Opinion: A drunk driver as cabinet secretary

The BBC has just sacked former England international footballer Jermaine Jenas after he was caught sending unsolicited messages to female colleagues.

He didn’t break the law, wasn’t convicted of any crime, and apologised profusely.  Yet the BBC sacked him instantly from his role as a TV presenter.

Cabinet Secretary Ryan Spagnol was convicted of drink driving, but his crime was kept secret for almost three months. Prime Minister Robert Abela didn’t sack him.  Abela kept a man who cannot be trusted to drive his own car as the cabinet secretary – giving him access to secret and highly sensitive information.

Spagnol’s alcohol levels were twice the legal limit. You cannot have a cabinet secretary who gets drunk.

The court fined Spagnol €1,800 and suspended his driving licence last May.  But Robert Abela kept him as secretary to the cabinet.

Jermaine Jenas issued an apology for his actions.  “I am ashamed and deeply sorry.  I have let myself, my family, my friends, and my colleagues down, and I owe everyone an apology. I am so sorry.  I think it would be fair to say I have a problem – and I know I need help”.

Jenas said he fell below the “standard of responsibility that needs to be upheld when you’re a member of the BBC” despite no crime being committed. Spagnol committed a crime while cabinet secretary but hasn’t apologised to anybody. He didn’t feel his crime fell below the standard of responsibility expected of a cabinet secretary.  Maybe that’s because Abela’s cabinet standards are non-existent.

Can you imagine Alfred Fiorini Lowell, a man of deep integrity and utter rectitude who also served as cabinet secretary, being caught driving while drunk? Fiorini Lowell dedicated his entire life to public service, setting the highest standards of behaviour, competence and professionalism. Those were the people chosen for such sensitive positions as cabinet secretaries in the past.

Ryan Spagnol has been found guilty of a crime – a serious crime that carried potentially fatal consequences. But Abela has retained him.

Drink driving is no joke.  Those of us working in the health service have firsthand experience of the devastating consequences of such irresponsible behaviour. Those who’ve lost loved ones or who have been maimed for life because of the curse of drink driving are only too painfully aware of how completely lives can be destroyed.

Spagnol was stopped by a police officer while driving three days before Christmas. The officer noted that Spagnol’s eyes were red and that he was drunk. A breathalyser test showed he was twice over the legal limit. Spagnol didn’t apologise.  Instead, he made all sorts of excuses in court.

He challenged the reliability of the breathalyser result.  He claimed the prosecution didn’t present his statement.  Then, he claimed that he was on medication that may have affected the test result.  The court didn’t buy his bluff.  It found him guilty on three counts – drink driving, driving in a public place while not in a fit state and driving while not in control of his vehicle.

That judgment was passed on 24 May. But it was only revealed by Jason Azzopardi when it was published on 14 August – the eve of a public holiday when most are on holiday.

Azzopardi accused Robert Abela of attempting to cover up Spagnol’s conviction by delaying publication of the court’s decision.  The OPM “categorically denied” it.  But what Abela certainly cannot deny is that Spagnol’s conviction only came to light three months late.  Why? That’s a burning question, the answer to which every citizen has a right to know.

It’s not enough for Abela to deny his involvement in delaying the publication of Spagnol’s court decision. Abela must have known about Spagnol’s conviction for weeks, if not months. Why did he keep it secret?  Why did he not take action against the convicted criminal?

There can be absolutely no justification for Abela to retain as cabinet secretary a man convicted of the most reckless and irresponsible behaviour.  Spagnol is surely somebody who cannot be trusted with cabinet secrets.  How can a man who can’t even be trusted to drive his car be given access to the State’s most sensitive decisions?

This is typical of Abela – a man so devoid of basic moral norms that he keeps sticking his neck out for convicts or criminal suspects. Abela’s actions reveal a more worrying trait in the man – an utter lack of foresight, a head-in-the-sand approach to reality.

What was he thinking?  That nobody would find out, nobody would know, that he could just cover it up forever? Or that even if people found out, they would brush it off and think it’s only drink driving?

Time and time again, Abela has shown that he does not have the courage, boldness, or moral fibre to do what is right.  Over and over again, when faced with key decisions, Abela gets it wrong.

That should really worry Labour.  But it should scare the living daylights out of the rest of us.