With reference to Rosanne Galea's letter (December 15) Disability And Delay: Mcast's IT Course, how can I and others take seriously her sermon to me on ethical behaviour when she is going to be arraigned in court charged with making false declarations to a public authority? I quote verbatim from a letter sent on November 20 by Deputy Commissioner of the Police Joseph Cachia, to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Culture, The Director of Contracts and myself:

"However, it did result that two bidders had made false declarations in the tender documents in breach of article 188 of the Criminal Code (Cap 9). Hence, charges have been filed in Court against Marcel Cutajar and Stephen Casaletto of CC Training Ltd and Rosanne Galea and John David Galea of Future Focus Ltd for having on the 11th September 2008 or preceding days, submitted false declarations to a public authority. Charges were filed in court on Monday, 17th November." Any further comments are superfluous.

I have also obtained a copy of a report drawn up by the deputy director of Mcast's ITC Institute who was assigned to write a report on whether the premises of Future Focus Ltd meet the criteria of accessibility demanded by Maltese law and the Mcast tender specifications. This is what he reported: "There is no access for persons with disability and no efforts have been made to upgrade the premises to this effect. No ramp, no lift, no special toilets. The premises are spread over three floors with classrooms mainly on the top floor."

Ms Galea conveniently also ignores the way the Public Contracts Appeals Board slammed the work done by three members of the adjudication board headed by Juan Borg Manduca when they processed the tender: "The PCAB (Public Contracts Appeals Board) cannot condone such unprofessional conduct no matter what excuses are brought about. The board cannot but argue that had all the adjudication board members properly carried out the work they were entrusted with carrying out in the first place, this objection would, in all probability, not have been raised."

I would certainly not have raised any objection to the awarding of the tender had it been executed properly and professionally.

When similar tenders are issued next year Mcast should set up an adjudication board that does its work properly and professionally so that the tendering process is carried out without any delay and students can start their courses on time.

Ms Galea says that she has never seen happier students than when students finally started their IT courses at her centre. Were they so happy that they started dancing with joy? I ask because on Youtube I have seen Mcast students "studying" at Future Focus by disrupting a class given by an Indian female lecturer. They were mocking her by pretending to talk in Indian and performing Indian dances while she was trying to lecture them.

I expect Mcast officials to visit IT centres regularly and audit the work they do to ensure that standards are high and that our young people are getting top quality educational service.

Ms Galea is shocked at the way embarrassing information about the Mcast IT course tendering process has been leaked. She clearly fails to understand that leaks are the lifeblood of democracy and accountability.

Only dishonest politicians, poor administrators and private contractors who benefit abusively from procurement procedures are afraid of leaks and do all they can to stop them.

For the last 20 years I have been campaigning to have an effective Freedom of Information Act in Malta and a Whistleblower Act to make politicians and public officials more accountable. Poor governance and corruption thrive in the culture of secrecy and omertà that still predominate in our country.