John Caruana, Naxxar
Crack down on fraudsters
Officially, 30,000 'needy' families are exempted from paying the electricity surcharge and are being financially supported, one way or another, to pay for utilities and services.
I will not question the moral responsibility we all have towards those who need social assistance. Indeed, as Christians, we are duty bound to help those who are less fortunate, those who are deprived of the most basic necessities and hence cannot afford a decent living.
What I would like to challenge is the number itself - 30,000. I believe there are about 150,000 families in Malta. It is highly improbable that 20 per cent of these cannot make an effort, like most Maltese do, and pay for, among others, the water and electricity services they receive.
I understand that, in fact, a substantial number of these 30,000 families qualify for these subsidies. But I am quite certain that some of these 30,000 families are frauds. They are simply taking advantage of the fact that both the government and opposition are failing to question and scrutinise the false information these families hand in when they apply to qualify for the exemptions, benefits, and subsidies.
What kind of means test is being applied to determine who qualifies and who doesn't? It is high time that fine-tuning monitoring is applied regularly, and that this is frequently revised to crack down on abusers.
It is simply unjust and irresponsible, to say the least, to keep burdening the middle class with added taxes and charges. Besides, we have always been taught we should discourage abuse and deceit.
Should not a list of these families be published for the benefit of the public? I am sure that genuine beneficiaries would not mind this. Only fraudulent parasites would object.
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M Xuereb
Nov 17th 2008, 09:27
Couldn't agree with you more, Mr Caruana. The Maltese are an altruistic and generous people, always willing to help the needy; but then no-one enjoys being abused of, of course.
I'm sure the Social Services Ministry is doing something about this plague on society that has been handed down from the days of being "under the British", but we need to hear more. It's either that the work is being done and we're not being told about it, or else that not enough is being done in the first place.
Franco Farrugia
Nov 16th 2008, 19:27
A comment that I read a few days ago makes sense, in this context:
Who is paying for electricty in the common areas of the so-called Government's flats? Can someone in authority answer this question?
Patricia Mifsud
Nov 16th 2008, 16:05
Can these 30,000 families use as much water and electricity as they please and not pay for it? I certainly hope that there is a capping mechanism because if not, what is stopping neighbours/friends/family members who do not enjoy this 'luxury' from doing their laundry at our collective expense?
Joseph Galea
Nov 16th 2008, 14:32
I fully agree.
John A. Azzopardi
Nov 16th 2008, 13:32
I agree 100% with Mr. Caruana, because we all suspect there is a substantial percentage of the "needy" families who are simple straight forward frauds.
I leave it to one's imagination to understand how a family of four, where the father hardly ever works but gets social benefit, where the mother does some part-time work, and yet, they can afford a colour tv switched on most of the day, both have mobile phones, smoke, have air conditioning and quite a number of modern appliances in the house, expensive toys and clothing for the children.
When are we going to get serious?