James Debono
Mary Gauci and Antonio Mercieca have resigned from their respective posts as Azzjoni Nazzjonali’s vice-president and treasurer after receiving letters from the government informing them that their posts in the civil service preclude them from holding posts in a political party.
“Let’s stop describing Malta as a democracy. Let’s just admit the honest truth; that Malta is not a democratic country,” AN leader Josie Muscat told MaltaToday.
Last Sunday, MaltaToday revealed that AD’s secretary-general Victor Galea was also asked by the Office of the Prime Minister to give up his teaching post or to take unpaid leave if he wants to continue serving as the Green Party’s secretary-general.
Galea is claiming this is a blatant case of political discrimination because both PN and MLP officials in the same civil service grades have so far never been asked to resign from the civil service.
Although the AN officials received letters asking them to give up their political posts a month ago, the party has remained silent on the issue.
Party leader Josie Muscat said that he did not protest “because the civil service rules are what they are”.
But Muscat insists that “what is good for the goose should be good for the gander”, adding that “it is clear that these rules are only being applied against the small parties.”

Double standards
The anachronistic Public Service Management Code (PSMC) – a relic of colonial times – bans anyone from scale 1 to scale 13 positions from any sort of political involvement. Effectively the management code even bans nurses, pharmacists, engineers, paramedics and foremen in government employment from expressing their political views in public.
The code does not only preclude most civil servants from occupying a post in a political party, but also precludes them from speaking in public on matters of political controversy, expressing views on public matters on letters to the press and from canvassing on behalf of parliamentary candidates.
But MaltaToday can reveal that various PN and MLP officials are allowed to keep their jobs in the civil service. These include Janice Chetcuti, a PN executive committee member employed as an animal awareness organiser and a peripatetic teacher in the Education Department; Caroline Galea, another PN executive member, occupies the post of principle in the maternity department at Mater Dei Hospital; and Kevin Sciberras, president of the PN’s organising committee for Gozo, holds the post of cultural officer in the Gozo Ministry.
In the Labour camp, Alfred Grixti – consultant editor of Maltastar who recently contested for the post of party secretary-general – works as a head teacher in a government school.
Newly elected party education secretary Aaron Farrugia works as an economist in the Ministry for Social Policy.
Reacting to last Sunday’s report on MaltaToday that Victor Galea was being asked to give up his teaching post, former Finance Minister Lino Spiteri described the government’s actions as “discriminatory decisions that know no rhyme or reason.”
“In recent years and to this present day there have been teachers very openly active in either of the two main political parties. One could but should not mention names. The Office of the Prime Minister knows them well enough,” Spiteri added.
In reply to questions by MaltaToday, a spokesman for the prime minister yesterday said the government was “analysing whether these regulations are to be revised”. The spokesman added that OPM was “looking into the mentioned case”, while stressing that the PSMC was “under the responsibility of the office of the Principal Permanent Secretary”. Government sources insist that in this case the Prime Minister was not aware of the actions of the higher echelons of the civil service.
Although the code was amended in May 2007 the anachronistic prohibitions on political activity were kept in place.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt