The government’s decision to announce the controversial nomination of two magistrates has jarred with the legal profession, legal experts, the political sphere and the general public. In short, it went down like a lead balloon.

One of the people in question is the speaker’s daughter. When put into context, it is bad enough. Anglu Farrugia was unceremoniously removed as deputy leader of the Labour Party and this was made up for by the Prime Minister nominating him as speaker. It was very obviously compensation in kind. Make no mistake; this has nothing to do with the role Dr Farrugia plays. In fact, on most occasions he has gone by the book and seems to have relished the role and performed well in it. But the fact that his daughter has been nominated to the bench simply does not go down well at all. It either smacks of jobs for the boys (girls) and an unpaid debt now settled in full or, even worse, a well thought plan by the Prime Minister’s advisers to stall Dr Farrugia in contesting the next election.

When it is considered that Caroline Farrugia did not fit the necessary criteria of being a practicing lawyer before the minimum seven years of practice, it raises eyebrows even further. How can you nominate someone to the bench if they have not even completed the set amount of time as a lawyer from when they were sworn in? In fact, the Justice Commission ruled that she is not eligible and the President of the Republic had already stated that she would not give her the oath of office unless she is convinced otherwise.

The apparatchiks and strategy spinners really got this one wrong. In trying to divert attention away from other scandals, they set out in nominating two women to serve on the bench. But once the damage limitation exercise set in, and it was revealed that Dr Farrugia’s daughter will not be sworn in as a magistrate until after the seven year-period, it becomes even more apparent that this was a tailor-made appointment for a 32-year-old lawyer. We know nothing about her. Her name is not exactly heard booming out in neither the corridors of the magistrate’s court, nor the civil courts.

But let us leave that aside for now. The other person nominated to the bench is also ineligible to take the post as yet, because she is still within the preventive period precluding her from holding a post in the judiciary because of the post she has just relinquished as a board member of the Employment and Training Commission. Her term was to expire in July this year, but she stood down in the wake of the announcement. At least, as soon as the Law Commission said she was not eligible for the post, she did the honourable thing and told the Prime Minister that she would not be considering the post.

What is extremely shocking, however, is that no one at all seems to have been consulted on the matter and the Justice Minister is looking increasingly hot under the collar, almost frustrated even. Owen Bonnici said in parliament that he had always maintained contact with the opposition over the past three years, yet this claim was vehemently denied by shadow minister Jason Azzopardi.

The Chamber of Advocates also lambasted the way the appointments announced and said that it should have been consulted, as it was in the past, to at least make recommendations according to legal procedure and eligibility criteria.

Someone, somewhere, obviously got their timing wrong here. Maybe it was done because the government thought that it had done well with introducing the vilification law debate and that it could maybe get away with slipping this one in.

Maybe someone made a hash of things. But it is hard to conceive the idea that someone thought that the way this was done was smoothly and correctly. Back to Dr Bonnici. Perhaps there is something even deeper going on. Could it be the case that the Minister is becoming increasingly frustrated at having to cobble together explanations and justification for the orders which he is getting from Castille? Now he’s under fire from none other than from the Law Commissioner. Franco Debono was hailed by the Dr Bonnici when he lambasted former Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici in the last ailing days of a quasi moribund Gonzi government. But Dr Bonnici could well do with taking some lessons off from Dr Carm Mifsud Bonnici in ethics and political correctness.