The opposition main spokesman for local government, Stefan Buontempo, told Parliament yesterday that 146,000 traffic tickets per year had been issued by local wardens over the last three years, with government revenue going up to €3.5 million.
This meant wardens were issuing 400 traffic tickets a day. Nearly 36,500 tickets were through speed cameras with revenue for the government amounting to €1.6 million.
Dr Buontempo was speaking during the second reading of the Private Guards and Local Wardens (Amendment) Bill, which provides for the revocation or suspension of a warden’s licence.
The Labour MP charged that the government was financing the operations of the Law Enforcement System (LES) and the regional committees through the collection of fines. The Local Enforcement System scheme groups together a number of participants including statutory bodies and private agencies. The government estimated that the system would be self-financed.
Dr Buontempo said it was clear that wardens – who only earned a minimum wage – would be pressurised to give more traffic tickets so that the system would remain sustainable. One could not, therefore, believe that the government wanted to place emphasis on education rather than in giving fines.
He criticised the government for setting up an ad hoc board of discipline to deal with the revocation or suspension of wardens’ licences when such a board had already been established by the LES managing committee.
Dr Buontempo said that after receiving complaints from the public, the department for local government had issued a memorandum to local councils that their funds could be decreased if they refused to accept payment of fines. The parliamentary secretariat had said that no local councils had refused such payments. Clearly, he said, there was a lack of coordination between the two.
The introduction of eco wardens had started in the northern region, allocating one warden to give eight hours of service once monthly to each of four local councils. This showed the government was implementing measures for propaganda purposes only.
Karl Gouder (PN) said wardens had an important role both in short-term traffic plans to control traffic jams as well as in plans that had a long-term effect.
The system needed to be strengthened and proper training to wardens should also be offered. It was true that people needed to pay tickets in order to stop making contraventions. However, better behaviour on the warden’s part would lead to more people admitting their mistakes rather than arguing with the warden giving them the ticket. Proper attitude and behaviour was needed and training would serve this purpose.
There was the need to strengthen the system of warnings for first-time offenders. Local wardens should first educate and then give tickets.
The government was investing millions of euros on the conservation of the environment and thus it made sense to green wardens working properly. Those who broke environmental laws must be disciplined.
Carmelo Abela (PL) said the Bill was just a page long and lacked details which the House should be made aware of. It was an insult to Parliament and should not have been presented as an enabling law.
The Bill was proposing the setting up of a disciplinary board but failed to specify its functions, composition and procedures to be used. It was unacceptable that the government was expecting the opposition to agree with such a board without knowing all the details and permitting the government to have a free hand on the criteria through legal notices.
He said that when local wardens were introduced, Minister Austin Gatt had said that during the first few months of operation, they would concentrate on educating the public and not giving tickets; local wardens would mostly focus on environmental laws such as littering. This promise was, however, short-lived.
He hoped that the government would evaluate the opposition’s criticism and would not present such Bills again in Parliament.