Questions on Gozo's Euro Officer
Very recently we saw Prime Minister Dr Gonzi and Minister for Gozo inaugurating a new NECC information office in Gozo. During the ceremony, a lady was also present and this lady is very popular with government employees because she used to head the inspectorate section which was the section in charge of inspecting government employees whether they were on there work place or not. Gozitan government employees who support the Labour party are very familiar with this section because they were targeted quite often and charged.
This lady’s presence and also her tasks in this office raised quite a few eyebrows and frankly I really think that there is a good reason why. I submitted a series of parliamentary question to Prim Minister Dr Gonzi to clear the mist but unfortunately the replies were so evasive that the mist is now even denser.
After a public call for applications, Gozitan Euro Assistants were chosen, trained and given the job - so far so good. However, what happened is that from the Gozitan Euro Assistants, one was singled out to perform other ‘higher duties’. No call for applications, interviews or any other form of selection process was involved - this lady was simply singled out and chosen to become a Euro Officer.
This raised quite some stirrup amongst the other Euro Assistants who queried as to how and on what criteria this choice was made. The replies were far from satisfactory and at some point someone from the high echelons tried to justify by saying that there is no Euro Officer and that the tasks, responsibilities and remuneration of this lady would remain the same as those of the others’. However, facts show otherwise because even on stationary, this lady is designated as Euro Officer. In the meantime she has a new nice office to run and hope she runs it better than she did at the inspectorate. Maybe since then she has became colour blind.
Anyway, if Prime Minister Gonzi wants to clear the mist, he should at least reply to the simple parliamentary question I put to him several times – ‘on what basis was this lady chosen?’ Until then my eyebrows too will be raised and in Gozo there is much to raise one’s eyebrows about.
2007 - Justyne Caruana
