UPDATED: So now the Malta Council for Science and Technology is led by a dentist and includes a cook and the owner of a website business
The chairman of the Malta Council of Science and Technology with a member of the board of Transport Malta
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, chairman of the Malta Council of Science and Technology, with Carmen Pullicino Orlando (back to camera), member of the board of Transport Malta, and with Jesmond Mugliett, member of the boards of Malta Enterprise and the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools, and his wife Karen Mugliett, member of the Malta Council of Science and Technology
UPDATE: I have been informed that while Claudine Cassar is a government appointee on the Employment and Training Corporation board, in the Malta Council for Science and Technology she represents the Malta Chamber of Commerce, which always nominates a business representative to the council.
I don’t mean to be rude, except to the truly awful Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and that miserable Karen Mugliett, but honestly. The previous government can be blamed for making a dentist (who can’t be trusted with a drink because he gets out of hand) chair of the science and technology council, in a futile and self-defeating attempt at pacifying him.
This government can be blamed for retaining him as a reward for services rendered, and for committing itself publicly to that even before it was elected.
But Karen Mugliett? A cook? Her ‘doctorate’ is in food and cooking. Now I value both those subjects and appreciate professionalism in that field – they are, after all, another part of my working life. This is not to say that I appreciate Mrs Mugliett’s approach to food, which is cold and loveless, devoid of enjoyment and all about functionality and food as an enemy to be controlled.
If she has ever wondered why I never rang her and said, “Karen, I would LOVE to feature your work in Taste”, now she knows why. It has nothing to do with politics or her husband, but everything to do with her ice-cold, utilitarian approach to food-creation, which is the antithesis of what it’s about.
But that’s not the point, is it. Why is a cook on the Malta Council of Science and Technology? Because her husband and the chairman are best friends and were bitching-buddies in parliament for the last five years, that’s why. And because the weak and spiness Jesmond Mugliett is notoriously uxorious (a polite way of of saying something that would otherwise begin with ‘p’ and ‘w’) and if he has had two appointments, on the Malta Enterprise board and the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools as a reward for his bad behaviour and disloyalty, then his wife will have wanted one for herself.
As for Claudine Cassar, she has developed a good business building websites. But she has no place in this council. What she does is neither science nor technology. It is business. She already has a position on the board of the Employment and Training Corporation and that should have been sufficient reward, if she is the sort who wants these things (which surprises me, as I had her down differently), for speaking for Labour in the election campaign.
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There are scientists and engineers who could have been chosen to fill these posts on the Malta Council for Science and Technology. Apparently it’s still the sad situation of “who you know” rather than what you know. No wonder we rank the last in R&D in the EU.
Young people are being encouraged by our current PM to work in factories rather than getting a decent education and become scientists, engineers and innovators, further limiting the already limited pool of scientific talent on this island.
Message to Muscat, no one worth their salt is going to bother with these people on board. The politics are literally over the place.
All we’ll get is second-rate proposals by second-rate individuals.
Excellent, Joseph, you’ve just chosen against your government’s performance. That’s why you’re not up to it, or better, how extensive your limits are.
Barely able to identify the challenges we face, let alone grasping a method to go beyond these. Method means ruthless selection to responsibility not this stunted mode to comfort.
You are truly insecure, no logic, no drive, just devious. Daphne’s right, the young ones had better plan elsewhere.
The subtle message for capable scientists who focus on their work and further development, rather than on “networking” (which in Malta overlaps with ingratiating oneself) is: your hard work will (most probably) not be acknowledged and the people in charge of Malta’s limited resources are less qualified than you and often have no clue. So who can blame ambitious and successful professionals for leaving this little island? In the end, they will get a better salary, enjoy more opportunities and resources, while Malta loses its best people.
JPO Executive Chairman? Why? Has he written any scientific papers or books of any note?
Jesmond Mugliett also has a season the board of Malta Investment Management Company Ltd., a government-owned company with fingers directly in the energy-sector pie.
This is a very interesting news item. I ask this new found Star who has been appointed on the board ‘Karen the cook’ who did she replace? and, what was their qualification to choose one and dump the other?
Knowing these people, I will in no way make any proposals. I am pretty sure that if these kind of people find your proposal interesting, they will just steal your idea, and with all the resources at their disposal – lanqas biss tkun taf x’laqtek qabel ma bdejt.
Of course your proposal will be rejected.
Are we to assume that there will be no CEO?
Zibel maz-zibel u hmieg mal-hmieg. dejjem hekk kienu u hekk baqghu.
Sunglasses during an indoor party?…worrying.
More to the point, Sunglasses At Night for someone past 25?
Looks increasingly like anyone deemed unfit for purpose by the PN or the former government is guaranteed Taghna Lkoll status, even without having featured on a billboard.
The Gozo Channel chairman who was kicked out for calling back the ferry when he arrived late has been appointed as ‘consultant’ to the government on Gozo Channel.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130728/local/Disgraced-ex-ferries-boss-now-consultant.479738
Just a small point of correction. According to my information, Jesmond Mugliett is on the MIMCOL Board and not on the Malta Enterprise Board.
This is yet another clear statement to encourage Maltese scientists to move and stay abroad. Disgusting!