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Sacked or not sacked, abolished or not abolished
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by PANORAMA reporter
When employment minister Joe Bossano was asked in parliament yesterday if it was his decision to sack John Cabezutto as CEO of the Housing Agency, he replied that Mr Cabezutto had not been sacked.
"The post was abolished by the Board of the Agency after it was established that there was no requirement for it. Mr Cabezutto therefore automatically reverted to his previous employment as deputy Manager of the Construction Training Centre in the Ministry of Employment and is still employed there," added Mr Bossano.
Mr Caruana asked if it was reasonable to demise that the decision to abolish the post reflected the views of the political member of the Board?
Mr Bossano asked if the appointment of Mr Cabezutto back in October reflected the political opinion of Mr Caruana who was the one who had Mr Cabezutto calling at his office every morning - and after the 8th of December still kept turning up there like the ghost in The Convent, wandering through the corridors looking for the previous Chief Minister, who was not there any more.
Mr Bossano alleged that the post of CEO was created by the previous government without it being advertised etc - the pay was increased from about £30,000 to £65,000 to put him in charge of the agency.
After the election, the new Board examined the necessity of this £65,000 job and concluded that there was no need to spend such an amount of public money and that there was no need to have two jobs at the top of the agency and that the more expensive of the two was eliminated, and Mr Cabezutto went back to the job he was previously doing, so he was not sacked.
Mr Bossano was asked by Mr Caruana if the post of CEO had been abolished, replying that the post had been abolished by the Board.
But Mr Caruana then said that the Board was not at liberty to abolish the post, which in law cannot be abolished - so they have sacked the incumbent of the post.
Mr Bruzon interjected to say that the word used was not abolished but discontinued.
When Mr Caruana insisted that the decision to abolish the post was unlawful, Mr Bossano retorted that the post was no longer required.
Chief Minister Mr Picardo interjected to say that nobody's head had been cut off by the new government, quite unlike the position in 1996 when Mr Caruana had been sworn in as chief minister. Given that it had been indicated that legal proceedings would be commenced, "I do not believe that it is appropriate for the government to continue to discuss these issues."
16-02-12
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