The government is proceeding unabated with appointments without transparency, criteria and procedures
Statement by AKEL C.C. member Marina Savva
16 May 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia
With regard to today’s press reports concerning a new case of a leading member of Nikos Christodoulides’ election campaign staff being employed at the Presidential Office, AKEL notes the following:
Meritocracy, good administration and transparency must be promoted in practice first and foremost by the President of the Republic and government officials. We regret to note that what has recently been revealed in relation to the appointments made by the Government proves anything but this.
The Government seems to be proceeding unabated with various appointments, without transparency, criteria and procedures in place. This is despite the fact that during the pre-election campaign the announcement was made that an Advisory Council on political appointments would be established, and despite the fact that it announced the promotion of a bill which will regulate the whole procedure for the recruitment, qualification and salaries of consultants and advisers to the Presidential Palace.
The question quite logically arises: why set up an Advisory Council and prepare a bill if the numerous appointments have been made beforehand? Unless the purpose is to pursue the Anastasiades government’s policy, which after every scandal announced belatedly laws and procedures.
AKEL has already registered this issue for debate with the Parliamentary Committee on Institutions, Merit and the Commissioner for Administration (Ombudsman). Furthermore, AKEL expects a list of names of the qualifications, duties and salary scales of all advisors in the Presidential Palace, Ministries and Deputy Ministries to be made public as soon as possible.
AKEL will continue to exercise parliamentary scrutiny over this issue as well, so that a framework is established which puts an end to the phenomena of cronyism, clientelism, non-transparency and the waste of public money.
