Sorry guys, could not agree more with Baxxter here. There were appalling errors of judgement made by the PN. Especially in Malta Enterprise, where the jobs for the boys mentality was rife. Incompetent people who would have failed hopelessly anywhere else were given jobs and salaries beyond their wildest deems.

No Daphne, Baxxter is right. Very right. Gonzi surrounded himself with incompetents who were more interested in micro-managing a fqir and batut situation than helping the PM govern. I know, I was there, and watched that ship burn and sink with hardly a tear for its passing.

The PN, and Simon Busuttil in particular, really needs to pull its socks up. There is too much dead wood in the MP ranks now: people who were front-liners and have now retired to an obscurity of consultancies and directorships whilst still warming their seat as MPs.

I am not very pleased with some EP candidates either. Some of them don’t have any depth, whilst one of them had it so good under the PN that he can retire on what he has made already. The MLP is correct on that one.

The PN needs to be taken over by people who care, and whilst Simon Buuttil is there, with his installed klikka already not allowing anyone any space, then the PN is doomed.

[Daphne – I can’t stand comments like yours, and I can’t stand this self-undermining and self-destructive attitude. You really have a problem and had better deal with it. Most of your comments are like this, and they are so offensive. I take it personally because it’s thanks to you and others like you that there was so much negative talk that accumulated into a wave of resentment for the PN and landed us with this rubbish government. So thanks a lot. And you’re still at it. Impressive.

The Nationalist Party has such a good list that every day I change my view as to whom I want to give my number one vote. It has the best list it’s had in EP elections since 2004. It even has statement-candidates – people who, by their choice to stand on the PN ticket, have made a statement about the PN, and that is in itself a message to other people about the PN.

Helga Ellul, for one – did she go with Labour because they’re on a winning streak and they would have made sure she wins and made a real fuss about her? No, she went to the PN. Jonathan Shaw is another one – whatever you might think of him personally, he is very much part of the ‘maaaaa, the Nationalists are so over, we need a change’ crowd. Most of his friends are or were like that, his extended network. Yet he made a statement and stood on the PN ticket. Even if he doesn’t make it, his choice – sticking his neck out by standing on the PN ticket when the PN is so very unfashionable with his crowd and his customer base – is a strong message to them. That counts for a lot.

If you want to discuss jobs and consultancies at Malta Enterprise, then I suggest that instead of more self-undermining talk about what the PN government did (who in hell cares now, and exactly how is it relevant?) you take a look at Malta Enterprise as it is now – Shiv Nair, Mario Vella, Sai Mizzi, Jimmy Magro, It-Torca’s ex editor & c & c – and tell me how it even begins to compare. You should re-assess your values and your outlook, because you really have a problem and your problem has caused and is causing problems for others, thereby increasing your own.]

@H.P. Baxxter,

I voiced a similar opinion to yours previously but was called an armchair critic. It seems like its a case of ‘jahasra’ for the PN who, ‘msieken’ are doing their best with limited resources.

In the meantime those of us who voted PN expect our vote to count and if we cannot have an effective Nationalist Party in govenrment, then the least we expect is an effective Nationalist Opposition.

Having the Opposition MPs sitting back on the Opposition side of parliament warming their benches and shaking their heads in non-confrontational disapproval is nowhere near enough. It is high time indeed to get moving as the country is seriously going to the dogs.

I agree 100% with A+ on this one.

1 In 1998 the Cabinet approved a STANDARD organisation structure for each and every secretariat with fixed positions. Posts could not be created on a whim. These positions were pegged to the appropriate Public Service salary scales and the total package for each one, including any allowances, were also standard.

2 This organisation structure was geared to ensure that the overall majority of secretariat employees were public officers (which also meant that the impact on the salary bill was controlled); only three posts, in addition to the driver posts, could be filled from outside the government.

3 All persons proposed had to be submitted for the approval of the Prime Minister. This was only done after a full security check was carried out. The person’s skills and qualifications also had to be suitable. For example, regulations required that if a public officer was proposed, his or her substantive salary scale had to be of a similar level to the salary scale of the secretariat post in question. You could never have a situation therefore where a clerk (substantive scale 16) was suddenly trumped up to a post linked anywhere above scale 10.

4 All engagements were regulated by a standard contract with a clear position description. Inter alia, this clearly specified that the officer could not engage in other work/employment outside the secretariat against remuneration. It further specified that the officer could not sit on government boards against remuneration. The intention here was to eliminate ‘double benefits’ at all times. On this basis, it would have been impossible to have a situation where a full-time secretariat employee on contract to have a separate and concurrent contract with another ministry or indeed any other area of the government. On the other hand this seems to be a common practice under the new administration.

5 Yes, of course consultants were engaged at ministry level – however nowhere near the scale and number we are seeing now, where I suspect a ‘Consultant on Silly Walks’ is at this very moment waiting in the wings at a ministry near you.

6 The system was not perfect and mistakes were made along the way. In the main, however, it was rigorous and it was there, unlike the undignified free for all we are currently witnessing.

There are some lions having a snooze.

I would have rather thought of addressing that to the Maltese public, who voted Labour in the last election in the hope that they (PL) will be a ‘better’ government. With all due respect, now they’re getting what they deserved.

The strength of a party is not shown by the mass of resources (PL has plenty at the moment and the PN ‘s has been grossly reduced ) , but with the mass of single individuals.

Has her brother Paul been handed anything yet?

I don’t put the previous administration on the same level as this one on every issue. But on the issue of grace and favour appointments given to incompetents or otherwise, I will. Because it happened and I was there.