ADPD: Abela has abdicated from all responsibility and accountability

ADPD Chairperson Sandra Gauci criticizes Prime Minister for ‘closing an eye to abusive practices, especially when it concerns people close to Ministers’

By: maltatoday.com

Nov 24 2024
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ADPD: Abela has abdicated fro

Green Party ADPD said on Sunday the parliamentary committee accepting Standards Commissioner report on ministers Clayton Bartolo and Clint Camilleri was “a step in the right direction’.

“We have come to a point where the country is in agreement that there was abuse, however the Prime Minister has kept on insisting that Mrs Amanda Muscat has conducted the work she has been paid for,” Mario Mallia, ADPD Deputy Secretary General said.

The party questioned why the Prime Minister has not taken disciplinary action against those involved. "It is clear that the Prime Minister has abdicated from all responsibility concerning accountability and ethical behaviour amongst parliamentarians.”

The issue centers on Bartolo’s partner (now wife), Amanda Muscat, who received high-paying government positions within the Tourism and Gozo Ministries, though the Commissioners report found she lacked the required qualifications and duties for these roles.

ADPD Chairperson Sandra Gauci criticised the Prime Minister for "closing an eye to abusive practices, especially when it concerns people close to Ministers."

“The Prime Minister is more concerned with the people in inner circles rather than meritocracy in the name of national interest,” she said

She pointed out that “it comes as no surprise that many young people are put off politics and also leaving the island. It is clear that the country is not appealing to them in many ways, including a sense of justice, meritocracy and standards of public life.”

Gauci remarked, “Prime Minister must take on the role of a serious leader in a serious country instead of taking decisions and positions that are clearly partisan in nature.”

She called for the Prime Minister to give an explanation on “how his office was responsible for the approval of thousands of euros to the minister’s wife, as a person who was neither qualified nor expert in the field concerned."

“As the saying goes, the fish rots from the head down,” concluded Gauci.