It only takes nine months

Article from Malta Independent.

This is not a guide to pregnancy or maternity.

Nor is it about the rather limp Hugh Grant romantic comedy with the same name.

It all boils down to show how long it took the Prime Minister to reply to a rather run-of-the-mill parliamentary question of mine on a team of EIA consultants used some time back by the MTA.

Ironically this came in the wake of a recent statement by the Prime Minister in the House wherein he informed one and all that he had given the strictest instructions to all his ministers to give the promptest of replies to any pending parliamentary questions.

By the time of writing, the PM has not only shown that he is unable to lead by example – even in this sector – but I am still patiently awaiting him as Minister responsible for the Environment, Sustainable Development and Mepa to update us about the concrete action taken by Mepa against a particular contractor who was found abusing of our waste disposal regulations. Something which has so far merely stopped at the suspension of his licence, the eventual switching off of precipitators and Mepa informing us in its latest communication that it was still weighing the various options of what legal action to pursue.

When one comes across such inefficiency there is little point in registering surprise when one first hears officially that the government is not carrying out any wind flow tests in Ahrax tal-Mellieha only to be informed a few days later that after all such tests are being carried out, and to be more precise have been carried out since November of last year.

We equally had the embarrassing situation where the Finance Minister told us how conservative he was on spending public funds that he deliberately opted for a consumer research study about the clean air (or lack of it) implications of the contracted power station extension, only to eventually come to learn that the same company that had carried out this flimsy research among only 11 persons, was the very same company that actually ran the adverts proper. I am talking of 26th Frame.

This information has been gleaned from various parliamentary replies submitted.

I was equally intrigued last week when I read the comments of eminent sportsman and generously paid government consultant Pippo Psaila who said that the time is ripe for government to have whistleblower regulations in the football sector.

While I must confess that I am perfectly in agreement with Mr Psaila, logic dictates that if we really want to get our priorities right the Whistleblower Act should be enacted nation wide, particularly as far as government departments, agencies, entities and contracts are concerned to ensure the strictest application of transparency rules possible.

The same applies for the full application of the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act rather than its partial application as has resulted so far.

Parliament remains a baffling place where to try and solicit information.

I recently asked who the members of the board of inquiry on the Gozo ferries saga happened to be. While their names were disclosed in the media more than a week ago, when the Finance Minister offered a reply on 8 June he stated that the relevant information was still being collected.

Strange isn’t it? Particularly when the members of this ‘independent’ commission were set up by the same ministry itself or arguably by the minister concerned too.

I also obtained the same reply when I asked the minister what I considered to be a highly pertinent question as to whether all the items covered by extraordinary maintenance expenditure at the Enemalta power plants listed in a recent PQ reply happened to have any insurance coverage. The minister was equally at a loss as to which insurance policies if any cover Enemalta plant and equipment, as well as with which companies they may happen to be insured and whether such policies – if they do exist after all – were subscribed to following a call for tenders or not.

Going back to the PM’s parliamentary question reply to PQ 10924 which took me since 25 September to manage to obtain some form of reply, let it be known that what triggered the PQ at my end was a copy of Mepa minutes that showed that ADI Associates were listed as MTA consultants when they had reportedly bid for an EIA tender.

Strangely enough it took my PQ to learn from the Prime Minister that after all although the Mepa minutes – of which I have a copy – did list ADI Associates as MTA consultants; according to the PM these minutes were not correct.

When I asked Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco when were the Mepa minutes corrected, he pointed out that one cannot exclude that Mepa came to know of this ‘mistake’ only after my PQ was submitted.

I am still mystified why it took nine months to get a straight reply heavily steeped in legal writing when it should have been forthcoming overnight. Particularly in the wake of the PM’s call for a prompt reply from all concerned.

One should not be misled into thinking that parliamentary replies are only occasionally evasive to say the least.

