2022 Public Service Week PR exercise costs surged to €426,000

The last public relations exercise conducted by former civil service head Mario Cutajar marking his ‘retirement’ went wildly over budget and the government has already been seen to have splashed out €426,000 in direct orders for what was a three-day event.

Although Prime Minister Robert Abela had said that the 2022 Public Service Week activity had cost €300,000 without divulging any further details, the latest list of direct orders published in the Government Gazette shows that taxpayers have spent much more on what many consider to have been an unnecessary extravagance.

The list also shows that the usual suppliers – who are concurrently involved in all the logistics for every Labour Party mass activity – took most of the public funds allocated.

The never-ending list of direct orders for the 2022 public service PR exercise includes a staggering €77,000 in media advertisements, which were distributed on behalf of the government by a private PR agency, Communique Ltd.

Other significant direct orders include €28,000 for the Corinthia’s convention centre in Ta’ Qali; €21,000 for sound systems through Labour’s mass meeting provider Beasteam Audio; €46,000 for Nexos for lighting; €65,000 for Raymond Vella Ltd for the provision of LED screens; €52,000 for catering from Corinthia and €37,000 for printing for AF Printworks Ltd, the same company that has  provided billboard material for the Labour Party’s electoral campaign.

Mario Cutajar also had a band for his departure ‘party’ and spent more than €12,000 on a direct order for a send-ff concert given by the Ghaqda Nazzjonali Kazini tal-Baned.

The rental of video services for the occasion has meanwhile set taxpayers back another €62,000 and a company called Mad About Video was the beneficiary.

Cutajar’s successor, Tony Sultana, has repeated the extravagance this year.

The Prime Minister has so far said again that the activity cost €300,000, which was paid mostly through direct orders.

It is not yet known whether the final price tag will require an upward revision as the bills are still coming in.

Upon his retirement as the head of the civil service, Cutajar was placed on the government payroll once again, this time as Heritage Malta chairman, with the related salary being added to his retirement pension, which is calculated on the civil service’s highest scale.