An association of lawyers who specialise in information technology law has called on the Ministry of Education to call off its ban on use of Facebook by its senior officials. Minister Evarist Bartolo issued the order for Facebook use to stop after Philip Rizzo, who is accountable to the Education Minister – Rizzo is CEO of the Employment & Training Corporation – was caught flirting with one of his heads of division using sexist and vulgar language while also giving the impression that she was promoted for reasons that are not strictly legitimate. The Education Minister ignored this last matter and did not address it – at least, not publicly.
The lawyers’ association said, quite sensibly, that senior civil servants should be trained in how to use and not use social media, what is appropriate and what is not, rather than banning them outright from using it. I agree with them. These are adults, not children being banned from doing something by their parents because “you can’t be trusted”. However, from I see it is not just senior civil servants who should be trained, but all public officials, most members of parliament and several ‘persons of trust’.
Also, the reason why the media focused on Philip Rizzo (after I brought the matter to light on my website) is not because of ‘inappropriate use of Facebook’ so much as his sexism and patronisingbehaviour towards his female subordinate, besides the embedded impression that he promoted her because he rather fancies her. His Facebook use was what gave the game away. If he were not plastering his old-fool silliness on his head of division’s Facebook Timeline, we would never have known about it. Would that be a good thing or a bad thing? Definitely, a bad thing.
If we are going to get into atrociously bad and inappropriate behaviour by public officials on Facebook, there is a far more serious matter than Philip Rizzo’s to be addressed. That would be the executive chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology, who is in a more senior position than Rizzo and heads a more important organisation in the sense that the Science Council has EU-level relevance while the Employment & Training Corporation does not. Yet he and his former personal assistant, also promoted (to project coordinator) because of her relationship with her boss, behave absolutely abysmally on Facebook, and are rude, disgusting, offensive and generally abhorrent (and frequently ridiculous). Yet the prime minister, to whom the Science Council chairman is accountable, is too afraid to ask them to behave. Or sack them outright, which is what should be done, really.
Joe Gaffarena’s equally awful son has dominated the news over the last few days with his apparent conviction that donations to political parties constitute payment for services yet to be rendered. With that kind of mentality, why would anyone donate money to, say, Birdlife or an environmental group?
His behaviour does little more than reveal how easy it is for illiterate (his father) and subliterate (himself) shady operators who are corrupt (both, given their on-the-record behaviour), who don’t actually do anything that can be called productive, to demand and gain access, as of by right, to Malta’s most senior politicians and political leaders. Forget giving in to him. Forget acceding to his demands for land and permits and fake expropriations. Why do senior politicians even believe they have to meet him, take his calls, give him an appointment, or accept any invitation where he might be present and approach them? In their position, I would put a rocket under any such approach and make it clear that I do not wish to engage with him in any form or manner.
It is quite clear why the Labour Party obliges him – somebody, somewhere, is on the take – but why on earth would Nationalist politicians even think of giving him the time of day, especially when they have no intention of entertaining his corrupt and intolerable demands. If the Nationalist Party truly wishes to beat this government, it can do it in just one way: by starting a determined Clean Up Maltese Politics campaign and leading by example. In this, it should begin by keeping all business operators, whether legitimate or illegitimate, at arm’s length. This means giving legitimate operators only an appointment at your office, under very formal conditions and with witnesses present, and not even taking the calls of illegitimate operators, while leaving your aides instructions that they are not to be humoured or their requests for meetings acceded to. It goes without saying that no Opposition politician, still less its senior persons, or party official, should ever accept invitations to lunch, supper, days out on a boat or anything social, however many people are present, from business operators or anybody who is likely to have any form of lobbying interest.
This is tough for those politicians and party officials who suddenly find themselves, as others have in the past, with a political ticket that is a way in to those parts of society to which they did not have access before, and who are thrilled by all the invitations, the boats and the big houses with pools, and all those people with money and so on. But that’s exactly why they shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near any of that. The more delighted they are by all that access to people with money, boats and big houses, the more of a liability they are. It should be obvious. But apparently, it isn’t.
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