Dispensing favours - are local councils the new patrons?

Since their inception local councils have become a stepping stone for budding politicians aspiring to the higher echelons of power.

In fact, 25 of the 69 current sitting MPs are former local councillors. These include 10 former mayors (six on the government benches and four on the opposition side).   Four former mayors occupy cabinet posts. A number of MPs also have close relatives serving in local councils.

In this aspect, Malta is no exception from the rest of Europe where good local administrators often end up moving up to the next rung of the ladder. In fact pragmatic local administrators are often preferred to career politicians.

But in a country where a client patron relationships still characterises local politics, it may well be that good administration and respect within local communities is not the only sure ticket to the higher echelons. 

Dispensing favours and building a local client base through patronage networks could be even surer ways of consolidating a growing constituency base. 

The assumption of new  financial responsibilities brought about by greater devolution envisioned in the latest council reform does make councils more accountable by tightening the rules but they also make the stakes higher.

One risk of the local council rot is that mayors who are on the take may well be exposed to the blackmail of contractors, who could expose them if their contracts are stopped.

Since getting elected mayor or councillor is an important step in a political career, candidates – especially those targeting the post of mayor – tend to invest in expensive local election campaigns in a country which still lacks any rules political financing and any enforcement of campaign spending limits by individual candidates. 

Reports of lavish campaign events and personalised phone-calls by aspirant mayors or MPs backing their bid indicate that in some localities, campaign spending limits have been surpassed by far.

Coupled to this is the increasing tendency in local councils towards factional infighting within political parties. 

These factions often reflect tensions between rival MPs elected from the same district who tend to prefer their own loyalists as mayors rather than some new upstart with political ambitions of his or her own. 

The factional divides could also trigger accusations aimed at eliminating potential rivals from the same political camp.

The Sliema council saga stands out as a parable in this respect, as Robert Arrigo – himself a former Sliema mayor – continued to exercise influence over the council: first by having his wife elected mayor, and than by supporting Nikki Dimech, who used to refer to him as a second father. 

Dimech was elected mayor after garnering 1,800 votes.

But as shown in this case, these relationships can quickly turn sour, with Arrigo reportedly dumping his protégé amidst bribery allegations levelled against the young upstart who had previously been tipped as a potential Nationalist candidate on the tenth district.

Interestingly, the allegations against Dimech came to light after Stephen Buhagiar – a former employee of Robert Arrigo’s company – had his contract with the council terminated after six months. The contractor told the police he was sacked when he refused to pay the commission.

In a statement to the police, the Sliema mayor claimed he was helping Mr Buhagiar because the contractor had assisted him prior to the council election and had previously also helped the Nationalist MP.

Arrigo has denied Mr Dimech’s claim insisting that he never put any pressure on Nikki (Dimech) to favour any of his constituents.

Local conflicts could also reflect factional alignments within the party on a a national scale. 

A case in point was the Fgura council where Labour mayor Darren Marmara was ousted for the obscure reason that the other Labour councillors could not work with him.  Nationalist pundits were quick to point out that Marmara had supported Michael Falzon in the Labour leadership contest.

Controlling councillors is also becoming a nightmarish task for the central administrations of political parties. Paul Borg Olivier’s heavy handed tactics to bring in line an elderly Nationalist councillor in a meeting held in a popular bar was nothing short of a PR disaster.

And while some errant mayors simply disappear, others like Dimech refuse to resign despite being under investigation.

Political parties are also relatively powerless in securing the election of a suitable and loyal mayor, for the law states that it is the candidate who wins most votes, within the list of the party which gets most votes, who becomes mayor – an arrangement which has been criticised, among other things, for making it virtually impossible for independent candidates to ever become mayors.

Closing an eye at the inbuilt discrimination against candidates without parties, the system of electing mayors by popular vote - while intrinsically democratic, as it takes power from the inner party circles - may well result in the election of mediocre figures who get elected simply on the merit of local connections and money. 

While voters get the local government they deserve, recent events suggest that very little vetting of candidates is taking place.

Former mayors who became MPs

PN
Robert Arrigo, Dolores Cristina, Tonio Fenech, Clyde Puli, Chris Said, Michael Gonzi

PL
Luciano Busuttil, Gino Cauchi, Roderick Galdes, Silvio Parnis

Former councillors who became MPs

PN
David Agius, Charlo Bonnici, Karl Gouder, Philip Mifsud, Frederick Azzopardi, Peter Micallef, Edwin Vassallo,Jeffrey Pullicino

PL

Carmelo Abela,  Owen Bonnici, Chris Cardona, Joseph M. Sammut, Marlene Pullicino, Chris Agius, Joseph Cuschieri (resigned in 2008 to make way for co-option of new Labour leader) , Gavin Gulia

Chronology of an epidemic

6 June – An initial investigation into allegations of financial mismanagement by Sliema council was conducted by the acting director of the Local Government Department, Martin Bugelli, who referred the case to the government's Internal Audit and Investigations Directorate.

6 August – Santa Venera PN mayor Elisabeth Vella resigns following a report by the Auditor General which denounced the undeclared renting of the council premises by third party for tuition purposes. The PN accepts her resignation.

12 August – Sliema mayor Nikki Dimech admits taking commissions during a police interrogation and is expelled from the PN.  He later claims that he admitted under duress.

26 August – Nikki Dimech officially tenders his resignation from the PN, accusing secretary-general Paul Borg Olivier of having passed "summary judgement in spite of the presumption of innocence."

28 August– Zebbug Gozo Mayor Charles Saliba resigns from the PN but remains as mayor over the alleged purchase of a laptop with council funds.

29 August –San Gwann PN mayor Joseph Agius resigns after his son, who was allegedly his accomplice, yesterday pleaded guilty to bribery charges. 

31 August – Police announce widening of corruption investigations to other councils