Last week, Parliament debated the draft law establishing a new Land Authority. The government has tried its best to present the case that the Gaffarena and Café Premier scandals could have been avoided had there been such a structure in place.

This is absolutely false and at best an attempt to bring an illusory closure to the desperate situation at the Land Department. Indeed, it is the mentality of a morally corrupt government that has led to the Gaffarena and Café Premier scandals, and the resignation of the former Land Commissioner.

Findings in both Gaffarena and Café Premier investigations by the Auditor General revealed deep political involvement. It is with this thought in mind that the Opposition can never accept the establishment of a new Land Authority with deep political interference, as has been effectively proposed.

With seven of the 10 members of the top brass being selected directly by the Prime Minis­ter or the Minister responsible, any statements describing the authority as independent are not credible. They are futile.

We will not be an accomplice in the establishment of an authority that is heavily politicised

The principle of subsidiarity has been a fundamental belief of the Nationalist Party, and the local councils are living proof of that. To this effect, we have proposed that the architect, the lawyer and the auditor are not nominated by the Prime Minister but by the respective professional chambers: the Chamber of Architects, the Chamber of Lawyers and the Institute of Accountants respectively.

This would grant the Land Authority the independence and transparency it so desperately needs and help restore people’s trust in a section of the public service that has hit rock bottom, as well as empower our professional bodies.

In its draft Bill, the government proposed that government and Opposition MPs be nominated to the board of governors. Furthermore, MPs would not be exempt from nomination to the chairmanship of the new authority.

In line with the good governance initiatives launched by the Nationalist Party, we have proposed the prohibition of politicians on the boards of public entities. The Labour government, on the other hand, has gone out of its way to accommodate its backbench, amending the law to make the appointment of MPs at the helm of pubic authorities permissible. We have seen how the BICC, OHSA, the Igaming Foundation and the Malta Sports Council, to mention a few, have been hijacked by political agendas.

We will not be an accomplice in the establishment of an authority that is heavily politicised. Ultimately, this shows that the Labour government is not willing to learn from the mistakes it has committed in the past three years.

The proposed law envisages that any person may attend the meetings of the board of governors without invalidating the proceedings. This proviso raises serious questions as to whether it is intended to accommodate yet another ‘King of Lands’ – the notorious character who the Auditor General established was given a carte blanche to roam around the Land Department and exert pressure on civil servants.

The Opposition, on the other hand, welcomes the introduction of the role of the chief audit officer. However, how can the auditor effectively audit the decisions of the board of governors and the chief executive officer if it reports to both and is nominated by the former?

If this government means business and truly wants to establish an auditing process for the Land Authority, it should accept our recommendation and place the chief audit officer under the responsibility of the Auditor General.

It is a fact that the Land Department has hundreds of thousands of files. It has been reported that some are in a bad state and others have been misplaced. The previous Nationalist administration had initiated the process for their digitisation but this has been stalled by the change in administration.

In this regard, the government has stated that the documents “may” rather than “should” be digitised. This wording has exposed the lack of political will to undertake reform in a department that is engulfed in bureaucracy and backlog.

My counterpart Deborah Schembri has given notice that the government will accept some of the amendments proposed by the Opposition. While this may be interpreted as a sign of goodwill, our amendments relating to the fundamental principles of indepen­dence have been refused.

The ‘Government that listens’ has failed to listen and learn from its past scandals. It will grant itself the right to appoint seven of 10 members of the board of governors, deprive professional bodies from playing a part in the process, appoint politicians and create an audit officer post that lacks independence.

It is for these reasons that, in spite our agreement in principle to the setting up of the Land Authority, we believe its structure will lack political independence and is unacceptable to the Opposition.

Political interference has been the common factor behind the scandals that have marred the Land Department over the past three years. The Café Premier and Gaffarena scandals share one thing in common – Castille… and it is Castille that will continue to run the show.

Ryan Callus is the Opposition’s spokesman for Planning and Simplification of Administrative Processes.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.