Labour’s final push to ‘annihilate’ opposition as jobs, transfers and promotions continue unabated

Labour has intensified its pre-election mobilisation drive in what senior government officials are describing as an unprecedented attempt not only to secure a fourth consecutive electoral victory, but also to crush the opposition with the widest margin possible.

With less than a week before voters head to the polls, ministries, government departments and state agencies have become the focus of a large-scale recruitment, transfer and promotion exercise aimed primarily at appeasing disgruntled Labour supporters and consolidating wavering votes.

While successive administrations in Malta have historically exploited the power of incumbency during electoral campaigns, aided by weak enforcement and deliberately lax caretaker rules, several senior officials told The Shift that the scale of the current operation is unlike anything seen since the politically charged recruitment drives of the 1980s.

“Anyone who complained, anyone who threatened not to vote, is suddenly being called in and promised a solution,” one senior official told The Shift.

According to multiple sources across the public administration, hundreds, and possibly thousands, of government-related jobs, promotions and transfers have either already been processed or are expected to be finalised in the next few days.

The personalised campaign has targeted mostly Labour voters who had been complaining about perceived injustices, stalled promotions, transfers or employment conditions. In many cases, sources said, tailor-made roles or fast-tracked promotions were approved to pacify disillusioned supporters and their families.

Senior officials described the ongoing exercise as having “serious financial repercussions” for taxpayers, warning that the public sector wage bill is expected to balloon further after the election.

The Shift is informed that the situation is particularly acute in government agencies and state entities, where oversight and recruitment scrutiny are considerably weaker than within the formal public service.

One of the most striking examples, among many cases flagged to The Shift, concerns PBS, the state broadcaster, which falls under the political responsibility of Minister Owen Bonnici and CEO Keith Chetcuti.

According to several sources familiar with internal discussions, Labour supporters employed at PBS who had openly expressed frustration with the government or threatened not to vote were called in for meetings with the CEO and reassured that their demands would be addressed.

In one case, a female employee, whose identity is known by The Shift, who was recruited at PBS only a few years ago is expected to be handed a tailor-made managerial role created specifically for her through what sources described as a fast-tracked and irregular internal process.

The General Workers Unions which represents workors has been informed but no action has been taken.

Sources insisted that the position was effectively invented to secure the support of the employee, who is considered politically close to Minister Bonnici.

“The message is direct and clear — support Labour and everything will be sorted out,” one source said.

Sources said similar arrangements have taken place across several other government entities in recent weeks.

The situation is reportedly even more pronounced in Gozo, where pre-election recruitment drives within ministries, departments and public agencies have continued unabated.

Multiple sources told The Shift that tens, and possibly hundreds, of individuals have recently been placed on the government’s community worker scheme, originally introduced as a social employment initiative for the long-term unemployed but increasingly transformed into a parallel recruitment structure for politically connected individuals seeking low-demand government work.

Others were allegedly granted transfers to less demanding roles or placed on the payrolls of private contractors providing services to government entities, particularly in security, cleaning, maintenance and watchman duties.

Sources close to the Gozo Ministry said the recruitment drive has become so extensive that government workers are now even being deployed to assist local parish churches, including maintenance work and errands for parish priests.

Meanwhile, private Gozitan business owners are openly lamenting that many of their employees have resigned in recent weeks to take up government jobs or positions linked to state-funded schemes.

Several business owners told The Shift they are now being forced to recruit more low-cost third-country nationals to sustain their operations and continue providing services amid an increasingly distorted labour market driven by pre-election government employment.