When the economy is doing fine, spending €3.5 million on consultancies, as the government did last year, may not sound extraordinary. However, if to this is added the cost of the ever-rising number of people employed in positions of trust, plus the overloading of the public service with unnecessary labour, the unwarranted large size of the Cabinet, and, also, the growing number of quangos, the situation gives rise to some concern.

It goes without saying that an administration needs consultants and people in positions of trust whom it can rely on for the implementation of its policies. But in a highly divisive political environment where patronage is the bedrock upon which parties thrive and expand, government expenditure on matters that may appear capricious in the eyes of the taxpayer leads to distrust in politicians.

The situation becomes worse when scandals and misdemeanors keep cropping up so often. There is hardly a country anywhere in the world that is free of corruption but in a place as small as Malta the impact of wrongdoing and increasing government patronage at various levels of the administration, not to mention so much unnecessary expenditure, erodes confidence in the administration.

The problem is that with the country divided into two strong political segments, it is often difficult to discuss such issues at a national level dispassionately as each party reacts by equating wrongdoing under its administration with similar or worse wrongdoing done under the administration of the opposing party.

In this way, the taxpayer is always at the losing end as the parties get away with it, at least in the eyes of their supporters. It is when the scales begin to tip against the party in government, particularly when an election draws near, that an administration starts getting jittery.

There is probably good justification for the engagement of a good number of the consultants that shared income from the €3.2 million. But many may find it difficult, for instance, to understand why some ministries found it so necessary to employ so many consultants in one year.

Take, for example, Joe Mizzi’s Transport Ministry. With 25 consultancies, costing the taxpayer €507,000, many would have reasonably expected that some would have found practical solutions to the huge traffic problem facing the country today. Instead, the problem is growing to an unmanageable proportion.

Never mind the consultancy awarded to Labour Party deputy leader Toni Abela for legal advice on oil exploration. The need for the ministry to spend such a huge (by local standard) amount in one year needs to be explained.

Two ministries have already given an explanation to justify part of their expenditure on consultancies, though they could have been more expansive in the efforts.

The cost of consultancies compiled by this newspaper from information given in replies to parliamentary questions is not the final figure. Three other ministers are yet to give their expenditure on consultancies: Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech, Energy and Health Minster Konrad Mizzi and Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis. These are taking their time “gathering the information”.

It is also outrageous that most of the contracts were reported to have been given through direct orders.

The impression given is that today there are far too many consultancies. It is irrelevant how this number compares with other administrations. No matter how well the economy is doing, greater prudence ought to be exercised in spending the taxpayer’s money.

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