving test and referred the anomalies that resulted to the police.
“We have referred to the police cases of VRT garage abuses. We have increased the vigilance with regards to abuse of K plates and foreign number plates. We have introduced measures to curb fuel abuse (use of kerosene) in public transport. We are monitoring emissions, excess loading on construction vehicles. The list is endless.”
He pauses mid-litany and explains that one aspect of current controls we never get to hear about is tender awards. He says that in the past 40 months the ADT managed a roads budget of around Lm54 million liri.
“I believe that this is one of our major achievements that no one has raised any doubts on the transparency of the award of these tenders or the value for money with respect of the work carried out.”
Looking back then, what would you have done differently at the ADT?
“My attitude was to focus on the immediate projects so that they could be delivered on time. Moreover the Authority needed strengthening because of new, EU challenges. In retrospect we should have started the ongoing external internal auditing of the ADT much earlier.”
But I can’t help asking about his resignation one last time; Why did the Prime Minister decide to reject your resignation and keep that decision under wraps for a week?
Mugliett admits that a lot of people thought Gonzi should not have made public a rejection of resignation and with it a fresh revelation of nationalist internal machinations. During this whole debate Mugliett is still bitterly aware that certain journalists were baying for personal “accountability” and “demanding that I shoulder the political responsibilities for my actions.
“In effect I did just that, but the Prime Minister considered my offer and thought otherwise. I think that the PM wished to show that contrary to what is often stated we certainly shoulder responsibilities, even when this effectively means resigning. I can tell you I am not tied to the seat of power.”
I can’t help remarking that I have also seen the articles hounding him in the political press, the reports of him denying an interview with The Times through the bizarre medium of environmentalist Astrid Vella.
What was the Astrid Vella episode all about?
“I do not know Astrid Vella personally. When discussing with persons in my ministry how the matter was evolving in the press, we felt that my angle of the story was not getting across.
“One or two of the people around me starting exploring how to get my side covered in a fair way. That’s how Astrid Vella’s name came up. I started to write the article to the Times, which appeared last Tuesday. Mark Micallef’s story about this interview should never have appeared because my comments were given to him casually and he never said he was speaking on the record.”
After all this focus on the ADT, why would you argue that the achievements of your ministry have been overshadowed? What achievements do you have in mind exactly…
“In 40 months we have rebuilt around 26 km of arterial roads in Malta and Gozo and around 400 residential roads. We have launched innovative transport projects such as the Park and Ride, the Control Vehicular Access project and the Electric Minicabs project.”
He talks endlessly of extending Park and Ride, yet another park and ride at Pembroke, a tender for trackless trains and extensive programs for road construction projects to be funded by the EU.
“There is so much more.”
The conversation turns to morale in government echelons, surely not what it once was. What do you think should happen, that the Government of this country would regain the confidence of her people?
Mugliett considers a government that speaks proactively on all measures for vigilance.
“When listing the various measures undertaken I was myself taken aback by the impressive list. Government should be more vigilant in efficiency, eliminating bureaucracy because that is where temptations start, people wanting to short circuit the system. We have been doing all this, but we could do more.”
He hits back.
“The Malta Labour party is making a lot of noise about accountability. Equally important as other considerations in accountability is that the Government give citizens value for money and for all monies spent on Government projects. We have been blessed with funds from external sources and we have spent them correctly and effectively. We are being audited for our procedures and methods and to my knowledge there have not been any negative opinions. We shall have bigger opportunities like this in the immediate years.
“Our Party is the only party prepared to deliver such a programme.”
A Ministerial resignation sends shockwaves through the people closest to a minister; what have you heard all round?
Immediately he insists that he has had tremendous support from constituents.
“Many people are reading through the Labour Party’s smear campaign. I have had messages of support from non-Nationalists, such as a certain mayor elected for the Labour Party. Obviously there will be people who are confused by the story. Hopefully in time people will be able to judge me fairly.”
In the months before a national election, what are your specific targets?
“It will be Public Transport, hoping to wrap up the longstanding discussions which could lead to an overall reform. The arterial road improvement and tenders for the first roads to be funded by the EU in the coming days. The 450 residential roads, out of which, we have carried out 150 in the last year.”
By September Mugliett hopes to have an outline permit of Dock in order to go to Parliament for the Parliamentary Resolution asap. He hopes to have the permit for the Schreiber project issued by August and begin issuing tender immediately after.
“There are others such as the Ta’ Qali Convention Centre project and the Valletta Vertical Connections project.”
A tall order for someone who only days before had decided to call it a day.