Robert Abela has humiliated Malta, again. Two days before the election, on March 24, the Steering Committee of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) based in Washington passed a resolution condemning Malta for contravening the rules, not once but three consecutive times. Malta has been demoted to inactive status, just one step short of expulsion.
The committee warned the Maltese government that if it continued to fail to meet minimum requirements for membership it will be expelled on March 25, 2023.
Malta has been a member of the Open Government Partnership since 2011. Seventy-eight countries and 70 local government agencies form part of the partnership. The partnership’s objectives are to make governments more inclusive, responsive and accountable. The partnership strives to promote greater transparency.
Governments draw up action plans that are submitted to the partnership identifying how they will implement reforms aimed at improving people’s lives. The OGP’s independent reporting mechanism monitors those action plans to ensure that governments stick to their commitments. Governments, in turn, are expected to use those evaluations to reflect on progress and determine the effectiveness of measures they put in place.
The last time Malta submitted an action plan was for 2018-2020. Its previous plan was for 2015-2017. Both plans identified five different commitments for Malta’s government. In both cases, Malta’s Labour government failed miserably.
For the 2015-17 plan, only two out of the five commitments reached substantial implementation. The other three reached only limited completion. Implementation of the 2018-20 plan was even worse. None of the five commitments were completed. None showed even substantial implementation. Three showed limited implementation.
If Joseph Muscat fared badly, Abela was far worse. On taking office, Abela reshuffled the cabinet and changed ministries. In the process, the Ministry for European Affairs and Equality was axed. That ministry was responsible for the Open Government Partnership.
Abela overlooked that responsibility and simply failed to assign the task to an alternative ministry. Since becoming prime minister, Abela has no permanent or temporary point of contact in the Maltese government for the OGP process.
Abela simply forgot to assign the responsibility to another ministry. But he also failed to establish a dedicated multi-stakeholder forum to oversee the OGP process which is intended to make the government more transparent and accountable. That’s hardly surprising. It’s not a priority for Abela. Quite the contrary. Abela’s government expends huge energy and resources to cover up and hide the facts, to keep the public in the dark, especially regarding administration of public funds. Abela has too much to hide.
The case of Saviour Balzan is a classic shameful example. Forty separate government ministries and entities are challenging a decision by the Data Protection Commissioner to release information about millions paid to Balzan, after having abusively rejected freedom of information requests. Forty different ministries and government entities have mounted separate appeals against the commissioner’s decision.
When the Independent Monitoring Mechanism (IRM) of the OGP contacted stakeholders in Malta, they were “mostly unaware of any implementation of the commitments” of the Maltese government. Malta also lacks an online repository, which most other member countries have, to track commitment progress. Yet, on December 20, 2021, the government bragged that it was “Europe’s top performer in e-government” while still lacking an online repository to track progress on transparency and accountability.
With Labour you know where you are – ostracised and humiliated- Kevin Cassar
The Malta IRM report concluded that “there was insufficient evidence to ascertain whether any commitments led to early results or changes in government practice”.
As early as January 2018, OGP’s CEO, Sanjay Pradhan wrote to Minister Aaron Farrugia noting that Malta had failed its deadline to submit a plan. Malta was given a new deadline for August 31, 2018. Minister Farrugia did nothing.
Soon after Abela took over, on February 7, 2020, the OGP’s CEO wrote to Minister Edward Zammit Lewis informing him that the Maltese government had ignored its previous warnings and failed to meet requirements, and that Malta had acted contrary to the OGP process in two consecutive action plan cycles. They offered Malta enhanced support to try and resolve the issues. Malta was placed under “procedural review”.
Abela could have been forgiven for overlooking Malta’s OGP responsibilities when he reshuffled the cabinet in the chaotic fallout from Muscat’s forced resignation. He might be forgiven for overlooking something as trivial, to him, as government transparency and accountability. But this was no oversight. Abela was repeatedly reminded by the OGP of Malta’s responsibilities. But, with utter contempt, Abela couldn’t be bothered. He didn’t even respond to the “procedural review”.
So, an open letter was sent directly to Abela in June 2021 requesting the government establish a multi-stakeholder forum for OGP and urging him to reconnect with the partnership. Abela didn’t even have the basic courtesy to reply. The OGP report lamented that “the government has not responded to this letter and no progress has been made”.
“For Malta, there is clear room for improvement,” they commented euphemistically, “in several open government areas, including journalistic freedom, civic space, open data and whistleblowing.” But, unbelievably, Abela still ignored them.
On March 1, 2022, CEO Pradhan himself wrote to Abela, reminding him that Malta had been placed under procedural review for “not meeting minimum requirements” after failing another deadline for December 31, 2021. The CEO offered help and pleaded “we would welcome a call with a member of your staff”. Once more, Abela wasn’t interested.
On March 24, 2022, the OGP Steering Committee ran out of patience with Abela’s insolence. Malta was designated “inactive” by the OGP. And, if Abela still refuses to comply, Malta will be kicked out. That means Malta will not be able to participate in Steering Committee elections and can only attend OGP events as an observer.
If Abela had spent half the energy and resources he expends protecting Balzan and concealing the millions Abela’s government paid him, Malta’s blushes would have been spared. “With Labour you know where you are.” How true – ostracised and humiliated.