The war against corruption needs to be fought on all fronts. We seem to be getting used to hearing shocking stories about corrupt politicians and business people. They work in the dark to syphon off taxpayers’ money through rogue deals that are disguised as public investment.
But there is another aspect of corrosive corruption that needs to be eradicated: the belief that some people hold that society owes them a living even if they are not prepared to do anything to earn it.
A Jobs Plus scheme first introduced in 2009 to encourage people with low skills to improve their employability profile is being financed by taxpayers who guarantee those joining this scheme a minimum wage in return for giving a full day’s work to the community.
Many of those on this scheme in Gozo were found to have been skiving. But they still get paid thanks to the ineffective management of the scheme by District Operations, a GWU foundation that is paid €1 million a year by the government to manage it.
Sources close to the local councils across Gozo, which are assigned community workers from the scheme, complained about rising absenteeism.
Inspections subsequently found that many workers were not on site when they were supposed to be while others did carry out work assigned to them but also managed to fit in a private job during working hours.
When the problem of absenteeism became too glaring to avoid taking drastic action, the GWU’s CEO of District Operations confirmed that control measures have now been introduced to improve the performance and output of these workers. These control measures include the requirement for local councils to submit a work plan and photographs of the work performed by the employees under their supervision.
It is still not clear what the definition of duties of the GWU foundation is in
return for getting paid €1 million annually by taxpayers. The poor management of this scheme calls for more drastic action to ensure that taxpayers’ money is not squandered.
Such schemes should not encourage a sense of entitlement in those who believe that society must provide them with handouts in return for skiving or doing jobs on the side while they should be doing work for the community, even if on a minimum wage.
The Minister for Gozo should order a management audit of this scheme to identify where and why it is failing to deliver value for money.
This audit should establish whether the weaknesses relate to just incompetent management of the scheme by the GWU foundation, or whether there is an element of political tolerance of abuse for electoral expediency.
People who are allowed to skive while being paid in full are not improving their employability profile.
On the contrary, they are just being made dependent on political patronage that is in turn robbing law-abiding citizens, who pay their taxes in full, of the value they should be getting for their money.
There is an urgent need for this scheme to be completely restructured to make sure that those who participate get the work experience that they need to improve their chances of getting permanent employment in the private sector.
One option that needs to be considered is to second these workers to private industry to ensure that their training and work experience achieve the objectives of the scheme.
Ultimately, the abuse of schemes financed by taxpayers undermines the cause of social solidarity.