Permanent secretaries to carry responsibility for engagement of ministers’ advisers

Permanent Secretaries will now have the additional responsibility of approving the engagement of their ministers’ advisers and consultants, even if these individuals are employed on a person-of-trust basis, according to a legal amendment.

This change comes after recommendations from the Standards Commissioner following abuses committed by Ministers Clayton Bartolo and Clint Camilleri in the hiring of Amanda Muscat.

In response, the Principal Permanent Secretary has introduced new rules to streamline these engagement processes.

However, rather than revising the criteria for ministers to hire consultants—often friends, party supporters, or political canvassers—the government shifted the responsibility to the Permanent Secretaries.

According to amendments to the manual governing the engagement of persons-of-trust, Tony Sultana, the Principal Permanent Secretary, with the approval of Prime Minister Robert Abela, has specified that Permanent Secretaries must now approve the engagement of advisers before the request is submitted to the Head of Secretariat at the Office of the Prime Minister.

This change means that previously, Permanent Secretaries signed contracts for advisers only after receiving approval from Castille. Now, they must give their consent before sending the necessary requests to the Office of the Prime Minister.

In practice, this places the responsibility on the Permanent Secretaries if any issues arise, rather than on the Prime Minister or his Ministers.

“If a Minister chooses someone as his adviser and person-of-trust, he should assume responsibility for that person. It’s not fair for this responsibility to be passed onto us when we have no say in who a Minister engages,” one Permanent Secretary told The Shift, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He pointed out that, until now, Permanent Secretaries had no authority to object to the engagement of someone chosen by a Minister.

“Will we have the right to object now? Is it practical to keep saying ‘no’ to a Minister I have to work with daily? This is not right,” he insisted.

Other senior government officials have described the recent changes to the manual as a knee-jerk reaction to demonstrate that action is being taken. However, they asserted that, in practice, nothing has changed.

The new rules also introduce a requirement for justifying the expertise allowance given to advisers. Under the revised guidelines, Permanent Secretaries must justify a €20,000 expertise allowance for their Minister’s consultants. Once again, the criteria were not clearly defined, leaving ample room for interpretation.

Amanda Muscat’s consultancy contract, at the time the girlfriend of Minister Bartolo, included a €20,000 allowance—the highest possible—despite her lack of qualifications and experience, which the Standards Commissioner noted.

The Gozo Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, John Borg, signed the contract based on instructions from Michael Buhagiar, the Minister’s Chief of Staff. According to Buhagiar, Muscat’s engagement was his decision, even though he lacked any executive power within the public sector for such a move.