A total of 149 personnel transfers in the police force which came into effect on Monday, according to a letter dated 17 February, were obviously not made because of service exigencies, but so that the government could dish out favours to those it suited them to, the MLP’s spokesman for the interior, Gavin Gulia, said.

Condemning the transfers, he said the exigencies of the service were being sacrificed on the altar of political convenience.

Under a Nationalist government 20 days before the general election, everything was truly possible, Dr Gulia said, echoing the PN’s electoral billboards slogan.