Speaker Anglu Farrugia said he is unable to force ministers to disclose who is employed as a person of trust within their ministries, after facing persistence from the Opposition on Monday.

Speaking in Parliament during question time, Opposition MPs David Thake and Jason Azzopardi said that they have been sending the same parliamentary question to ministers over the past few weeks, asking who the ministers employ in a position of trust, how much these individuals earn every year and when their contracts are set to expire.

In response, each minister gave an identical response, saying that positions of trust are employed in line with a manual issued by the head of civil service in 2015.

Their identities, earnings and the length of their contracts were not disclosed by the ministers.

Thake pressed the Speaker that the ministers are refusing to answer his questions, to which the Speaker ruled that he cannot interfere with the matter.

‘Persons of trust’ refers to individuals who are employed by the government without a call for applications.

The Ombudsman has often criticized the employment of people from outside the public service on a person of trust basis, saying that it defies Malta’s Constitution.

Persons should be employed in the interest of the public service and the country in general, he said.

The government refused a Freedom of Information request made by The Malta Independent asking for the publication of information relating to persons of trust a few months ago, where this newsroom was told that the request “cannot be met”.