Update: Security at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
When the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was last held in Malta in 2005, Police Commissioner John Rizzo was head of security, working with a committee that included the commanding officer of the Armed Forces, the head of the Security Service, the Civil Protection Department and others.
For next year’s CHOGM, the head of security will be businessman and real estate developer Kurt Cini.
I rang the Police Commissioner, Peter Paul Zammit, to ask him how this will work. He took the call gladly and with no bristling, which was appreciated.
I asked him where he fits into the organisational set-up for security at CHOGM and whether he, the head of the Security Service and the commanding officer of the Armed Forces will be working under Kurt Cini.
“We won’t be working for him, but with him,” he replied. “This is going to be a committee. You can’t manage a situation like that with just the people whose faces are promoted, whose faces show. It’s a huge and complex thing.”
I didn’t ask him why Kurt Cini had been given the role of Head of Security, when he comes from an unrelated field and the other members are actually in charge of security forces, because that is not for the Police Commissioner to say. But I did ask who else is involved and the Police Commissioner’s reply was that it’s those in charge of related fields, including John Rizzo himself, as head of the Civil Protection Department.
I think that is a rather anomalous situation: John Rizzo knows exactly what to do and how to do it through direct experience on an actual CHOGM meeting, but now he has been positioned beneath and is accountable to a 33-year-old who works in real estate development and steel structures (however good he might be in terms of logistics).
The Police Commissioner also told me that he was involved in the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in 2005 when he was already a lawyer but still in the police force (remember that he was reinstated into the force last year to replace Rizzo). His role then was dealing with the legalities of permits for entry to Malta and so on. “But I didn’t show,” he said.
The Police Commissioner with the Police and Army Minister
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CHOGM is a high profile meeting which requires high security. The PM with all his dishing-out appointments with regards to this meeting, is oblivious to the consequences that might arise if there is a security breach during the visit by the Heads of the Commonwealth.
He gave the job to amateurs or non-starters in the field. Once again, Malta will be in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Will Peter Paul Zammit be still Police Commissioner by then? I thought there were rumours that he handed in his resignation.
Is it wise to “outsource” security to someone without any knowledge or experience in this sort of high profile meeting? What of security breaches?
Zammit is being disingenuous. Head of security is exactly what it says on the tin – Cini is officially and ultimately responsible for the soundness and safety of security systems, no matter who executes all the individual tasks involved.
No one expects a hospital superintendent to swab the toilet seats, crank up the heating system in winter, and dispense medication. There are other people to do that, but patient safety remains the superintendent’s responsibility.
On a lighter note, I really do not like that picture.
My chickens looked much smarter and happier when I was about to feed them but had a similar line up with the smaller ones trying to get noticed from the back.
Let us not be naive here. Mr. Cini’s role is the equivalent of an iced bun.
He will get the pay, the prestige (if all goes well) and the spotlight. All other speculation is purely superfluous.
The real heads would be the actual heads of the individual departments. CHOGM will be just another opportunity to dish out some more iced buns, as has happened already with Phyllis Muscat and Alessandra Pace, who both worked on the Labour Party general election campaign and are now head of CHOGM organisation and head of media respectively.
He also has Deputy Commissioner Andrew Seychell, who under the previous administration was in charge of all important visits and events including the 5+5 and the Pope’s visit.
Although having different political views from the previous administration he did a sterling job.
Peter Paul is not a lawyer, but a legal procurator – as is Sandro Camilleri who heads the legal unit of the Police Corps.
It must be remembered that this government is “innovative”, and presumably that should put our mind at rest that not having the officer responsible for security in Malta also responsible for security during the CHOGM meeting makes sense.
But who exactly will b responsible for security in Malta during those days? Will the Police Commissioner have to clear with Cini before taking any action related to security during those days?