The Malta Independent 10 February 2025, Monday
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TMID Editorial: Clayton Bartolo’s ‘apology’

Thursday, 16 January 2025, 08:54 Last update: about 25 days ago

Clayton Bartolo has followed orders.

Last Monday, in the first sitting of the New Year after the Christmas recess, he stood up to say sorry to Parliament, and by extension to the people of Malta, for what he did.

But it was a less than half-hearted apology, because the former Tourism Minister has not understood that he did wrong. He said he still disagrees with the Standards Commissioner.

Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi had found that Bartolo and Clint Camilleri, the Minister for Gozo, had breached ethics when a consultancy job was given to Bartolo's partner, now wife, Amanda Muscat, even though she did not have the necessary qualifications for it.

Bartolo and Camilleri had been stoutly defended by Prime Minister Robert Abela after the commissioner's ruling. Bartolo eventually resigned and was kicked out of the Labour parliamentary group when another story surfaced about Muscat.

What Bartolo said on Monday shows that he is not too contrite for his wrongdoing. If he still disagrees with the commissioner's ruling, it means that he still believes that there is nothing wrong to appoint one's partner to a consultancy job - and raise her salary - although she is not qualified, and then have her "transferred" to another ministry when his relationship with her blossomed and eventually led to them getting married.

If Bartolo cannot understand this, then his apology is just a few words for the record without them being backed by remorse. It implies that Bartolo would be ready to do it again, given the opportunity.

In his seven-minute address to Parliament last Monday, Bartolo dedicated just a few seconds to his "apology", with the rest of the time taken up in a self-eulogising exercise about his work in the tourism industry and how he felt personally attacked following the commissioner's ruling.

All this shows how the system we have in place is too weak with people who make mistakes like Bartolo did. Elsewhere, a minister who is exposed as having given his partner a consultancy job without qualifications would have immediately led to his resignation (or dismissal, if this resignation was not forthcoming).

Here in Malta, we had to wait for a report to be drawn up (and only after a complaint had been filed by Arnold Cassola) and, then, although it was ruled that an ethical breach had been committed, we had the PM defending Bartolo and Camilleri, fomenting the culture of impunity that has permeated within our society even further. (As said earlier, Bartolo did not resign because of this issue, but as a result of another story surfacing).

Then, all the Standards Committee could agree upon was to have Bartolo apologise, which he did, but with little enthusiasm and without acknowledging his faults.

One may argue that he did more than Camilleri did, which is also true.

But there needs to be a review of how the system works, including how the Standards Committee is composed and the power given to the Standards Commissioner.

Politicians who are found to be in breach of ethics are getting off too lightly. We have had other situations, before Bartolo, which ended up with just a reprimand or, worse, nothing at all.

Politicians should be held more accountable for their action and a simple reprimand or apology is not enough.


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