It seems that unfortunately on this island of ours, the duties carried out by and the performance of the Armed Forces of Malta are hardly appreciated and mostly taken for granted. This is also the case with so many other services afforded to the general public – these are considered as part of the run of the mill, yet these require and demand organisation, high performance as well as continual updating.

During the past year, with the substantial assistance and after consideration of various proposals, we, at the office of the Prime Minister, together with AFM Commander Brigadier Carmel Vassallo and other army personnel have met several times in order to bring into operation a review of the set-up within the army. This review entails the reorganisation of the existing structure as well as of all regiments.

This should help so as to be able to address more efficiently the areas which demand the attention of the AFM. In fact, while the Second Regiment has been disbanded, the Maritime Squadron and Air Squadron have been set up as separate units and a Fourth Regiment has been set up. The headquarters operations have been streamlined in order to make them more efficient and we have set up both a legal section as well as an archives department. This review was completed in July and the new set-up should be fully operational by the end of this year.

Obviously one has to operate within the limitations of both personnel and logistics. In fact, all operations and duties performed by the Armed Forces have to be carried out mainly by the 1,600 or so personnel which make up the present complement.

With the irregular immigration phenomenon an increasing problem, demanding and stretching both human as well as financial resources, it was deemed imperative that these two units be strengthened. I must mention the sterling work carried out in this regard, at times in inclement weather. A section of the general public, in order to address its particular agenda, may find it easy to criticise the said units for lack of performance or mistakes – but then I would invite them to continually operate under unforeseen pressure, to operate in touch-and-go situations and perhaps the day after, they will realise that a lot of the armchair criticism for the sake of sensationalism is uncalled for.

The Fourth Regiment will include all operations under Camp Commandant as well as the Security Corps and now will encompass the newly set up Command Control, Communications and Information Company as well as the catering section within the army. The latter has the uncomfortable assignment of preparing some 1,200 or more meals a day for a good percentage of irregular immigrants in the closed detention centres.

Furthermore this review has set up an internal Audit and Investigation Unit in order to assure more transparency regarding the financial aspects of the AFM.

With Malta’s entry into the European Union and its continual participation in European defence matters, a section has been set up, which operates both at local and at international level, in order to be more on the ball with peacekeeping and defence operations now being undertaken jointly by our European Union partners.

All the above is fine. The logical step after all this was to address the promotions exercise, which has been long overdue within the said forces. There are some 1,200 personnel who qualify for promotions.

Considering the pressure both at administrative level and from a political point of view, this is no easy task. The Brigadier General as well as I, as Parliamentary Secretary in charge of defence, together with other ministers, parliamentary secretaries and members of parliament from both sides, have been inundated with representations.

The Prime Minister too must have received his share of these to add on to his ever increasing workload.

The truth is that there are those who are right in having expectations as they do their duties, are qualified and should be in line for promotion. Then there are those who either do not qualify, or else do not meet the required standards to merit a promotion. Some of those in employment as soldiers just do not have any disciplinary or supervisory talents and cannot be put in charge of other soldiers. On the other hand, there are so many with the required qualifications and merits that one has to limit oneself to the available postings. Then one has the difficult task of choosing between A and B.

One’s objective report may be very different from one’s subjective assessment of a situation.

The most comfortable solution would be to wake up one morning and find that everyone applying has been promoted.

But then there are two persons in Malta who wish to be Prime Minister and the electorate on general election day chooses only one – and the other has to sit as Opposition Leader and hope for better results in the next round. And even then probably things might not go his way.

The final decisions regarding promotions generally lie with those on the ground. We, at the political end take care of overall policy and political direction. But it is the army set- up which is ever more responsible in assessing all those applying. Of course we will discuss matters.

I am sure that all due care and attention will be taken to maintain an efficient force.

Recommendations are made to the Office of the Prime Minister and eventually the said promotions will be awarded. Tomorrow is another day. New demands will come from within and without the ranks. As Malta grows in stature within the EU and through its good services within the international sphere, our forces too have to be more efficient and up to standard.

Tony Abela is Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister