Taghna Lkoll: former head of nurses union given ‘position of trust’ as CEO in Konrad Mizzi’s ministry

Paul Pace, who was voted out as nurses union boss some weeks ago – he had held the position for years – was set to be given a government ‘position of trust’ as chief of the new nursing school project, which elicited howls of protest all round, not least from the nurses themselves.

But now The Malta Independent reports that he will be given a different ‘position of trust’ – as chief executive officer of the Ministry of Health. The Minister of Health is Konrad Mizzi, whose estranged wife occupies yet another ‘position of trust’ as Malta’s consul in Shanghai while under contract not to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but to Malta Enterprise as a consultant to that organisation.

It is unheard of for a government ministry to have a chief executive officer coming in from the outside under contract. A ministry’s ‘CEO’ is the permanent secretary.

What is more than clear is that the government owes Paul Pace a job and is looking to slot him in somewhere.

How ironic that in the run-up to the nurses union election, a fuss was made about the fact that Paul Pace’s son had been given a job with the government. Pace became hysterical when it was mentioned.

And now look at him.