Local council executive secretaries are accusing the government of eroding autonomy and reversing the importance they were given.
In a hard-hitting speech during the third annual conference of the association representing the executive secretaries, effectively the locality’s CEO, president Paul Gatt did not mince words. Describing the prevailing climate as “highly frustrating” for executive secretaries, mayors and local councillors, he said councils were in a situation where they could not deliver.
Over the past years, local councils were moving backwards instead of forward, Mr Gatt said, adding that, instead of giving them more power, the government was regaining full control of what was happening on a local level.
“We have to admit that our independence and autonomy is being eroded. This is against the policy of subsidiarity which the country is in duty bound to follow according to the charter of local self-government. I regret to say that the government’s lack of enthusiasm towards local councils is now being felt a lot,” Mr Gatt said.
The association was also very critical of the role of the Local Government Department, accusing it of trying to control any initiative taken by local councils and coming up with rules to dictate what should be done.
He said the department was issuing repeated memoranda to be used by councils as guidance to laws. Mr Gatt called on fellow executive secretaries not to give in to such pressure.
“The Local Government Department does not make laws and the department is not the law,” Mr Gatt insisted.
“The department has no right to stop a council from doing something that is not against the law,” he added.
The association also condemned what it termed as the dismal state of affairs with many councils being left without an executive secretary. Fourteen of the 64 local councils have been without an executive secretary for many months.
“This is not on and is continuing to erode people’s trust in local government. How can a local council deliver if it doesn’t have a full-time and focused executive secretary,” Mr Gatt asked.
He told the executive secretaries their efforts should be redoubled to make sure that local councils “do not remain in a stagnant state”.