The fact that the government is employing hundreds of people in positions of trust and as persons of trust, as highlighted in today’s issue, is absolutely nothing new. 

But the fact that successive administration after administration employ their blue-eyed boys and girls in their ministries without any call for applications or formal vetting processes does not render a wrong a right.

Of course there are those individuals that necessarily need to enjoy the trust of those who appoint them, such as chiefs of staff and private secretaries, this is beyond reproach. But when it comes to other more mundane appointments from outside the public service, it is entirely reproachable and possibly unconstitutional and illegal.

In fact, the Ombudsman sounded the alarm bell last October when he categorically stated that such employment by the government was ‘irregular’ in that there are clear rules in the Constitution determining how such people should be recruited from outside the public service.

According to the Constitution, recruitment from outside the public service should not discriminate between people based on their political beliefs and any such employment should only be done in the interest of the public service and the country in general.

He had also pointed out that nowhere does the Constitution provide for the employment of people from outside the public service on a position of trust basis and that no other law could supersede what the Constitution says on the matter – that the country is to have an efficient public administration run by competent officers hired after a competitive and transparent process, and not staffed by cronies and yes men or people owed political favours.

The Ombudsman said at the time that the continued hiring of people on a position of trust basis by successive administrations in no way made the practice legitimate, in fact, from the Ombudsman’s observations, the practice could very much be in violation of the law. 

A previous Ombudsman had even called for a parliamentary debate on the matter, which was never held. Such a parliamentary debate would be most welcome if, for nothing else, for the public to ascertain exactly what rules existed under previous administrations and how the spectrum has been so amply widened under this one.

With refreshing candour, minister and veteran politician Jose Herrera addresses the issue of the country’s patron-client political set-up, remarking that the country’s small size and electoral system naturally give rise to such clientelism.

But while his frankness about the situation is welcome, it is still not right, and for a country that no longer has a railway, it sure does have one long gravy train. And it is this gravy train – that people either expect to board or hope to board once their chosen political party holds the seat of power – that needs to be put to the same end as the vapur tal-art of days gone by.

Favouritism and cronyism is just not on, in any way shape or form from any government – these are, after all, so symptomatic of the ills affecting politics in this country.

It is also a very dangerous thing for the democratic process. 

It is beginning to look more and more as though the last election, like in so many elections past, had been bought to some extent with the dishing out of favours and jobs so typical of the clientelism politics that this country suffers from so direly.

And while we are not in a position to go into all the pre-electoral favours dished out by the Nationalist Party, simply for lack of information, back when it had enjoyed the power of incumbency, there is ample evidence to suggest jobs and promotions were dished out by this government left, right and centre in the lead-up to the 2017 general election.

Here are a few cases in point. A recent parliamentary question revealed that the Water Services Corporation had hired over 220 people in the run-up to the 2017 general election and that they were taken on board between 1 March 2017 and 3 June 2017.

PN MP Chris Said has alleged with this newsroom that in the few months leading up to the last election the government dished out around 1,000 ‘more secure’ public sector jobs to people who were already employed in the private sector.

Other reports have suggested that a third of the army, over 400 soldiers, had been promoted ahead of the election, while other reports have suggested similar promotions in the police force and elsewhere in the civil service.

The Opposition should certainly be calling for investigations into these practices.

This kind of unbridled electoral behaviour must no longer be given any quarter but then again it appears that there are many in this country – politicians and voters alike – who like things just as they are. So many voters who do not yet have their ticket for the gravy train may, unfortunately quite rightly, turn a blind eye to this system, thinking that ‘One day I’ll get my ticket, my planning permit, my job, my favour, or my handout. That dangling carrot is always there and there are not many out there who would prefer to do away with this system because they have already had their carrot or are hoping one will come their way sometime soon if only they manage to back the right politician come election time.

It’s high time that the way politics are done in this country is cleaned up and a great starting point would be for elections to actually be contested on policies and the real national interest rather than on who will be able to offer voters the best compensation for their votes.