I hope that 007 is aware of this siruation! You were totally right to say 100 Euros in an envelope my friend.

Well, I can’t say anything you said was wrong. Although I would like to point out that ‘G’ (the mysterious singular dimension which measures a human being’s intelligence) is still very controversial. Some psychologists also consider IQ to be a self-fullfilling prophecy, which explains some of the statistical data which backs it up — although the fact that statistical data backs it up says a lot.

Is this a case of not rocking the boat or you scratch my back and I will scratch yours ?

I also noticed cars for sale parked in this square belonging to the same garage. This is being done in full view of the police and sometimes also of enforcement officers employed by Transport Malta.

To my knowledge all cars avaiable for hire have to be parked inside the garage and not on the road. However, in this case it seems that no one is interested in taking any action although this garage is situated precisely next door to the police station.

Operationally there are even less differences. What is so different between clerical work in a bank and clerical work for a government department? Very little I am sure.

Regarding your points about measuring performance, there are plenty of ways to do this. A job carries a specification (and this tends to be more strict in government work). An employee can be measured on how effectively he carries out that work. A manager in a bank cannot just fire an employee he doesn’t like, but they can fire employees who perform badly. It should be the same with civil servants. Keeping the bad apples around has a double negative effect. Firstly they do not perform good work and secondly they destroy other’s motivation to work.

And please, do not say that the government does not dish out jobs. They do…I personally know instances before the last election where definite contracts where transformed into indefinite contracts as a little gift. It might not happen as much as it used to, but it definitely still happens. The civil service might not trade in money but it sure trades in votes. The classic threat of phoning the minister’s PR people to complain still works wonders in fact.

Btw, you are right, you do not usually use the “but look how it was in the 80s” argument. It crops up extremely often when discussing politics however so I automatically defended against it.

They really get peeved when, after doing your homework, you hand in a perfect, boilerplated unassailable request which cannot be refused for any sane reason whatsover and so they have got to do some work.

Just a fortnight ago I walked into a government office at 3.00 pm to find all the staff under starter’s orders behind their cleared desks, computers switched off, handbags at the ready, to be smugly told by one of the employees that they only accept applications like mine between 8.00am and 2.30pm.

No amount of persuasion or cajoling on my part could make them take my application for processing to be called for during their normal office hours. Afterwords I found out that they left their office at 4.30pm as they worked through their lunch hour. So one and a half hours staring at the wall indulging is desultory chatter.

The lower the grade, starting with the ubiquitous messenger, the more negative the approach. I have heard some horror stories about the WSC customer care staff at their Luqa office (not exactly central having been moved there from City Gate due to the project).

The PM in our system can sack an employee acting on the advice of the Public Service Commission – see the PMO 10.9 … but yes as you said to reach that point it is a very lengthy process with a number of boards, etc.

I agree with you that a hire and fire system in the Public Service might be very dangerous but if this country manages to distinguish between the administrative and executive vs. the policy maker then it would be a different story.

The system as it is to date protects the slackers, it protects the under-performers, and it protects the employees who are not doing their duties.

On the other hand we need a system that protects the taxpayers and ultimately assures that the policies proposed by the people in power are properly implemented.