Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) were written by Lewis Carroll. It tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by weird creatures. Now, if there is anything really weird, it has to be the independent conclusions of the independent auditor-general. Well if you have not read the report, I am sure you should. One opening paragraph in the chapter on arrears reads like this: “The National Statistics office did not receive Returns of Arrears from all Ministries, Departments and Entities.”
You heard right: the Government of Malta, proud of being a monument for transparency and very careful in the way we should spend money, does not even oblige itself to inform the auditor-general of what monies it is still owed.
Had it not been for information given to the National Statistics Office by the Treasury department, the national audit office would not even have had had the opportunity to know for example that the courts of Malta have the following arrears of unpaid fines:
One year: Lm30,950
Two years: Lm13,923
Two to five years: Lm2,118,935
Five to 10 years: Lm1,617,600
Does this shock you? Well, if it does not, read on.
According to the report, the government property division did not collect the following outstanding arrears in the following segments:
And if that isn’t enough, wait till you read this.
Arrears not collected by the Income Tax department read at Lm276,337,619! Just in case someone wants that translated to euros the amount of outstanding arrears works out at €643,693,500.
And if you really want to feel sick, the amount of arrears in VAT is Lm110,680,708 for VAT 1998 and Lm6,561,920 for VAT 1994 and Lm2,867,977 for CET.
Really, if anyone thinks that today or tomorrow the PBS editor Natalino Fenech is going to lead with this news, we are really expecting far, far too much. The news, if at all, at this time of the year must really be polite, pleasant, positive and most importantly kind to government.
But let us leave PBS alone, for the moment. It is not the end of the world if the PBS newsroom transmits news which is not news.
If we really think that the above-mentioned details in the auditor’s report are shocking, please do not blame anyone but the one and only person who runs this government with his team of captains and corporals.
Let us face it, this government cannot run a piggy bank. It seems to be run by boy scouts.
Now do not get me wrong, I am not saying that Joseph Muscat can.
The fact is that he goes on employing people with the Labour party, and has a party in horrible debt, and runs the party with a smile but with no consensual form of politics.
If the auditor general’s report does not make enough sense then please read Alice in Wonderland.
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One opening paragraph in the chapter on arrears reads like this: “The National Statistics office did not receive Returns of Arrears from all Ministries, Departments and Entities.”
