19 August 2008 Rating 1% No Comment  

In his Opinion piece in yesterday's Times Lino Spiteri focus on the discrimination to which Victor Galea Secretary General of AD-The Maltese Green Party is being subjected.

In the Civil Service there are a multitude of contradictory rules relative to the political involvement of civil servants. It is about time that these contradictions are weeded out the soonest.

It is also about time that we realise once and for all that given the small number of those willing to take part in public life we cannot afford to retain obstacles for those willing and able to involve themselves.

In seems that in this country once rules are drafted they are ignored by the PN and the MLP until such time as an outside dares challenge their position. The rules are then applied to their adversaries. The MLP is responsible for the current state of affairs just as much as the PN : it did not speak up. Until the time of writing no one from the MLP has condemned the manner in which Victor Galea has been treated by the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry for Gozo.

A number of civil servants are actively involved in the political structures of both the PN and the MLP. Their names are known to one and all as given that they were officially sanctioned to infringe the rules they always laboured in broad daylight.

The Prime Minister has already declared that he is not aware of the details of the case as he is not normally involved in such matters. They are dealt with by the Head of the Civil Service.

So as a first point the Head of the Civil Service must assume responsibility for the political discriminatioin to which Victor Galea is being subjected. This is not however the end of the story.

The Prime Minister should shoulder political responsibility as he heads a political party which knowingly involves civil servants in its structures but then did not to date have the decency to create a level playing field.

Carmel Cacopardo