To a stranger it looks like Joe Mizzi’s dream of striking oil has come true. The spending sprees of Robert Abela’s Government makes our small island look like a new found Emirate.
Clayton Bartolo, the Manchester United supporter and Minister for Tourism, defended the choice of Johann Grech to invite David Walliams as a guest of the extravagant Malta Film Festival, which was nothing but a massively overspent PR exercise costing nearly €4 million.
Walliams was paid €120,000 for his efforts. Grech, a spendtrift with other people’s money, in two years squandered €600,000 on travel alone. He also spent €14,000 on a self praising article on Forbes.
Grech’s film commission handed a whopping €47 million to the producers of Gladiator II, while other millions were passed to box-office flop films like Blood on the Crown and Napoleon. Both Gladiator and Napoleon were directed by Ridley Scott. €143 million were distributed to foreign film companies. In comparison local film producers shared €1.5 million. As a pat on his back, Clayton Bartolo approved Johann Grech’s salary increase of €90,000 per annum, thus raising his annual salary to more than €120,000.
Karl Stagno Navarra, sacked by the PN and welcomed with open arms to Joseph’s skip, presents the daily Pjazza on One TV. He is employed by the Government, recently at OHSA I heard, and finds the time to research and edit sound bites for his programme. You’re paying his salary too.
Joe Debono Grech, 85 years old, God bless him, is one hell of an evergreen. After 50 years in Parliament he is still working earning around €40,000 annually and is a member on the Gozo Channel Board. The same can be said about Louis Grech, although a little younger, he is the special envoy of the prime minister and netting €60,000 per annum. Backbench MPs all have an extra job. The latest appointments concern Aaron Farrugia, sacked Minister for Infrastructure and former Foreign Minister, Carmelo Abela, who was named a number of times in connection with the HSBC heist in 2010.
Aaron Farrugia has been appointed as Malta’s ambassador to the International Maritime Organisation. Farrugia will not be based in London, but he will keep his seat in Parliament. Even the Commissioner for Standards in Public life declared that Farrugia’s appointment is ‘fundamentally wrong’. Carmelo Abela has been chosen as CEO of the Central Business District Foundation. His remuneration package is yet unknown.
A couple of years back, Paola Square was upgraded to satisfy the needs of the local Labour Party Club, the front of which was pedestrianized. They removed all fully grown trees and planted saplings abolishing the shade. They also retiled the square. It took a couple of years to complete and cost the taxpayer some €3 million. This year the ground gave way and they just covered all the tiling with a coat of tarmac costing around €750,000. You footed that bill too.
Government departments, Authorities, Agencies and Committees habitually ignore procurement regulations. In the majority of expenditures they avoid the issuing of tenders by either using direct orders not approved the Ministry of Finance, or by using ‘negotiated procedures’ in which only a selected few, practically all labour leaning or service providers, are allowed to place a bid.
While the chosen few are getting paid copious salaries, Minister Michael Falzon has told us that he cannot guarantee that pensions will be sustainable in twenty years’ time and young people should start investing in private pensions schemes. But once again the chosen few, like politically appointed permanent secretaries, have been given uncapped pensions.
The Housing Authority spent €35,000 on parties and gifts in 2022. The Public Service Expo organised in 2023 cost the tax-payer more than €300,000. The public sector, now employing 51,000 individuals in a 20% increase over the past decade, is now costing an astonishing €1 billion annually. No wonder unemployment is minimal.
But neither Robert Abela nor Clyde Caruana seem to be worried. What’s the problem? Need more money to satisfy the greedy or to keep supporters happy and the leeches sucking? Just borrow. It’s that simple.
Over the past two years Malta’s debt had increased by €3 billion, reaching a record of more than €10 billion. Between 1964 and 2012 Malta’s debt stood at €4.8 billion. It started steadily increasing since Joseph Muscat got into power. And he did not leave Malta’s coffers filled to the brim as he claimed last week at Pjazza Tritoni. At the beginning of 2020. when he left in shame, it had soared to €7.6 billion.
Yet, the Government keeps spending like there’s no tomorrow. And the blindfolded keep clapping.
Joe Azzopardi is a former official at the Ministries of the Environment, Justice and Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs