A chief of staff should not be stronger than the Prime Minister and should not be allowed to become chief of government, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said today.
Writing on Facebook, Bartolo said that two of the last three chiefs of staff were too strong.
He was referring to Richard Cachia Caruana, who served under Eddie Fenech Adami, and Keith Schembri, who resigned last month after being named as being involved in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Every Prime Minister needs to have a person of trust who helps him in his duties. But there should be only one Prime Minister at Castille, the one who was elected democratically.
Nobody should be allowed to build an informal web of power spread over various sectors which ends up being stronger than the country’s institutions. This is not good for good governance, for the people and for the Prime Minister.
A country can only have one Prime Minister leading one Cabinet – the one who takes an oath to serve the people and is scrutinised by Parliament, the media and civil society.
Any other power, hidden and secret, can only case harm, Bartolo said.