Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/946236
MATTHEW VELLA IT is the curse of Maltese governments. Even Labour is drunk on overstaffing depart- ments and agencies with its favoured constituents. But pa- tronage remains a mainstay of politics on the island, and as a leaked cache of government emails to MaltaToday proves, it will involve everyone from the Prime Minister, down to the street-leader. Emails published by Malta- Today dating from 2009 right up to election eve on 21 Febru- ary 2013, shed details on the daily efforts of ministers, gov- ernment MPs, civil servants, party candidates and direc- tors of national waste agency Wasteserv to favour voters for job postings with direct place- ments. They also reveal the blurring between government and par- ty, with MPs and government employees using their personal emails instead of the govern- ment server email. The emails start in 2009 with the Office of the Prime Minis- ter's private secretariat calling on the CEO of Wasteserv to provide interviews and jobs for four 'applicants'. The thread of emails soon grows into a chorus of voices sending reminders for job placements, that include Ray Bezzina, a political aide to then resources minister George Pul- licino, as well as the same min- istry's permanent secretary Chris Ciantar. In one specific case where the employment of four 'applicants' dragged through the summer of 2009, the PN candidate Josef Gauci – writing from the email server of the Ministry for Edu- cation – intervenes with Mar- these Portelli, then a director at Wasteserv, and copies in prime minister Lawrence Gonzi and his secretary Monica Mizzi. "Before the MEP elections, as a PN candidate in Bormla, I was requested to speak to the [Muscat] family 'tan-Nemusa' (PN hard-core), because they were irked on various cases and it was understood that they would withhold their vote… Although they mentioned many things, the one thing they desired the most was that their son no longer work in conditions that truly are beneath any worker. 12 Newspaper post maltatoday today today SUNDAY • 25 FEBRUARY 2018 • ISSUE 955 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY 2 YOUR FIRST READ AND CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT 2019 Another make-or- break year for Malta's leaders MATTHEW VELLA THE Cabinet of ministers has de- cided it will be proceeding with an incineration solution to Malta's growing problem, with a waste-to- energy plant situated at Ghallis. MaltaToday was told the plant will probably be operated through a private-public partnership, to in- clude the private sector in the op- eration of the incinerator. The plant, to be completed by 2023, will incinerate non-recycla- ble materials and generate electri- cal energy from the fumes emitted. The plant will take care of around 40% of Malta's waste. But the Government is also ex- pected to start preparations on new rules for legally-binding targets on waste recycling and the reduction of landfilling. TEENS WANT TO KNOW MORE OF WHAT'S ON THEIR MIND JAMES DEBONO'S ANALYSIS waste recycling and PAGE 3 RECOMMENDED, FAVOURED & HAND-PICKED Waste incinerator to be sited in Ghallis as landfill space runs out JOBS FOR THE BOYS The tale of the magistrate... From the prime minister to civil servants and candidates, a leaked cache of emails from 2009 to 2013 shows how staffing at the national waste agency was carried out by direct requests of ministers and their political aides €150 million waste-to- energy plant expected to be run by private-public partnership as new EU rules will impose limits on landfilled waste and mandatory recycling targets No more room for landfilling: the 'Maghtab' landfill runs out of space in 2019 and a new incinerator that converts waste into energy has to be up and running by 2023 PHOTO GILBERT CALLEJA 10 11 Saviour Balzan PAGE 19 malta SUNDAY • SUNDAY • YOUR FIRST READ AND CLICK OF THE DAY OF WHAT'S ON THEIR MIND €1.95 Out of love with History, more are studying Psychology