Transport Malta’s remit was significantly widened a few years ago to include air and sea transport apart from land navigation, and at the same time a restructuring programme was supposedly implemented to improve interaction with citizens.

Nevertheless, two separate judgments passed a few weeks apart painted a far from rosy picture with regards to Transport Malta and its attitude towards the public.

In a nutshell, the first case concerned the utter intransigence that the Authority showed towards a citizen who had been suffering for at least 10 years, and the Ombudsman chose to make public the facts of this particular case to give “an example of how public authorities ought not to treat citizens”.

Quoting from the Ombudsman’s report makes for incredible reading: “in January 2008 the ADT sought to justify its lack of action by stating to the Ombudsman that the Director of its own Network Infrastructure Directorate (NID) consistently failed to reply to internal memoranda urging him to treat the matter with urgency. To the Ombudsman this admission was a clear indication that ADT had no control over its own employees and was unable to implement in an effective and timely manner works that the Authority itself undertook to carry out.”

In the second case, the courts of law ruled against Transport Malta citing over-abuse in its authority against a complainant who had been charged thousands of euros extra when registering a brand new vehicle. In this case, the Authority felt that, despite over-charging the citizen, it reserved the right to reimburse the funds when and how it deemed best.

These two cases might, for all we know, be the tip of an iceberg when dealing with this particular authority, which had gained notoriety in the past for the mismanagement which prevailed for certain practices concerning the issue of vehicle driver licences.

Nevertheless, what truly irks citizens is the lack of accountability shown by the Authority towards the very same people it should be providing a service for rather than a disservice. The Minister politically responsible for Transport Malta had reacted a few weeks ago by writing to the chairman of the authority, calling for the identification of the employees responsible for the actions. It would be interesting to note how, if at all, the Authority explained its actions to the Minister and any disciplinary action it is taking among its employees. Judging from the nature of the two cases mentioned above, the chairman and the chief executive officer, together with the management and officials engaged by Transport Malta to oversee operations in these two particular areas, should have accepted their responsibility in failing to prevent such appalling behaviour.

The authority has so far failed to publicly apologise for its actions in a strong and sufficient manner to justify its disrespect towards tax-paying citizens, who are, after all, forced to fund its operations. Politicians are also morally and legally responsible to ensure that the public receives a service within a reasonable period of time and in the best way possible from the authoritative entities set up for this purpose. Anything less is absolutely unacceptable.