Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1438074
THE recent fall of the Labour minister responsible for educa- tion, Justyne Caruana, is a sad story. The woman had a prom- ising political career in front of her when she had to throw out her husband for the sake of her career and her integrity, losing her ministerial position in the process. Making a political comeback by being reappointed minister, she then went on to abuse of her new position and award, via a direct order, a fake con- tract to a male friend – former footballer Daniel Bogdanovic – who was 'neither qualified nor competent enough' to carry out the job. When the Standards Com- missioner, George Hyzler, gained limited access to the former footballer's government emails, it resulted that a min- istry consultant – Paul Debat- tista – had actually written the report. All along, copies of all e-mails between the two 'con- sultants' had been sent to the minister. In 'awarding' this contract Justyne Caruana was helped by those who should have known better and stopped her. Instead they stupidly thought that to kow-tow to her foolish wishes was the best way to serve her. It was not. The teachers' unions were flabbergasted. The Union of Professional Educators point- ed out that several competent teachers could have carried out Bogdanovic's job, which was to visit government schools and draft recommendations on how to improve the national sports school's ability to pro- duce elite athletes. They added that the award of the contract meant that a person with ze- ro expertise in the education sector was going to conduct research to influence the way teachers work The union said that the minis- try's permanent secretary who signed the contract, Dr Frank Fabri, should be investigated for allegedly breaching the Ed- ucation Act but warned that it cannot exactly report him to the Council for the Teaching Profession because the perma- nent secretary appointed the board himself, adding "We ex- pect someone to wake up and for Dr Fabri to be taken up to the Public Service Commission to answer for his actions." In my mind a different ques- tion arises. Who is the more foolish of the two: Justyne Caruana or Frank Fabri? There is only one person who can take action against Fabri: the Principal Permanent Secre- tary and Secretary to Cabinet, Mario Cutajar. Will he do it? Mario Cutajar recently paid a visit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Anġlu Farrugia, who was pre- sented with the latest publica- tion from the Public Service, 'Governance Action on the Parliamentary Ombudsman's Annual Report 2020'. On that occasion, Cutajar ex- plained that the Public Service is putting forward several rec- ommendations so that entities that oversee government op- erations do so to the highest standards. With these recom- mendations, these entities, in- cluding the Ombudsman's Of- fice and the Auditor General's Office, would lead by example and follow the same levels of transparency and governance as they demand from the public administration. Were these just empty words? Or a veiled attack to 'defend' government's several trans- gressions that these entities find in the way government does things? Ministry Permanent Secre- taries provide the vital link be- tween the political minister and the civil service responsibility in the various departments un- der the ministry's umbrella. This is an important function and this job should not be taken to be just the responsibility of making the minister's dreams and fantasies come true, what- ever the cost. When permanent secretar- ies think that their minister is going to take a false step, their first duty is to advise the minis- ter of the possible consequenc- es of the decisions they want to take. And to frankly advise the minister to refrain from tak- ing what they feel is the wrong step. In my experience as minis- ter many moons ago, I always asked for the opinion of the permanent secretary before taking a decision – not for the political direction but to en- sure that such decisions will not end up facing the nitty gritty of financial regulations or of trade union niceties, as well as to see how the differ- ent responsibilities in the civil service structure could be af- fected. I would have expected that in this case a frank exchange between Justyne Caruana and her permanent secretary had to take place. The minister should have been given some advice. Instead, apparently, the permanent secretary just obliged. This is a more serious issue than Justyne Caruana's fool- ishness. Malta in the news Malta was again in the inter- national press this week – not because of our financial mud- dles, but because Malta be- came the first country in the European Union to formally legalise the use and cultivation of marijuana for recreational purposes. In fact, similar forms of de- criminalisation exist in other European countries, such as the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, but in those cases, pos- session of small amounts of cannabis can still be a civil of- fence and coffee shops or can- nabis social clubs are 'tolerat- ed' or only 'de facto' allowed by court decisions. In December 2020, the Unit- ed Nations removed mari- juana from a list of the most dangerous drugs, and several countries are now moving to- ward a more liberal approach. This year, the 500,000 signa- tures necessary to hold a ref- erendum to legalise marijuana were surpassed in Italy, and the governments of Luxembourg and Germany have announced plans to pass laws decriminal- izing the substance. While the government has said that the new law would not encourage drug consumption, but only protect those who chose to use the drug, many disagree. The decriminalisation of mar- ijuana is a good step but many think that the new law went too far beyond decriminalisation. The number of NGOs who oppose this step is not small – giving a chance for a possi- ble success of the idea floated by Ivan Grech Mintoff's Abba. This calls for the collection of signatures for a public referen- dum to be held on the 'unwant- ed Cannabis Act', with the aim of having the law revoked. Such a petition must include the signatures of at least 10 per cent of eligible voters to force a referendum. Abba estimates that it will require approxi- mately 36,000 to 38,000 signa- tures to force the issue. A referendum about this law is a good idea as such legisla- tion should not be an imposi- tion of the government against the feelings of the majority. 7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 DECEMBER 2021 OPINION A fabricated abuse Michael Falzon micfal45@gmail.com Education minister Justyne Caruana