NGO Commissioner in detailed account of l-istrina objections
Prof Wain seen during his appointment in December 2007.
The Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations, Prof Kenneth Wain, has given a step-by-step account of his actions and explained his position with regard to the current controversy over facilities granted to l-Istrina and Dar tal-Providenza despite them not having enrolled in the register of NGOs.
Reacting to a DOI statement, Prof Wain said he firstly wanted to clarify that he had every respect for the President and admiration for his honest dedication to assist good causes and individuals in need, and for the work and drive of the MCCF and the hundreds of volunteers it mobilizes for its noble cause.
However, among the many responsibilities laid on the NGO office by the Voluntary Organisations Act (2007) one charged him with "monitoring the promotion of voluntary organizations and the behaviour of administrators of such organizations to ensure the observance of high standards of accountability and transparency and compliance with law."
"This is the only consideration that has motivated my action as Commissioner with respect to the MCCF, no other," Prof Wain said.
He said he had never contested the Attorney General's advice to MCCF that it ‘is not in duty bound to enroll and register itself as a Voluntary Organization'. This was not the issue with regards to l-Istrina.
The issue arose from Article 4 of the law which stated that to ‘be the beneficiary of grants, sponsorships or other financial aid from Government, any entity controlled by the Government or the Voluntary Organisations Fund' a voluntary organisation must be enrolled with the Commissioner.
"Though the MCCF and the Dar tal-Providenza have every right not to enroll with the Commissioner the PBS as a state entity is in breach of the law in allowing either of them to use of its resources, never mind, in the case of the MCCF, turning l-Istrina entirely over to it. In the case of Dar tal-Providenza, which is a Church organisation following the Curia's directive not to enroll with the Commissioner, this is a flagrant example of abuse of the law by the PBS because there was no Ministerial exemption for Dar il-Providenza, as there was in the case of the MCCF. Again this is not a reflection of my personal view of the institution which I admire very much," Prof Wain said.
COMMISSIONER 'IS NOT A CIVIL SERVANT'
He said the DOI statement was wrong to refer to the Commissioner as a civil servant. He was not, nor was the Council for the Voluntary Sector Chairperson.
"Although my office falls within the Ministry for Social Policy I was appointed Commissioner by the Minister consulting with the Social Affairs Committee of the House of the House of Representatives. The law reads ‘In the exercise of his functions, the Commissioner shall act impartially and shall not be subject to the direction of any other person or authority.' (Article 7.2) It thus both guarantees my autonomy (otherwise I would not have accepted the job), and obliges me to observe it against the MCCF's advice to defer to the authority of the Attorney General."
Prof Wain said his office was still unable to turn up a list of beneficiaries for l-Istrina 2009. Nor was any such list included in the MCCF web-site as one would expect.
"In short, it is not in the public realm. The MCCF's publication of its audited accounts in leading newspapers is what is required by law and in accordance with the Public Collections Act. However, ‘transparency and accountability' means more."
He noted that the DOI statement criticized him for ignoring ‘repeated invitations' to nominate a representative' of the Council for the Voluntary Sector ex-ufficio on the MCCF board. However, Prof Wain said, it was not in his legal power to make any such nomination. This should, if anything, come from the Council itself.
TALKS WITH THE PRESIDENT
Prof Wain said he first discussed the MCCF with the President personally in a courtesy visit he made to the NGO office in March, when he encouraged him to consider enrolling the Fund. In early September 2009 the office received an inquiry from the MCCF signaling that it was considering enrolment. His legal consultants advised him that, with some changes to its statute, the MCCF could enroll with the Commissioner. The MCCF's inquiry, however, was not pursued further.
In a letter he wrote to the President in July, he encouraged him to commence enrolment procedures. He ended his letter with this appeal: ‘Such enrolment will also send a strong signal of your support in the current drive my office is making to encourage voluntary organizations to follow suit in the interest of transparency and accountability in the administration of funds collected from the public'.
In September he wrote in reply to letter from MCCF, enclosing his legal consultants' full advice that the MCCF qualified for enrolment with the Commissioner in terms of the law. It included advice on the problems that would be encountered with l-Istrina were it not to enrol.
"My covering letter said ‘I think that at this stage a personal meeting between myself and His Excellency the President, as MCCF, Chairman, rather than a further exchange of letters, is probably the best way forward."
This letter was acknowledged but not replied to. In October he wrote again repeating his advice on l-Istrina, which letter was unacknowledged.
"On 10.12.09 I wrote to the Chairperson of PBS once more pointing out its violation of the law if l-Istrina went on. I had no desire to interfere with the event. As in everything else, I did my duty. At this point the Minister for Social Policy intervened and used his powers under the law to grant the MCCF blanket dispensation from its provisions for l-Istrina 2009," Prof Wain said.
See DOI statement at:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100101/local/mccf-says-it-is-acting-within-the-law
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17 Comments
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Muscat Pat
Jan 7th 2010, 18:59
@Louise Vella
Are you suggesting that under previous Presidents, l-Istrina's money was distributed according to the politcal partisan interests, with strings attached?
louise vella
Jan 7th 2010, 15:15
As regards information that it would be desirable to publish on the distribution of MCCF funds since 2000 would be for example: sum spent on washing machines, sum spent on refrigerators, preferably with the town or village (or perhaps the electoral district) of the beneficiaries.
louise vella
Jan 7th 2010, 14:57
2.
As the organisers of L-Istrina whipped up public emotions and enthusiasm to collect the money, they cannot distribute the money privately as if it were some secret. President Abela should not look on transparency and accountability as a burden, but as an opportunity to justify the trust put in him by the public.
