Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1139344
7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 JULY 2019 KARL AZZOPARDI THE Commissioner for Stand- ards in Public Life has called for an end to the practice of giving backbench MPs jobs or consultancies with the govern- ment. In a 75-page report, George Hyzler, a former parliamentary secretary, describes the prac- tice as "fundamentally wrong". Hyzler said some two-thirds of Maltese backbenchers had been employed or engaged by the government in the public service or the wider public sec- tor. These include both MPs who were regularly employed in the public service prior to their election, as well as those grant- ed appointments, government chairmanships, contracts or 'person of trust' positions. Malta has a system of 'part- time' MPs, but under Labour, Joseph Muscat granted posi- tions to government MPs to ensure that their salaries are boosted. Yet Hyzler was scathing about the practice, saying it al- lowed MPs to dish out favours through access to public re- sources, bolstering the system of political patronage and cli- entelism. "This practice dilutes Parlia- ment's role of scrutinising the Executive; goes against the underlying principles of the Constitution; goes against the Code of Ethics of Public Em- ployees and Board Members; places MPs in a position of financial dependence on the Executive and hence reduces the independence of MPs; discriminates between Gov- ernment and Opposition MPs and gives Government MPs an advantage over Opposition MPs; overly politicises statu- tory bodies and distorts their independence from the Gov- ernment of the day; exacer- bates the questionable practice of appointment of persons of trust, that possibly goes against article 110 of the Constitution; and creates unnecessary jobs, or else fills genuine vacancies with persons who are not nec- essarily best suited for that job, against principles of transpar- ency and meritocracy," Hyzler said. Moreover, engaging MPs as persons of trust possibly con- stituted a breach of article 55(1)(g) of the Constitution, although this would need to be determined by the Constitu- tional Court. Hyzler's report was instigated by a complaint from Demo- cratic Party MP Godfrey Far- rugia, a former Labour whip. Since Labour was elected to power in 2013, various MPs were granted roles as chairper- sons of government entities: today former minister Ma- nuel Mallia is chairperson of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority; former min- ister Edward Zammit Lewis acts as legal consultant to the Lands Authority among other consultancies; MP Glenn Bed- ingfield works as an aide to the Prime Minister; Robert Abela is a consultant to the Prime Minister; and various other MPs enjoyed consultancies and government positions in the first Labour legislature. Hyzler also listed all Maltese government bodies, the major- ity of which did not outrightly ban the appointment of MPs to their boards of directors. In his report, Hyzler said that all backbench MPs on the gov- ernment side have been em- ployed or engaged with the government, directly or indi- rectly, and some Opposition MPs are regular employees of government departments or agencies. In most cases, MPs were em- ployed or engaged with the government after being elected to Parliament. Such MPs hold appointments as "persons of trust" or on "contracts of ser- vice" in government ministries, or as chairpersons or members of the boards of directors of public authorities, or else they have been given consultancy contracts with ministries or public authorities. "Giving backbench MPs jobs with government is widely per- ceived as a means of appeasing those who are not appointed as ministers or parliamentary secretaries, or as a means of compensating them for their low salaries as MPs," Hyzler said, calling upon Parliament to address the issue of low re- muneration of MPs. In a reaction, the govern- ment noted that the same re- port says the Commissioner's legal advice was that such ap- pointments do not breach the Constitution, although the same Commissioner says he has misgivings about that same advice. "The Commissioner also says this practice should stop but that politicians' salaries should increase. The government will be examining this report close- ly and giving a more detailed reaction." NEWS Production of AI based ITA Guidelines. Expression of Interest (EOI) for the The Malta Digital Innovation Authority is expanding the ITA certification framework to include AI-based solutions and is seeking Expression of Interest for the provision of ITA guidelines in relation to AI, includ- ing AI-specific Control Objectives and Evaluation Criteria building on the Authority's guidelines and based upon the ethical principles and trusted AI attributes set out in the EU publicly published ethical guidelines available at https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/ethics-guidelines-trustworthy-ai and further defined (including the definition of AI itself) at https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/ai-alli- ance-consultation/guidelines#Top. Additional to this, OECD1 guidelines must also be taken into consid- eration in the production of this product. The OECD guidelines on AI are available at https://ww- w.oecd.org/going-digital/ai/principles/. The EOI document can be downloaded from the website of the Malta Digital Innovation Authority (MDIA): https://mdia.gov.mt/public-calls/ Any clarifications or addenda to the document will be uploaded and are available to view and download from the same website. The Authority reserves the right to refuse any offer even the most advantageous. Submission deadline is Tuesday 16th July 2019. Former tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis (right), is a highly- paid legal consultant to government authorities while also an MP Public standards Commissioner George Hyzler: appointing MPs to government jobs could be unconstitutional and fundamentally wrong Plum jobs for MPs 'fundamentally wrong' says standards czar Raise MPs' salaries, says Commissioner for public standards