Band Club secretary appointed to Planning Board

Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri, who was given the portfolio of the Planning Authority in 2024, has continued to exert his presence in planning decisions, with the appointment of Marnol Sultana, the secretary of the Zebbuġ Band Club and one of his canvassers, to the Authority.

The appointment, announced in the Government Gazette, will see Sultana, a public servant, sit on the Planning Board together with nine other members – four of them hailing from Gozo and appointed directly by Minister Camilleri.

Sultana will replace Mario Borg, the CEO of the Gozo Regional Development Authority (GRDA), a satellite organisation of the Gozo Ministry. The latter was recently appointed the new permanent secretary at the Gozo Ministry.

Sultana, whose official job is as an assistant director at the Finance Ministry, responsible for procurement and tenders, was already in the news in 2023.

The Shift reported that despite being a full-time public employee, he was also given direct orders by the Water Services Corporation to work on a part-time basis on the government agency’s procurement. At the time, the WSC was controlled by CEO Ivan Falzon, who used to work with Sultana at Mater Dei.

Sultana’s direct orders had raised eyebrows at the Finance Ministry for potential conflicts of interest.

On the planning board, one of the main decision-making entities of the Planning Authority, Sultana joined other canvassers of Minister Camilleri.

In 2024, upon his appointment as planning minister, Camilleri appointed architect Andrew Ellul, husband of controversial Planning Commission Chairperson Elizabeth Ellul, Charles Hili, a former postman and canvasser of the Minister, and Joseph Tabone, a site technical officer and former member of the Minister’s secretariat.

At the same time, Architect Godwin Agius, a long-time colleague of Minister Camilleri and the person given a €700,000 direct order by Camilleri’s Ministry on the Nadur road project, was put on the Planning Authority’s Executive Council – the most important committee of the Authority.

Recently, Minister Camilleri also reappointed Johann Buttigieg as the CEO of the Planning Authority, after he was removed several years ago.