Michelle Muscat at the Office of the Prime Minister – what is her role there?

Published: March 25, 2013 at 12:33am

Michelle Muscat OPM

Michelle Muscat has been given a government (@gov.mt) email address and is listed in the government directory as being part of the Prime Minister’s secretariat. The Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Allen Schembri, should explain to us what the Prime Minister’s wife is doing there, her role, and whether she is on the state payroll or has been ‘donated’ to the nation like the Prime Minister’s car (the financial arrangements of which have to be clarified too).




49 Comments Comment

  1. H.P. Baxxter says:

    She’s a medical doctor, working at Mater Dei.

    [Daphne – What’s she doing at OPM? That wasn’t the address, incidentally – corrected it.]

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      Full details:

      Michelle Muscat MD, MRCS
      Department of Pathology,
      Mater Dei Hospital, Msida, Malta
      [email protected]

      • Harry Purdie says:

        This needs further examination, Baxxter. I submit myself.

      • Natalie says:

        You’ve got the wrong Michelle Muscat. She’s a young doctor, I know her.

        [Daphne – She’s at Mater Dei Hospital, not the Office of the Prime Minister.]

      • La Redoute says:

        Dr Michelle Muscat’s email address is [email protected]

        The Michelle Muscat in caption is listed as michelle.c.muscat
        Her government email address is [email protected], which means she is not the young doctor whom you know.

        Middle name initials are not routinely used. They are used only as exceptions, to distinguish an incoming member of staff from an existing member of staff who has the same name.

      • Yanika says:

        Incidentally, that ‘c’ in between the name and surname does not refer to Mrs Joseph Muscat’s middle name. That is a random letter assigned to some people, especially, but not exclusively, to those whose name is ubiquitous.

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      If that’s not the address then it’s obviously not her.

  2. Alexander Ball says:

    The PM’s wife has an office at Castille.

  3. Snoopy says:

    The one Daphne is referring to is listed aas Michelle C. Muscat.

    I think that the ‘people’ deserve an answer. If I am not mistaken, according to the ethical code for Ministers, first degree relatives cannot work within the ministerial secretariat.

    • ciccio says:

      This government is 23 Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries too “simplicated.”
      Even reading the Parliamentary Secretary’s title is not simplicated, let alone this government.

    • Gakku says:

      The Parliamentary Secretary’s first step was to simplify simplification.

  4. Jozef says:

    No wonder Joseph insisted on lying about the honoraria.

    They did it behind our backs, he used to say.

    • Min Jaf says:

      Apart from Cabinet Ministers and the Speaker, the honorarium applied to the Leader of the Opposition as well.

      So how are people still buying Joseph Muscat’s accusation that PN ministers benefited from the honorarium ‘behind everybody’s back’.

      And if JM never actually received the honorarium, why did he make such a big deal of passing on the money to a specially set up PL charity chaired by none other than Judge Philip Sciberras, who just this week has popped up again as a member of the Law Reform Commission.

      Perhaps it is now opportune for Joseph Muscat and Judge Sciberras to tell us how much of the honorarium money was, in fact, passed on to the said charity and also in what way that money was utilised.

    • Min Jaf says:

      “But at least he (JM) does not leave his stuff running around. We have the laundry room and he drops his stuff there.”

      Presumably, now that Joseph Muscat is on PM duties 24/7, he can conveniently ‘drop his stuff’ at Michelle’s office at Castille for her to take on home.

  5. MojoMalti says:

    Providing the Prime Minister with ‘stress relief’ on demand is a very valuable service to the country.

    [Daphne – Not to be crass or anything, but it’s easy to get the picture from their stage-managed PDAs that this is not part of the equation. Perhaps that’s what Keith Allen Schembri is there for: from school locker-room to Castille (attakk fahxi u moqziez fuq il-prim u l-chief of staff tieghu).]

    • dgatt says:

      GIVE US THE INFO. The rumours are rife already.

      [Daphne – Come on, how would anyone know anything about something like that. There are always going to be rumours.]

  6. Joseph Vassallo-Agius says:

    Donated to the nation….Michelle Taghna Lkoll.

  7. Paul says:

    Hobbuha ghax thobbkom: Michelle taghna lkoll.

  8. Paddling Duck says:

    Sounds like the attitude endorsed by some Village grocer with a pint-sized shop, employing his wife to help out during the hours he can’t work / is too lazy to make it.

    Of course, this is a PM’s office, which means that Michelle will be vice PM when Muscat is too tired to go to work to ‘help out’.

    Anyway, this is utterly crass beyond belief. I knew the PN would lose the election, but my-oh-my, not even in the depths of my (quite) sinister mind would have I expected such amateurishness or such a mob-like mentality (ghax tal-familja) to prevail in just 2 weeks.

    As Green Day would say “Wake me up when September [2018] ends”.

    • La Redoute says:

      Why did you not expect this? Michelle has deputised for her husband from day one, supplanting the twin deputy leaders of the party.

      • Maria Xriha says:

        In fact, it was just a matter of time before any news of this nature was out on Michelle.

        It is not proper, but it was expected.

        I imagine the 2nd Republic has a role intended for her that meets her own expectations better.

    • Victor says:

      You definitely cannot read through people if you are surprised at this bit of news and did not expect it. I am totally NOT surprised and expect even more for that matter. Is it possible that there are people who did not see through the excessively ambitious couple?

  9. carmenborg says:

    She’s there to keep an eye on him, and it’s probably not the secretaries she’s worried about.

  10. taxxu says:

    She needs to keep a close eye on him. You never know when a man might fancy a bit of coconut.

  11. Alexander Ball says:

    Oh to be accountable to people who don’t care that you’re accountable to them.

  12. gigi says:

    She went there to make him naqa soup and a bit of selit. When Joseph is absent she will answer as she answered Dr. Calvania at MDH, “Iva illum jiena gejt.”

  13. Macchiavelli says:

    Why not ask the Communications Coordinator at OPM on her role?

    And maybe the new PPS designate whether such employment is permitted according to the Civil Service code?

  14. Max says:

    I am sure that we will have a mini gym at his office….

  15. Marco says:

    It is the same in Gozo, with the minister for Gozo Anton Refalo also employing his wife within the secretariat.

    • Macchiavelli says:

      If this is true, then it’s a real disgrace to the administration. While secretariat staff are political appointees, correct and ethical behaviour should clearly prohibit members of family from employment within the minister’s secretariat.

      After all they are still being paid by the taxpayer.

  16. V.Vella says:

    The difference being that Anton Refalo’s wife was already a civil servant.

    [Daphne – She should not be in his office.]

  17. E.Vella Clark says:

    Iva possibbli se jithallew isiru dawn il-hnizrijiet kollha u hadd ma jista’ jaghmel xejn?

    Nispera li l-PN jistaqsi u jistharreg dawn l-affarijiet halli ma jithallewx isiru. Issa hu l-mument li juruna jekk il-partit bhala oppozizzjoni hux se joqghodu attenti u jagixxu.

  18. ken il malti says:

    Is she a doctor of ross il-forn by any chance?

  19. king rat says:

    Evita .

  20. Macchiavelli says:

    At least 500 euro a week. And for doing what?

  21. ciccio says:

    A Buttardi outlet at the most sought after address in the Capital of Culture 2018?

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