While he’s at it, he should also publish the names of the “entities” that received money from the MCCF in the past and the sums involved. I would say he should start with 1990. If not, starting with the year 2000 would be good enough. That way we can see how public money given to the MCCF has been distributed since the beginning of the millennium – “the third millennium of the Christian era”.
louise vella
Jan 7th 2010, 14:56
1.
There is the law and there is common decency. When funds are collected from the public (and they now run into millions) the public should be told how the money is spent - again within the bounds of decency.
No one expects the public to be told that Mr X was given €300 to pay for his air ticket to accompany Mrs X to London where she had an operation. However, in the case of what are vaguely called "entities", many of which have a high public profile, common decency expects the beneficiaries to be clearly identified and the sums awarded to each to be specified.
As far as I can see from the MCCF website, this was never done in the past. So it has nothing to do with the person of the present President. No President has ever identified the "entities" he favoured with his generosity. The issue has become more visible this year because of the greater visibility given to L-Istrina by President Abela himself and, as a result, the higher sum collected.
Galea. L
Jan 7th 2010, 13:51
David Stephen Ganado
It definitely is NOT an NGO.
Read the acronym.
NGO = NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION.
Are its members elected by the members of the NGO or appointed by the Government/President?
I ask again.
WHY IS THIS BEING RAISED NOW AND NOT BEFORE WHEN THERE WERE OTHER PRESIDENTS?
laurence schembri
Jan 7th 2010, 13:22
How petty. How does this sound to the plenty that dug deep in their pockets to give to the needy?
Jimmy Magro
Jan 7th 2010, 13:22
Part Two:
The public wants to know why this issue was made public now when the AG advice was sought under the previous President.
The DOI state ment referred to the two persons as "Government appointed officials" and not as civil servants and this shows that there is alot of tongue twisting.
This is a campaign that was uncalled for, and that has sowed divisions between the Maltese nation.
Jimmy Magro
Jan 7th 2010, 13:10
Kenneth Wain should continue to read the ACT and refer to article 39 which prohibits him to register as an NGO any government controlled entity. Today I had a meeting with the CEO of another public entity that had his application refused since the Board had a majority of government controlled appointees.
2. Wain should know that the Government's (including President's Office) legal advisor is the Attorney General and this is established by the law of the land and therefore it is frivolous to state that the MCCF should have taken the advice of the CVO's legal advisor.
3. The CVO Act was required to regulate private NGO since these were not protected by any law in Malta and the civil society sector wanted some form of recognition, assistance and protection. Also the state, on behalf of the general public, wanted to regulate public collections since there has been some cases of abuse. It was never intention that the law would regulate any state organisation as the state has its own means to regulate state organisations.
David Stephen Ganado
Jan 7th 2010, 12:39
@ Galea.L - The MCCF is definately an NGO, what makes you think otherwise?
Just because it is headed by the President, it is totally independent of and Government involvement.
Evarist Saliba
Jan 7th 2010, 12:21
What a pity that such arguments, valid as they may be on either side, are allowed to spoil the calm and peaceful atmosphere that the law was supposed to create to ensure that charitable initiatives are not abused.
Digging in heels will not help.
Obviously, the law created situations which were not fully foreseen. Sit down around a table and smooth out these problems before they poison the situation any further.
Mike Micallef
Jan 7th 2010, 12:21
Professor Wain has objected to having been described as a Civil Servant. As a retired civil servant of a certain standing myself, I take umbrage at this objection of his on many counts. A civil servant is one who serves society, and is obliged to uphold the law, so by his own definition, he is a civil servant, and should be proud of being so. What I also find offensive is his liberal treatment of the DOI statement, which if one bothers to check the original at http://www.doi.gov.mt/EN/press_releases/2010/01/pr0002.asp , is being misquoted. First of all, nowhere in the statement was he referred to as a ‘civil servant’ but only as a ‘government appointed official’. Quote from his statement“...I was appointed Commissioner by the Minister ...” ergo he is a government appointed official, ergo the DOI statement was correct. Secondly, .... ( TO BE CONT)
Galea. L
Jan 7th 2010, 12:21
Kenneth Waine, again, WHY NOW?
You check and register NGO's NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS.
The MCCF is not an NGO.
So why are you doing this?
Mike Micallef
Jan 7th 2010, 12:21
(CONT FROM PREVIOUS) .............. nowhere was there reference to the ‘authority’ of the Attorney General, as Prof Wain chose to assume but only to the ‘advice’. So while claiming that he is observing the law in obeying “...the Commissioner shall act impartially and shall not be subject to the direction of any other person or authority...” when referring to the Attorney General, he seems to have had no qualms about being subject to the direction of whoever gave him his unofficial legal advice.
A final word - Leave respected and trusted charities alone please.
mark tanti
Jan 7th 2010, 12:06
kenneth wain need not have rendered the matter public to get the limelight. after all, the president (who happens to be one of the best lawyers around!) was acting on the advice of the attorney general! so, at best, the issue is legally debatable and could have been discussed quietly before the next istrina!
Franco Farrugia
Jan 7th 2010, 11:52
Charity does NOT override anything. Charity can still be carried out, within the confines of the law.
Why bring this now? Well, why not?
David Mallia
Jan 7th 2010, 11:44
Whatever the merit of the arguments - why now all this fuss. You had two years to sort this out without involving the public, and as Mr tanti rightly said charity overrides.
mark tanti
Jan 7th 2010, 11:25
the charitable end over rides any legal/academic arguments!