Labour militant given new €90,000 job as CEO of the Mediterranean Conference Centre

The President of Hamrun’s San Gejtanu Band Club, Labour militant Nigel Vella, was put on a €90,000 government-sponsored financial package at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, according to a contract obtained by The Shift.

Vella, who last year broke ranks with Labour Party Leader and Prime Minister Robert Abela after the latter snubbed him for a promised post as Labour’s CEO, was appointed as the conference centre’s chief executive.

The job, another political appointment to appease a disgruntled member of Labour’s Joseph Muscat faction, comes with a basic salary of almost €50,000 and six different allowances, taking Vella’s earnings from state coffers to almost €90,000 a year.

Despite having no experience in such positions, Vella was still given an undefined ‘expertise allowance’ of some €4,500 a year.

Last year, following Labour’s unexpected result at the MEP elections, Vella was promised by Prime Minister Robert Abela to take over the CEO’s seat at the Labour Party once Randolph Debattista was made to resign.

However, in a sudden turn of events, Abela dumped Vella, without informing him, and instead appointed Leonid McKay.

Angry and embarrassed, as he had already told everyone about his new job, Vella reacted publicly on social media, denouncing the prime minister’s snub, without mentioning his name. He removed his damning post soon after.

A former Labour spokesperson, he joined disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s private secretariat in 2017, assisting the government’s chief spokesperson at the time, Kurt Farrugia.

Following Muscat’s forced resignation in 2019, Vella was given a new job at Malta Enterprise by Farrugia, his former boss, who was appointed CEO of the government foreign investment agency a few weeks before the departure of the disgraced former prime minister.

Later, Vella moved to a €60,000 position at the Home Affairs Ministry, assisting Minister Byron Camilleri on matters related to the army.

The vacancy of CEO at the MCC arose after new Tourism Minister Ian Borg removed Pierre Fenech, who was given two CEO positions by former minister Clayton Bartolo. Fenech was kept only as the CEO of the Institute of Tourism Studies.