Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1527188
THE recent news that the Mal- ta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has been ordered to pay almost €414,000 in damag- es to a former top official who was unjustly fired by then CEO Joseph Cuschieri flabbergasted the man in the street. Reuben Fenech, the Chief Op- erations Officer (COO) of the authority since 2018, had sued the MFSA before the Industrial Tribunal after he was dismissed with immediate effect in Sep- tember 2019. Just three months previously he had received a letter of ap- praisal from the head, People and Culture, stating that his performance was "meeting ex- pectations." Cuschieri had add- ed an attachment to that letter, listing a number of areas which he wanted Fenech to improve. One wonders whether Cuschie- ri's performance in the many posts he was given met expecta- tions. But that is another story. In July 2019, Cuschieri sent Fenech 'additional feedback', again highlighting those areas and promised to send further feedback in August. But during a face-to-face meeting in Sep- tember, Cuschieri told Fenech that his job was being terminat- ed with immediate effect. Fenech then took his griev- ances before the Industrial Tri- bunal that found that Fenech's dismissal was 'premeditated' and unfair since Cuschieri did not follow the procedures set out in the Staff Handbook that was an integral part of the em- ployment contract. When testifying before the Tribunal, Cuschieri said that he could not appoint a disciplinary board since it was the COO who normally chaired such a board. The Tribunal said that the CEO could have appointed a disciplinary board headed by somebody else. Instead Cus- chieri placed himself in the 'precarious position of prosecu- tor and judge'. Cuschieri claimed that his style was 'pragmatic and re- sult-oriented' whereas Fenech was 'pedantic and picking on details.' Fenech, on the oth- er hand, said that he based his work practices on public sector rules. The Tribunal found that Cus- chieri had solely decided to ter- minate Fenech's appointment without the approval of the Board of Governors of MFSA. The PN called on the prime minister to remove Cuschieri from his current post as CEO of Project Green, saying he had committed an injustice and ru- ined an employee's career, add- ing that 'If he is not removed, Robert Abela will be perpetuat- ing a culture of impunity in the country. He would be reward- ing those who do wrong, break the law, and ruin people's lives.' I do not know who was right or wrong in the dispute between Cuschieri and Fenech. It was certainly a clash of personalities and probably there were good and bad reasons for the dismiss- al. But I am concerned with the way 'discipline' was meted by the then MFSA chairperson. I also refrain from making com- parisons with the way Cuschieri himself behaved when he was chairperson of different state entities. What is most evident to me is the way discipline is meted out in the civil service in compari- son with what happens in the plethora of public corporations and entities whose employees are not civil servants. To point out an example, I mention the case of a watch- man who should have been on duty when a fire broke out in the property he was 'watching'. The Director of the Department concerned could not take disci- plinary steps, let alone fire the man from his job. It was the job of the Public Service Com- mission to do that. He was fired from government service, of course. The system sometimes works in the interest of the accused since the prosecutor in front of the PSC Disciplinary Board is usually a government employ- ee working in the same depart- ment with the accused; while the accused have every right to bring a private lawyer to defend them. I think that gov- ernment departments should engage private lawyers to pros- ecute those accused of breach- ing the rules; as many a time civil servants find it difficult to prosecute those with whom they work. But what happens in all those state organisations, whose staff are not state employees? Is there a free for all as the Cuschieri-Fenech case reveals? Presumably, every state entity has its own disciplinary board and those accused of some breach or other are given the possibility of defending them- selves. Today, the situation is such that many of these state entities employ people who blatantly and publicly support the gov- ernment. Government employees are protected from blatant politi- cally motivated decisions. Not so those who are employed by the plethora of state entities that exist today. Too costly to maintain I was not surprised to read that the Paola local council had decided to remove a green wall hanging on the Corradi- no Correctional Facility façade because it became too costly to maintain. The green wall was set up by the central government in 2020 and cost €30,000 but, accord- ing to the council, the materials used were unsuitable for Mal- ta's climate. Paola local council execu- tive secretary Fabian Mizzi, in comments to MaltaToday, said the material was absorbing too much water which should have been used by the plants them- selves. 'Its management was an issue since much more water than in- itially anticipated was needed, and therefore the plants needed to be replaced more frequently and at one stage it was no longer feasible to maintain', Mizzi said. 'Its maintenance costs were covered with the gardening contract the Council had at the time.' Eventually, it was no longer feasible to continue maintain- ing the project. Asked if the council plans to replace the vertical garden, Mizzi replied in the negative, saying 'the newly elected Coun- cil has not even discussed the issue in its first meetings'. The state agency Ambjent Malta was tasked with moni- toring the wall for the first six months, after which the respon- sibility was transferred to the local council. I hope that this story is a les- son to all. Decisions that involve improv- ing aesthetics should not be tak- en lightly. The initial costs alone should not be the main factor in taking such decisions. Mainte- nance is far more important. In Malta, we have the tenden- cy not to consider the impact of recurrent maintenance costs when embarking on many pro- jects. In this case, it was just a small investment but the lesson should be taken. Perhaps giving the respon- sibility of maintenance to the contractor who put the green wall up in the first place would have been a better way of doing it, if one were to actually do it. 3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 29 SEPTEMBER 2024 OPINION Discipline and abuse micfal45@gmail.com Michael Falzon Former MFSA CEO Joseph Cuschieri