Correspondence between Elected Board Members and Inġiniera Board

The Chamber of Engineers has been copied in correspondence between the Inginiera Board and the elected Board Members Inġ. Samuel Bonanno and Dr Inġ. Brian Micallef. These letters are being published for the perusal of the engineering community as requested by the same authors.

These letters bring to light the concerning nature of the situation within the Board and highlight the position of Inġ. Bonanno and Dr Inġ. Micallef clarifying their decision to stop attending Board meetings and participating in all official Board activities, including interviews of prospective warrant holders. Inġ. Bonanno and Dr Inġ. Micallef were elected by warrant holders in August 2020 and are amongst the contesting candidates of the upcoming election of 22nd August 2022.

Members of the profession are invited to read the following statements in the following chronological order:

  • 1 – Statement of Inġ. Samuel Bonanno and Dr Inġ. Brian Micallef, elected Board Members, following the Decree of 3rd June 2022 after application for a Court Protection Order. Letter dated 20th July 2022 [Link]
  • 2 – Statement and Reply of the Inġiniera Board quoting the same Decree of 3rd June 2022. Letter dated 05th August 2022 [Link]
  • 3 – Statement and Reply of Inġ. Samuel Bonanno and Dr Inġ. Brian Micallef. Letter dated 06th August 2022 [Link]

This exchange of statements centre around the Amendments to the Engineering Profession Act which led to the enactment of the Inġiniera Act Cap.321 in July 2021. The Chamber of Engineers spearheaded the consultation process on behalf of the engineering community and has kept members of the profession regularly updated with regards to the developments until the law’s enactment in Parliament.

Following the most recent developments, the Chamber identified the need to make the following clarifications on the claims made in the statement dated 06th August 2022:

  • In the press release of 19-Aug-2020, the CoE had reported that the proposals it made on the amendments to the Engineering Profession Act, were unanimously accepted and adopted into the proposed amendments following a series of talks held by the two entities after consultation with The amendments proceeded into the legislative process since August 2020. The Chamber did not discuss the topic any further with the Board since that date as can be attested by all the Board Members. The warrant of prohibitory injunction came into effect in 05th November 2020.
  • The claim that the amendments to Cap.321 were introduced “in a mysterious way” is invalid; the legislation consultation has been thoroughly documented and made available to all members of the profession for transparency and visibility. For full context on this issue, members of the profession are encouraged to make reference to the Chamber’s press releases of 19-Aug-2020, 17-Oct-2020, 14-Mar-2021, 01-Apr-2021, 04-Jun-2021, 16-Jul-2021 and 04-Aug-2021.
  • The Board has the essential duty as regulator, to administer the Inġiniera Act, to deal with issues concerning the profession, to determine eligibility for the warrant and assess candidates applying for the warrant. If, the Board stops functioning until a court case is closed, the potential is several years with a stalled Board. This would be expected to have catastrophic results on the profession and society. This would also halt awards for new prospective warrant holders with serious repercussions on a national level.

The Chamber maintains that the elected board members represent the whole engineering community and the minimum expectation out of the elected board members is the fulfilment of their responsibilities towards their colleagues in the community and prospective engineers. This is also in line with court expectations per the Decree of 3rd June 2022 where the request for the board to stop functioning was rejected in light of the various functions of the Board per Cap.321 Article 7.

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