Elected officials are supposed to be prudent stewards of public funds. This stewardship requirement applies to day-to-day budgetary operations and long-term use of the taxpayers’ euros. Exposing the truth about alleged abuse of public funds is a fundamental right of all taxpayers.
The Montenegro wind farm project was partly financed by Enemalta, a publicly owned entity supported with substantial amounts of taxpayers’ money.
Energy Minister Miriam Dalli has refused to commit to publishing a report confirming Enemalta was aware of paying triple the original price to buy shares in the wind farm.
Times of Malta and Reuters had exposed how 17 Black owner and murder suspect Yorgen Fenech walked away from the deal with a €4.6 million profit after secretly financing an intermediary used to sell the wind farm project shares to Enemalta.
Ministers should be reminded they are just stewards of the public purse and taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent. Her declared confidence in the “authorities” to do their work is misplaced. First, it is the people, not ministers, that must have this confidence.
Secondly, keeping reports secret undermines the very basis of that confidence: knowledge of the facts. Finance Minister Clyde Caruana has recently asked government ministries to undertake a spending review to save €200 million.
The government’s support for households and businesses is taking a heavy toll on public finances. Nobody enjoys paying taxes, but they are the only reason we can have the public services that make contemporary life easier.
Too often, in the last few years, honest, law-abiding taxpayers saw sneaky public officials and their business cronies snatching up valuable tax euros and spending them on suspicious projects or ‘initiatives’ which are certainly not in any national interest or else lined their pockets.
No wonder many feel cheated by their political representatives and less inclined to do their civic duty of paying taxes when due. Democracy is not just about voting once every five years and then letting elected politicians run the country without the need for constant oversight by journalists, ordinary citizens and institutions, all essential stakeholders in the democratic process.
There have been too many cases in recent years where this administration conveyed the impression that electoral success gave it the right to trample over the rights of ordinary citizens.
The ombudsman, the National Audit Office and the law courts have often censured this political administration in specific cases relating to squandering of public funds and the governance failures that cause it. In such cases, the government usually reacts by describing the abuse of taxpayer money as “shortcomings”.
Dalli must believe that the Montenegro scandal is now behind us as Enemalta “has since introduced a risk management policy, an anti-money laundering policy and investment and procurement policies”. Given the record of this government, if she thinks this reassures the taxpayer, she is dead wrong.
The country faces tough economic challenges that can only be overcome if the government uses public funds judiciously to support households and businesses.
Taxpayers’ financed investment in public health, education and the environment must also be ratcheted up to meet peoples’ needs and expectations.
The EU commitment to the revival of economies in all member states means that funds borrowed from European citizens are distributed to every country on condition that these funds are managed transparently, without waste and with full respect for the interest of taxpayers.
The Montenegro scandal has not been addressed with sufficient political will that would convince taxpayers their representatives really have their interests at heart.