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