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EDITORIAL | Sunday, 09 September 2007

Get your act together


In admitting that his party has received undeclared donations from contractors, the secretary general of the Nationalist party has unwittingly opened a Pandora’s box. The general public has always suspected that contractors, together with other businesses, were bankrolling the two parties. We now have confirmation from the Nationalist side that this is the case. We wait for the Labour Party, with the same candour, to openly admit to its own links with big business. Once quizzed by our sister paper for a reaction, the Prime Minister stated that he has no objection to making party accounts public so long as Labour acts in a similar manner. No less than 48 hours later, two labour deputy leaders openly agreed to publicise party accounts. There appears to finally be consensus on this issue. This is a far cry from when the Gonzi commission discussed this sensitive issue. It augurs well. So what next? This newspaper has always advocated transparency in this delicate issue, which goes to the heart of the democratic process. People have a right to know who funds the parties, and to what extent. To date, both parties have run farcical money raising marathons with the specific objective of impressing people that funds are raised from ordinary folk. Joe Saliba’s admission has thrown all this to the wind. The marathons simply gather a fraction of the amounts collected. It is big business which bank- rolls the two political parties and this is of major concern to the electorate, for a number of justifiable reasons. Most modern democracies regulate these matters with strict penalties including prison sentences. Transparency is considered of paramount importance to avoid any suspicion of business unduly influencing the government of the day. The matter is particularly sensitive when public contracts are awarded to companies financing the party in government. There have been numerous scandals in foreign countries relating to such matters, hence the need to legislate. The situation locally is not regulated at all. Companies are free to give donations without the need to include these donations in their accounts and, worse still, without any obligation at law for the party who receives the donation to make this known in their own accounts. This places the parties in a privileged position not enjoyed by all companies or individuals who are expected to declare all their sources of revenue. The need to regulate is self-evident. It is now a question of timing. We believe that the matter needs urgent attention and should not be placed on the back burner awaiting the outcome of the general election. The parties need to agree on legislation and to push it through parliament prior to the forthcoming election. In so doing, the funding of parties during the election will be more transparent. The financing of individual candidates should also be looked into. The present law capping personal expenditure on electoral campaigns at a mere Lm600 is farcical, and therefore breached with impunity. This law also needs revisiting, since the amount stipulated, drafted years ago, will not even cover the cost of a modest leaflet posted throughout one’s constituency. Spending by the parties at election time is big. Estimated spending by each of the major two parties is around half a million pounds. The source of this money simply cannot go unaccounted for in a modern democracy. It is in the public interest that the ordinary citizen knows where this money is coming from as also how it is being spent. Political parties are not private chattels but institutions that are meant to lead by example. It is ironic that at the same time that exponents of all parties publicly affirm the importance of fiscal morality, they themselves breach the most basic norms of accountability and transparency with their income and spending not up for public scrutiny. The situation calls for urgent action and the timing could be now especially since we finally have exponents of both political parties stating that they believe in tackling this issue. Its time to act and fast.

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Quote of the week:
“I give (donations) to Opposition parties to strengthen democracy" – Contractor and property speculator Sandro Chetcuti, speaking to MaltaToday Midweek, about party financing



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