The political party Azzjoni Nazzjonali said the recent saga at the PBS, which culminated in the resignation of the chairman of the editorial board of the state broadcaster, highlighted the urgent need to reassess the manner in which institutions which were supposed to foster impartiality, transparency and accountability were created and run.

This is especially so when the same bodies were curtailed from doing their jobs effectively either because of emasculated terms of reference, a lack of necessary investment, or simply by being at the mercy of some minister or other, AN said.

”Indeed rather than winning the necessary confidence of the public in these institutions, their lack of effectiveness and the manner with which politicians run roughshod at will over them is proving counter-productive because it gives the impression that they were simply meant to be buffers, rubberstamps and in some cases even scapegoats for dubious political decisions. All of this of course, at the taxpayer’s expense,” it said.

Whether well-founded or not such a perception could not be easily altered by introducing cosmetic changes such as the much hyped-up ‘Public Accountability Act’ tabled recently in parliament.

The proposed act falls well short of what was needed and would end up simply as another piece of regulation with no teeth. Azzjoni Nazzjonali said it believed that a serious act, not only should guarantee real protection for any whistleblower, but it should be much wider in scope, not least by also binding the politicians and political parties to public scrutiny.

Ultimately, Azzjoni Nazzjonali said, real accountability and transparency could only be achieved by making the public more sovereign, and by introducing the necessary balance of powers in the political system.

“It is with this in mind that we proposed that the Office of President should have more powers and that those institutions where the need to be impartial, accountable and transparent are imperative – such as the Broadcasting Authority, the Ombudsman, the National Audit Office, the MEPA auditor, the Superintendant of Culture and so on – will be vested in the office of the President.”

The President himself would in turn be directly accountable to the public, Azzjoni Nazzjonali said. It was only through such concrete measures that they could hope to foster the citizens’ trust in their own governance.