Notwithstanding a radical Public Service Reform, and an Operations Review some years back, large segments of the civil service are still manned by inadequately trained personnel, often out of their depth.

Save for a number of dedicated, hard-working officers, the bureaucracy is unequal to the challenge that confronts it. From time to time, there are moments of exasperation when the unsatisfactory situation becomes the spur to start searching for urgent remedies.

The prevailing situation has deep roots. It is sufficient to recall the open plea for productive efficiency, expressed in graphic terms by the Nationalist Party general secretary Dr Austin Gatt during a party general council session in the mid eighties, indicating the wish to cut corners and to achieve results. That cri de coeur is best remembered, not for the noise it made, but for the hollow echo that has reverberated ever since!

State and society cannot exist without officials. But there are officials and officials. On the one hand there is the conscientious civil servant. On the other, there is the procrastinator, the stickler for formalities, the incompetent bureaucrat and the outright dishonest official, who is hostile to the public he is paid to serve.

Command system.

The bureaucratic command system is adroitly used by selfish civil servants to further their interests, which are frequently disguised as departmental or even national interests.

Whatever guise this type of bureaucrat might use, the trademark stands for inflated ambition, excessive self-conceit, lust for power and the craving for privileges and perks.

Civil servants in this category claim everything for themselves, and the devil takes the hindmost citizen queuing outside his or her office or in front of his or her desk.

To make matters worse, one finds, on close analysis, that egoism does not only emanate from individual government or public officials. These bureaucrats are sometimes animated by departmental or group interests. The term “group interests” is used advisedly for want of a better title. When these interests prevail, they can be used as a screen for personal, self-seeking interests that constitute the breeding ground for bureaucracy.

Narrow circle

What is it that allows bureaucrats to gang up and form a bastion that can withstand the forces of progress and the democratic aspirations of the electorate? Bureaucrats work in a narrow circle, almost in secrecy. They aspire to a caste system based on the selection of personnel from their own midst. They operate within a chain of command that obliges them to be immediately answerable to superiors and responsible for their immediate underlings. They are hardened by the arbitrariness of decision-making, which often manifests itself in authoritarianism.

How can this state of affairs be remedied to the degree that it is feasible? The answer is that the bureaucrat must be made to serve society, instead of having society subordinated to his cravings.

If the disease is brought about by secrecy and behind-the-door decision-making, it must be cured by openness. If the caste system intensifies it, it must be cured by radical redeployment of personnel.

If bureaucracy is made worse by irresponsibility, bureaucrats must be made accountable to the public they serve. If bureaucracy is given to arbitrariness, there must be a system where the governed could call the governors to account. Authoritarianism and patriarchalism in public administration and management must be uprooted.

Culture change overdue

This calls for an act of political will on the part of all politicians, backed by the democratically expressed will of the electorate. The electorate has spoken long ago. The rest is overdue. The civil service needs a culture change.

It also needs a quality change. As I come to my second point of my argument, I recall a comment, made to me two decades ago or so, by a UNDP expert assigned to Malta. He said that if one were to compare the Maltese public service to an army, it could be said that this army had no sergeants. And if comparison were made with a business enterprise, it had no effective middle management.

This expert was lamenting about a fact of life: namely that the administration is not geared to enforce the orders that come from high up.

Twenty years on, nothing seems to have changed.

The service has always lacked enough building inspectors –and so, it seems, does MEPA.

Yet greedy speculators have been steadily breaking many building laws with apparent impunity.

In spite of the arrival of traffic wardens, road discipline in Malta remains a byword, and parking regulations are far more honoured in the breach than in their observance.

The ‘Man on the Spot”

During the summer months, children are still seen performing odd jobs in various establishments on most beaches.

It does not seem that there is a labour inspectorate capable of putting a stop to this abuse. Similarly, the presence of foreign workers employed illegally at specific work-sites has become a permanent feature, only to vanish momentarily before the police carry out a surprise raid.

The same could be said about price control, which has been lacking in certain popular areas like Bugibba, to the detriment of tourists and the Maltese wage earners who take their family out for an evening and find they are being fleeced when they buy a pizza or cold drinks.

The public service reaches a level of efficiency only when policies are implemented and regulations observed with the help of the “Man on the Spot”. The Man on the Spot must be held accountable for the men under his charge who malinger or otherwise fall short of their duties.

It is not the immediate responsibility of Ministers to see that enforcement is efficient and effective. The main responsibility lies with Heads of Departments and their immediate assistants.

The role of Ministers is to make sure that the administrative machine performs efficiently and that the machinery is operated by officials equal to the job.

Irrespective of party, all Ministers sing from the same hymn sheet.

Unfortunately, we are still left with the echoes. Tangible results have yet to come.

They will come when the Maltese civil service is freed of the destructive virus that saps its strength.

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