When it is common knowledge that David Spiteri Gingell was executive rapporteur of an ad hoc committee at Enemalta to identify structural generation and distribution problems in the electricity sector, another PQ of mine on the same subject which should have been replied to instantly solicited the by now customary reply that even in this case the necessary information was still being collected.

With all these thoughts in mind, regardless of what shape the new parliament might take and by when will it be eventually built up, what matters most is that we owe it to the people in general to have an efficiently run parliament where the executive of the day should pull its socks up, learn from its own mistakes as well as those of past administrations, regardless of their orientation and make sure that this once prestigious institution gets the attention and dignity it deserves.

Meanwhile we continue to await the PN’s formal reply to Joseph Muscat’s clearly spelt out 15-point action plan on how to introduce better governance in the country.

This action plan is not solely intended to target misdeeds of the present and past administrations but also to rein in any future administrations, including a possible Labour one too.



On being taken for a ride

If the above points are not sufficiently indicative of how the Gonzi administration seems to have turned the knack of taking people for a ride and or proving to be as elusive as a butterfly, please allow me to cite yet another example.

While the media have been urging the PL to commit itself a priori on the unsustainable Hondoq project, GonziPN is adopting a multi track approach.

During the public hearing in Qala, we had PN councillors speaking against the project, a former PN MEP candidate speaking on behalf of the developers’ interests, another PN MEP candidate showing concern about the resultant impact on the marine environment, and the minister’s minions sending semi-cushioned signals that there was a tacit ministerial green light.

Meanwhile with tongue planted firmly in cheek the PM tried to lead us to believe that the final decision will be taken independently by Mepa without any undue influence or direction being exerted on the government appointed members of the board by him or his secretariat, prior to the taking of the vote.If we believe that we all deserve to board the famous or infamous ship of fools



Whatever happened to Libyan investment?

During a recent Foreign and European Affairs Committee meeting in reply to a question of mine, the Foreign Minister ‘confirmed’ that the proposed Malta visit by the Libyan Leader is still on, although he was wise enough not to commit himself to any specific dates or time frames.

What I find even more worrying are the following two factors:

a) that the PM who hops on a plane virtually weekly in his course of duty has only visited Libya once on an official visit since he ever became Prime Minister for bilateral talks;

b) and secondly, that while beleaguered Greece has turned to the Libyan sovereign wealth fund and its state-owned energy groups in order to mitigate its economic distress through inward investment from Libya, at a time when the Libyan Investment Authority has also invested substantially in the Pearsons Group, a publishing firm responsible for among others, the Financial Times, there seems to be hardly a trickle of inward investment from Libya evident in Malta.

I hope that time will prove me wrong. But something tells me that we have become virtually irrelevant to them on the economic landscape, particularly since government seems to lack the right interlocutor to make things happen on the ground. Even more so since Minister Dalli was kicked upstairs.

In spite of last Sunday’s Libya trip by the PM, which we consider positive, and while auguring for the strengthening of bilateral ties between the two countries and for the holding of the proposed 5+5 summit in Malta, the PM’s weekend visit to Libya can in no way be construed as a long desired bilateral meeting. The visit also came after so long a time since Dr Gonzi’s last visit to Tripoli in his capacity as Premier. A matter of years rather than months. Let us also hope that the expressed wish that the updated cooperation agreement between the two countries will be renewed.



A feather in the cap for the Spanish embassy

There was no better way in which the Spanish Embassy in Malta could have held an activity to mark the Spanish Presidency of the EU which will be shortly ending its term than through the excellent performance of the dancing troupe from Spain that gave us all a daring and provocative version of Bizet’s Carmen played out to contemporary dancing rather than to the traditional ballet many were expecting. Their timing, muscular performance and fluidity compounded with a perfect show that did not over run in length, made for an excellent and highly rewarding cultural event. I had seen something similar in Baden Baden a few years back by a gypsy-like Spanish troupe, but this particular performance was far, far superior in delivery and quality.

The Spanish Ambassador herself deserves personal praise for the unstinting effort she made in seeing this event through so successfully.

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