The Tourism Minister is at it again.

Asked by Times of Malta to say how much Malta – the taxpayers – spent on a lavish film festival over the weekend, Clayton Bartolo said he will not do so until he has a detailed report how it “benefited the country”.

It is not the first time that the Tourism Ministry has been so reluctant to say how public money was spent by his ministry or entities that fall under his responsibility.

It happened on the sponsorship of Manchester United. It happened when the Giro d’Italia cycling race was also sponsored by the Malta Tourism Authority. And we still do not know how much the Malta Film Awards have cost.

It’s a pattern that has been followed and will probably continue to be followed. Now it is that Mediterrane Film Festival that has come under the spotlight. Actors and producers were flown to Malta, put up in five-star accommodation and treated to a lavish event.

One understands that the film industry works this way. One understands that money needs to be invested for there to be a return. One understands that the country needs to promote itself as an attractive destination for film producers to take an interest in doing their projects here.

But what we cannot understand is why the Tourism Ministry – and the government as a whole – is so reluctant to say how much this is costing us. The ministry – Bartolo – needs to be reminded that this is public money. It’s not his. It’s ours, and we therefore have a right to know how it is being spent and for what.

He patronisingly tells us that we have “absolutely no idea” how the system works. Yes, dear minister, we do know how the system works. That is why we should be told how much you and your ministry is spending and what Malta is getting in return to be able to form a judgment on whether the investment – our money – is bringing back results. In other words, we want to know what we are getting back in return.

In his comments to Times of Malta, Bartolo said that when a report is completed on how Malta will benefit from last weekend’s festival, the money that was spent by the country will be revealed. He said this will take three months to complete. Usually, investors make estimates on what they will be getting in return before they decide on how much money they will spend on a given project.

Secondly, the minister had also promised the country that the amount of money that was spent on the Malta Film Awards would also have been revealed. But it never was. When a €1.3 million figure was mentioned, it covered the entire film week, not the cost of the awards night. We are still waiting to be told.

Is what the minister promised this week – that the country will get to know how much the Mediterrane festival cost – another pledge that will not be fulfilled?

Time will tell, but we’re not holding our breath.