Editorial

A disagreement between the Office of the President and the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations over the interpretation of the 2007 Voluntary Organisations Act - which to a certain extent governs these NGOs' fundraising capabilities - has turned needlessly hostile.

Five days after the annual L-Istrina event raised a record amount without resorting to a distasteful lottery and in the midst of a great deal of mutual backslapping, the commissioner, Kenneth Wain, and the Council for the Voluntary Sector were reported by our sister paper as saying that the Malta Community Chest Fund - which is chaired by the President and is responsible for the fundraising marathon - receives "preferential treatment" because unlike others it had not enrolled with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations, despite several warnings to do so.

As it invariably does when an accusation is made, The Times solicited a reaction from the affected party, in this case the Malta Community Chest Fund. By the time the newspaper went to print, none was forthcoming. The following day the Office of the President decided to issue a reaction to Prof. Wain's comments in the form of a right of reply under the terms of the Press Act, which was already a step that could have been avoided. In the statement it defended its position and stated emphatically that after seeking the advice of the Attorney General, the MCCF was not required to register with the commissioner because it was a partly State-run organisation.

Had the Office of the President stopped there, there would be no purpose for this editorial since the intention of this article is not to enter into the merits of whose interpretation of the Act is correct.

What does concern us, however, in more than one sense, is the language used by the Office of the President - through the Department of Information - by way of unnecessary padding to support its position.

Questioning why the paper should run such a story, "when the nation is still congratulating itself on the show of unity and solidarity expressed during L-Istrina", the statement read: "One cannot but query the motivation, the prominence and the timing of the story that is totally unfounded in its allegations... The Malta Community Chest Fund is not prepared to enrol as a voluntary organisation just to satisfy the whim of whoever has a different opinion."

This type of language is more becoming of politician in the midst of a spat than of personnel who are guardians of the country's most distinguished office.

But - leaving aside the fact that The Times was merely reporting what a government-appointed official said and that even the President in this country is subject to comment and, if necessary, scrutiny, by the free press - there is a deeper, more insidious imputation in the above statements: that our sister newspaper and ourselves reported this issue because George Abela, as opposed to one of his predecessors (it has been lost on some people that Prof. Wain first raised this issue while Eddie Fenech Adami was President in 2008), currently occupies the office.

Despite the preposterous nature of this preposition, some people have attempted fan this line in thinly-veiled attempts to politicise the issue.

These kinds of comments do not merit response. But the ones uttered by the President's office do. Perhaps the next time it is faced with an issue, it will direct its comments towards the message rather than the messenger, which serves a vital - if at times inconvenient - role in our democracy.