AKEL’s draft bill puts an end to bad practices in the appointment of advisors/consultants

Statement by AKEL Parliamentary Representative G.Loukaides after the meeting of the Committee on Institutions, Merit and the Commissioner for Administration (Ombudsman)

7 June 2023

As has been mentioned during the meeting of the Institutions Committee too, for years problems have been identified, at least by our Party, and we have criticized from time to time, and indeed strongly, numerous decisions concerning advisers to the former President or Ministers of the previous government.

That is precisely why I would like to recall that for a number of years the opposition parties have been freezing funds relating to the Presidency. Instead of addressing these problems that were created by the previous government alone, because that was not the practice 10 years ago under the previous governments, unfortunately, the current government has continued where the previous government left off, which was a very bad starting point.

The social outcry created by unfortunate choices and practices in appointments made, which I would say did not at all serve meritocracy or the protection of institutions, led us to discuss the legislative regulation of this important issue.

The truth is that there was a creative debate in the Committee in relation to the future and how we move forward. I think that there is to a large extent a convergence of views on the objectives to be pursued, and that is important: From now on, we need to regulate the issue so that we do not have phenomena like we saw with the four advisors/consultants of the former President, who left DISY as full-time employees, went to the President’s Office and have now ended up employed in the Civil Service with permanent employment status.

So the first issue is for the advisors/consultants of the President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers to remain in their positions so long as the official they serve remains and serve him/her as advisors. This is a central issue and there is a consensus and convergence of views.

Beyond that, through AKEL’s draft bill we regulate the academic qualifications required, the maximum remuneration according to the qualifications of the person selected to serve as a scientific adviser, and other issues, in order to avoid phenomena of nepotism, which are not at all in keeping with our times. You know what I am talking about: First-degree relatives not being able to be appointed to the post of adviser to any Minister, not just the Minister who appoints them. In other words, if someone is a first-degree relative of one of the members of the government, they will not be able to be appointed, not only by the person who is a relative and is a Minister or Deputy Minister, but by any other Minister or Deputy Minister.

We will be discussing these provisions during the article-by-article examination of the AKEL draft bill in the coming weeks. It looks like we will have to go as far as September to complete this work.