The Prime Minister yesterday attended the annual civil servants meeting, telling those present that he expected government departments to start rectifying spending issues highlighted by the Auditor General.

He also said that each year, the Auditor General makes the same observations and that no action is ever taken to put the situation right.  In compiling reports to rectify the problems, civil servants would be a way to increase “transparency and good governance”. Taken at face value, one cannot but agree with the Prime Minister. This is, at the end of the day, public money, money raised through taxes which are paid for by the general public. All money that is spent should be accounted for, justified, tallied up and, most importantly, be worth what it was spent on.

And so, this brings things to a head. The PM, or rather, the money that has been spent by his spouse, has been in the news lately. The PM chose to keep his personal Alfa Romeo as his working car, being given €7,000 per year in allowances for it in return. It is understood that his Alfa consumes some €70 per week in petrol. The question was first raised at the beginning of the legislature. Is Dr Muscat’s Alfa worth €7,000 per year? Is that a good return on the money that Joe Public is paying to the government every year? The issue gets more complicated as it was recently established that the Prime Minister’s second car guzzles €114 per week in petrol. Surely,  the Prime Minister should use his own yardstick. Surely, he should open this up to the Auditor General for scrutiny and then have his office compile its own report on how the fuel is being consumed and why, and also, most importantly, how it can be reduced.

But then again, given that the Prime Minister’s Office did not have enough time to show the Auditor General around Villa Francia for an audit last year.

The Auditor General was informed by the OPM that due to various commitments, there was no time for officials to show the Auditor General around Villa Francia for an audit. But it goes further than that. Opposition MP Toni Bezzina asked whether the Prime Minister’s spouse was using the villa to host events and for a breakdown to be given of what they were for and how much they cost (in between the lines, how much did it cost the taxpayer?) The MP was fobbed off by the PM who said that the information was still being compiled.

So is this a case of two weights and two measures? The PM is telling government departments that they should abide by what the Auditor General says, yet his own office did not have the time to assist in an audit under his remit. Surely, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. But then again, with this government, we are already used to very gaping double standards.