The newly appointed regulator promoting the responsible use of cannabis in Malta has been put on a taxpayer-funded package of over €90,000 a year.
Leonid McKay, after heading the Church’s Caritas programme until 2018, fighting tooth and nail against the legalisation of all forms of drugs in Malta while spending millions to rehabilitate victims of drug use, has had no issue with crossing over to support the government’s legislation to take up the role of Executive Chairperson of the regulator.
According to his contract, obtained by The Shift, McKay is being paid some €10,000 more than his predecessor, Mariella Dimech – the sister of Media Today co-owner Saviour Balzan – who was ousted from the post by Home Affairs Minster Byron Camilleri, after she failed to obtain any results on an €80,000 annual salary.
Besides earning a €65,000 basic salary and a performance bonus of almost €10,000, McKay will be getting an extra 10% allowance for “disturbance”, apart from allowances for communication, transport and other perks.
McKay’s new financial package amounts to a staggering €91,210.
Meanwhile, the new Cannabis boss is spending tens of thousands of euro in public funds to give the impression that his presence at the Authority for the Responsible Use of Cannabis (ARUC) is making a difference.
Organising a three-hour conference last January, the former anti-drug legalisation promoter spent over €44,000 in direct orders to make an impact with cannabis users.
While the conference organised at the MFCC in Ta’ Qali served as political promotion for his boss, Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg, McKay paid almost €5,000 to Emineo Ltd to film and live stream the conference, attended by under 300 guests.
All those attending the conference, welcomed by large screens, high-profile presenters and foreign guests, were invited to a lunch hosted by McKay and the parliamentary secretary.
Corinthia, the owners of the MFCC, was paid more than €13,000 for the lunch and use of the venue.
Sign up to our newsletter Stay in the know
"*" indicates required fields
Abela’s hotel contractors move closer to regularising illegal Xewkija settlement
OPM issues €6.4 million direct order linked to KM Malta Airlines
BOV to part ways with second Chief Risk Officer in three years
‘War’ intensifies between south ministers at taxpayers expense
Tags
#cannabis
#Leonid McKay
#Malta
#Mariella Dimech
#Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg
Other News
Abela’s hotel contractors move closer to regularising illegal Xewkija settlement
OPM issues €6.4 million direct order linked to KM Malta Airlines
BOV to part ways with second Chief Risk Officer in three years
‘War’ intensifies between south ministers at taxpayers expense
Developers confirm remedial works for collapsed Xemxija road expected to take ‘approximately two months’
Ten NGOs gather in front of Castille to demand four amendments to planning rules
Anton Refalo’s ‘Riina hideout’ missing from assets declaration
New tennis complex: Costs doubled to €2.8 million, and project delivered three years late
Health Minister celebrates as new medical school remains in limbo
Infrastructure Minister on the defensive after impact assessment waiver for Marsaskala ferry
Tuna rancher facing money laundering charges allowed to transfer assets to father
home-grown tourism (clientelism)
Dejjem ghall-hbieb tal-hbieb.
Everybody has a price including McKay.
That is the Modus Operandi to silence any opposition since Jos.Muscat .
Any who don’t comply literally risk being blown away !!
Everybody has a price , Judas settled for 30 pieces of silver.
Then there are the various Commissioners of Police , the Attorney Generals , Chairpersons of various Authorities , CEO of various government institutions , with more than 30 pieces of Gold . Judas did not have a happy ending. The developers used the 30 pieces of silver to buy the field where Judas gave up , to be used for others who could not face their future because of their past. People never learn, especially when the source of knowledge is banned from their lives and their god is corruption incarnate.
This is scandalous. Like the conferences organised by FIAU and MFSA – but these do not reply FOI questions so we cannot verify how these scandalous expenses are dwarfed by other authorities
Shameful. A once principled man has given in to greed.
If the government really wants the good of people, it should intensify the fight against drugs, in all it’s varieties. Concentrate more on rehabilitation than promoting this so called mentality of “safe soft drugs”.
If cannabis truly helps people for medical use, then by all means. Unfortunately for recreational use it will fail.
Does anyone believe that this will dent the drug trade, they are fools. As our Deputy PM and Health Minister had stupidly said: smoking cannabis is similar to smoking cigarettes. What a fallacy. But he remarked that as a doctor he would not recommend the smoking of neither cigarettes nor cannabis.
Dawn in NIES kellhom il fiesta issa din il gimgha. IL FESTA TA GUDA. GHLA FLUS JITILFU IL PRINCIPJI KOLLA.
PACI U SLIEM
Nistaqsi.
Huwa veru li l flus ibiddlu l persuna?
Addio anti legalization addio Caritas, addio residents , addio speeches to drug addicts that cannabis leads to hard drugs, with role models like these children learn that a membership tessera can open doors that degrees won t, mhux ta b xejn they all want to leave this island.
Robert Abela is a socialist.
He just didn?t mention the (anti) part.
Ghax mhux flushom jistghu jberbquhom kif iridu, mhux hekk?
Must be one of the anointed few, minimal values and money as his God!
What is the relationship between Keith Abela who enjoys a salary as Silvio Schembri’s secretariat, and Leonid McKay? The construction developments being carried out by Keith Abela in Siggiewi are of interest to Leonid McKay? Why did he visit the site?
The PL only selects those who they can rely on being among the ‘big spenders’ league people.
?44k for a three hour conference that, as I presume, was just another waste of time and money.
This last year’s legalisation of cannabis will soon enough prove itself to have been a folly when it backfires on the society with increasing numbers of drug abusers.
Some results of this new law have been reported in this The Malta Independent article below and I just like to quote one part from it:
‘About a month and a half ago, there were some kids sitting down on the plaza steps and I was trying to level with them’ after the children asked whether Pillow ever engaged in drug taking, one of them told him: ‘come on, it’s fun taking drugs’, Pillow said.’
Surely, this cannabis legislation is putting more stress on parents who see to it to keep their kids away from drugs, but the PL was happy to please the potheads and thus gaining votes.
?This has to stop,? Sliema mayor says after videos of youth gangs fighting emerge – The Malta Independent
Ghalkemm “ewro” ma jafx jghidha, jaf jahtafhom bl-eluf.
Amazing turn around. How can people like him stand up with no spine. Must be stacks of Euro that does it. Another pig at the trough. Flexible conscience?
Too much pay … don’t know why
Kullhadd jithanzer. Nies tal-flus. Il-fiducja ta’dawn il-briganti lill min taf, tispicca f’ixejn. Sorry Malta qedin. L’ebda l’icken ta’ MISTHIJA ma baqaghlhom dawn in nies ta’integrita.
Dont waste your votes on pl!