NEWS | Wednesday, 23 April 2008

Four ministries secretive on resignations of public officials

Charlot Zahra

Four out of the nine Ministries failed to reply after being asked about whether the boards of public entities falling within their portfolio offered their resignations after the March 8 general elections.
The Gozo Ministry, the Finance and Investments Ministry, the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry and the Resources and Rural Affairs Ministry did not reply to various e-mail enquiries made by this newspaper over the past two weeks about the matter.
The other five Ministries on the other hand, confirmed that all board members of Government-appointed entities tendered their resignations.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister told Business Today: “There are 30 entities falling under the portfolio of the Office of the Prime Minister.
“As is usual practice, Government appointed members have offered their resignation. Board members have been asked to go on with their usual work until a decision is taken as to their future composition,” the spokesperson said.
On his part, Social Policy Minister John Dalli told this newspaper: “All members, as is the practice, tendered their resignation, none have been accepted as yet. New formations will be decided upon at a later stage.”
There are a total of 77 boards of directors falling under the Social Policy portfolio, the Health portfolio has a total of 52.
A spokesperson for the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications (MITC) said that there are 11 entities within Minister Austin Gatt’s portfolio “outside the public service”, namely: the Malta Maritime Authority, Malta Freeport Corporation, Malta Transport Authority, Malta Communications Authority, Malta Information Technology and Training Services Ltd, Malta Government Technology Investments Ltd, Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation plc, Water Services Corporation, Enemalta Corporation, Mediterranean Offshore Bunkering Co Ltd, and Malta Shipyards Ltd.
Asked to identify the entities in question and the dates when each resignation letter was tendered, the MITC spokesperson said: “All Directors of entities mentioned in reply to your first question have tendered their resignation as is the normal practice following the appointment of a new government. The resignations were tendered on various dates since the date of the appointment of the new government.”
Asked to identify which of these resignations have been accepted and to state the exact the exact dates when each resignation was accepted, he said: “All directors are deemed to be in office until such a time as a new board has been appointed to replace the old one. No such board has been appointed at this stage and when such boards are appointed, public statements are made to this effect as is the normal practice when boards on public bodies and entities are appointed.
“Further to my reply to your fourth question, the absence of an announcement on the replacement of the existing Board at this stage is not necessarily to be understood to mean either that the Board will necessarily be replaced or necessarily that it will not,” he added.
On his part, a spokesperson for the Ministry for Education and Culture told BusinessToday: “The Government entities falling under the portfolio of the Ministry of Education and Culture are 33 in the educational sector and 11 in the cultural sector together with two boards at PBS Ltd, making a total of 46.
“All board members offered their resignation,” he said. “All Boards have been asked to go on with their usual work until a decision is taken as to their future composition.”
Finally, a spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed that: “There are no corporations or authorities forming part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

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