PN: Political interference slowing down Lands Department

The government is seeking to increase the prescriptive period within which the lands department can recover arrears owed to it, to make up for the disastrous state that the department is in according Nationalist MP Ryan Callus.

Callus was speaking in Parliament this evening as MPs started discussions on amendments to the Civil Code. 

Callus questioned why the government had decided to extend the prescriptive period to ten years from the current five, arguing that it would have made more sense to make use of a judicial letter, which would automatically extend the prescriptive period if this was necessary.

He argued that the government had not chosen the latter option because the current state of the department is so bad, that it is not sure when the prescriptive period ends in a number of cases.

“This is just a way of fixing the problem they themselves created with one stroke of a pen,” said Callus.

He also argued that by doing so, the government was placing itself at an advantage when compared to ordinary citizens.

Callus said that the opposition will be voting against the amendment because extending the prescriptive period would only result in a greater backlog, since the extension would allow the government to take its time in deciding cases. Another reason the opposition would be voting against the amendment, he said, was because this would increase uncertainty for people who would see cases take double the time to be resolved.

“All these problems are a result of the fact that there is political interference in the Lands department. It has reached a stage where those working at the department are afraid to take decisions,” said Callus.

Nationalist MP Censu Galea said that he was disappointed that the lands department still does not know exactly what lands it owns and who the tenants of the same lands are. He said that there were many farmers and people who had shown willingness to buy land that they held however they were not able to do so.

Galea acknowledged that many problems predated the present government, however added that the government had not done enough, especially given the fact that it was now in the fourth year of the legislature

Shadow minister Jason Azzopardi explained how the prescriptive period was that period within which, if one is owed something, one can make his claim to whatever is owed.

Azzopardi said that this law is increasing inefficiency and discriminatory towards citizens, adding that the government is moving goal posts because of its own inefficiency.

He criticised the government for doing nothing to increase the efficiency of the lands department and any notary could testify to this. Not only has the government not made the department more efficient, but it has become even less efficient due to interference on the part of the government. 

Azzopardi questioned what effect this would have on those seeking to do business in Malta, adding that the fact that the government could just decide to make changes like this sets a dangerous precedent which.

Parliamentary secretary Deborah Schembri responded by saying that over €4m had been lost over the course of the previous administration because the five-year prescriptive period in each case, had expired.

“The judicial letter could have been used 5 years ago as well, however the previous administration still did not collect the money,” said Schembri.

She argued that the government had inherited a disastrous situation and that the government was looking to extend the prescriptive period in order not to lose further money owed to it while it continues dealing with the department’s various problems.

In addition to this, previous administrations did not send invoices informing people that they had debts to settle.

 “How could you expect people to come and settle payments if they were not even told that they had to do so,” she said.

On claims by the opposition that the amendment would lengthen the process, Schembri said that those who wished to get things over and done with could simply go to the lands department and pay that which is owed.

She said that the department had a limited budget and it was impossible for it to pay back all the money owed to people and to correct all the inefficiencies in the department, overnight.