Prime Minister Robert Abela’s decision to hide the declarations of his and his ministers’ assets and financial interests is a major step backwards in the quality of our country’s governance.
The Prime Minister defended his decision because he said he would reform the declarations of Members of Parliament to make them more detailed. While it is good to see Members becoming more transparent, we remind the Prime Minister that Parliament does not fall under his jurisdiction. He is only a member of Parliament and as a government he must be accountable to Parliament, not Parliament to him. The Prime Minister’s arrogance in claiming to decide how Parliament regulates itself is dangerous and anti-democratic.
The Prime Minister said that it does not make sense for ministers to fill out two declaration forms, one for ministers and the other for Members of Parliament. The fact is that as ministers they have a much greater opportunity for corruption than as Members of Parliament and it is entirely fair and proportionate that public scrutiny be greater on ministers.
The Prime Minister said that we do not need to see the ministers’ declarations because he has seen them himself. The declarations are not needed to satisfy the Prime Minister’s curiosity. They are needed so that through the tools of transparency and accountability, the public can ensure the integrity of those they trust with the power to govern them. And above all, if the Prime Minister scrutinizes the ministers’ declarations, who scrutinizes the Prime Minister’s declaration?
Instead of heeding OECD recommendations to increase the transparency of ministers, Robert Abela turned the clock back thirty years.