Being left out of cabinet seems to come with its own benefits after Anthony Agius Decelis was appointed the non-Executive Chairperson of the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation.

Agius Decelis was one of five MPs to be left out of Prime Minister Robert Abela’s cabinet, along with Joe Mizzi, Chris Cardona, Joseph Muscat, and Konrad Mizzi. Muscat has recently been brought back into the fold.

Under Muscat, Aguis Decelis served as the Parliamentary Secretary for Persons with Disability and Active Ageing.

He is replacing Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, who was promoted to parliamentary secretary by Abela.

The Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation oversees infrastructural projects in the area. It’s helped on a number of projects across Valletta, Floriana and Cottonera.

A year ago, Commissioner for Standards in Public Life had called for the end of the “fundamentally wrong” practice of giving backbench MPs government jobs, consultancies, or positions of trust.

His investigation had uncovered that roughly two-thirds of all backbench MPs are employed by the government, whether they worked in the public sector, statutory bodies, university, on a person of trust basis, or as government consultants, chairpersons, or directors.

George Hyzler explained that by placing MPs in the position of financial dependence on the Executive, the practice endangers the role of Parliament to scrutinise the government, goes against the underlying principles of the Constitution, and breaches codes of ethics.

Improvements in MPs salaries, which are the lowest in Europe, have been proposed to stop such appointments.

What do you make of the appointment? Comment below