Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo yesteday called for a reform of the Ministry for Gozo and proposed that Parliament establishes a permanent committee for the island.

Dr Vassallo, who was addressing a news conference with AD's Gozo Regional committee outside the Gozo Ministry, said there is widespread agreement that having Gozo represented at Cabinet level is very positive.

However, he said, AD is proposing a further development to improve the present situation whereby Gozo is administered through a Ministry for Gozo.

Dr Vassallo said the Ministry should be a democratic institution based on the principles of accountability and transparency and therefore AD is proposing that Parliament should appoint a permanent committee for Gozo.

This permanent committee should include all MPs elected from Gozo so that the Ministry for Gozo will not remain accountable only to the Prime Minister but will be answerable to Parliament too, Dr Vassallo said.

"This proposal would mean much greater transparency in the way the Ministry operates and would contribute towards removing the rampant perception of favoritism, nepotism and clientelism which currently pervades Gozo."

Commenting on the recent electoral amendments, he said that while it was very positive that Gozo had remained one district, it was shameful that no current Gozitan MP had highlighted the fact that Gozo, by becoming a larger district when compared to the other districts, had become under-represented in Parliament.