4 minute read
Christmas came early?
DARREN CARABOTT, PN SPOKESPERSON FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT CHAIRPERSON OF THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, where people eagerly await the Minister for Finance to announce that it’s another ‘no new tax’ budget and other cliché statements. It’s as if Christmas came in October - or at least that’s what the government thinks.
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What we politicians need to understand is that there is a growing silent majority that is looking for something else: a change in attitude; in favouring private sector competition, transparency and accountability.
Let’s not beat around the bush – we do not have unlimited resources, especially given the effects of the pandemic and war on the global economy. Our public debt has reached an alltime high and cost of living is on the rise at an ever-increasing rate.
Yet, the government missed the boat. It lost the opportunity to take long-awaited decisions.
It has become a known fact, that whilst most of our taxes go for the provision of public services and projects as expected – at the same time, millions of the taxpayer’s money is being wastefully spent in measures which go against public interest, against boosting private investment and competition, and to fund nepotism, partisan favours and corruption.
That, is why I will take up this opportunity to pose a series of questions to the Minister for Finance, and ask him to quote chapter and verse from this year’s Budget proposals on how these issues will be addressed:
Is the spending of thousands of Euros in salaries and wages to tactically chosen persons of interest or consultants, with no to low return of public benefit, beneficial to our economy? We’ve learned that we’re financing salaries amounting to €65,000 or €163,000, per person annually, just because they are related to or are die-hard loyalists to the Ministers or party.
Is the awarding of billions of Euros to the chosen few via public procurement acceptable? This administration has awarded a €4 billion contract to a company, Vitals Global Healthcare, which should have been barred from winning the concession. This government has also bought shares in the Montenegro wind farm project for €10.3 million rather than €2.9 million, triple the original price, so that an offshore company pocketed the difference. This government awarded a €1 billion contract for the provision of gas to Electrogas via a tendering process fraught with irregularities.
Is the fact that the government is poaching workers from the private sector and inflating their wages healthy? It’s become common knowledge that if you’re in the inner circles, you’ll get a high-earning-low-effort job sponsored by us, the taxpayers.
Is it acceptable that people are not comfortable or lack motivation to bid for public tenders because they believe that the awarding process is not transparent enough?
What about the fact that the taxpayers have paid more than €10.5 million in two and a half years for compensation in human right violations by the government in Court?
The list goes on. And it’s our money. The public sector has to be built on people’s education, talent and skill – and not on their political affiliation.
We need a change in attitude. Just like in business, taxpayers deserve the best expenditure policy and a good return on investment. They expect their money to be allocated wisely and strategically – for the public interest.
Yet due to the above, we have no reason to believe that this administration is willing to change its course.
To conclude, the answer to the title is a resounding “Yes! (For some)”. But don’t worry, the rest of us will also get to participate: we will finance the wasteful money allocation and fattening of venerated pockets again. n
