Norma Saliba, the Head of the National Centre for the Maltese Language, was appointed in her new and fake role by corrupt Minister for Culture Owen Bonnici.
According to The shift News, her first act as CEO is to steal money from the cultural budget to buy up to 30,000 in furniture for her office and use up to another 30,000 for her own recurrent expenditure – taken from the already pre-approved budgets of funds for children’s books and cultural programmes by the Kottonera Foundation. These transfers of funds have been approved by permanent secretary Joyce Dimech.
I was a government executive and I know a thing or two about the budget and public funds. The transfers made by Joyce Dimech are highly irregular and they should have only been made with the approval of the Ministry for Finance. The budget estimates have been approved by parliament and neither ministers nor permanent secretaries have the authority to change them, especially for privileges like furniture and “working money”. Excess funds not used are recuperated back by the Ministry to be sent to the Consolidated Fund. No minister or permanent secretary is allowed to change budget estimates.
But Owen Bonnici wants to give a job to Norma Saliba, so it is ok to plunder the budget estimates so that Norma can have some toys to play with.
CEOs are supposed to bring in private investment and pay off their own salary with the capital they raise. They are supposed to generate economic activity and add value. Labour’s government executives are just criminals with the intelligence of an ass and the character of a snake who loot, pillage and smile at cameras.
Once again, this is also why the Language Council needs to be run by serious people and not by frauds. Olvin Vella will earn his salary from a publicly-funded institution as he ingratiates with political superiors, but we, the producers in culture industries are the ones who actually face the repercussions of the decisions made by these people.
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