Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1529458
THE recent report of the Auditor General about the Film Commis- sion is titled: 'Evaluating the role of the Malta Film Commission (MFC) in promoting the Maltese film industry'. It therefore is an exercise in which the Auditor General tried to establish whether the Film Commission is giving value for money – in other words, whether its expenditure is justified. Of course, this is not an easy task and the report leaves many ques- tions unanswered. One might say that most of these matters are beyond the core issue of whether the Film Commission is careful on how to spend public money and whether it follows the finan- cial regulations or any guidelines or policies of its own. Admitted- ly, because of its nature, the Film Commission cannot strictly fol- low the financial rules applicable to government departments, but this should not be considered as a licence to spend freely without justification or limits and without proper controls. The audit only sought to deter- mine the extent to which the ac- tivities and operations undertaken by the MFC are considered as val- ue for money and embrace good governance principles. Its man- agement and operations were not within the scope of the audit. A number of good governance issues relating to project man- agement of the Malta Film Week relating to accountability, trans- parency and financial manage- ment were raised These included concerns on the business model employed by MFC to manage such events – the generation of income, procurement of services and respective approval systems concerning expenditure of pub- lic funds, as well the checks and balances in. The auditor's report says that this situation is further com- pounded by the centralisation of decision-making to a single point of reference, namely the Film Commissioner as well as by the lack of documentation to support budget prioritisation and selec- tion of service providers rather than appointing a project man- agement committee specifically set to deal with an event of this size at planning, implementation and subsequent phases. Moreover, the auditor also questioned the extent to which competition and procurement rules were adhered to due to the self-imposed time constraints by the MFC. The NAO noted that specific event transactions are not clas- sified in a separate cost centre: The Malta Film Awards (MFA) was not treated as a cost centre where its income and expenses were treated separately from the rest of the Malta Film Week. This limitation meant that costs for the whole week could not always be apportioned accordingly. The Malta Film Commission did not always document all decisions taken by the management and ministry approvals concerning certain expenditures. The lack of audit and the absence of formal- ly approved strategies, policies and plans, also placed auditing constraints, limiting the NAO's review. The NAO noted that the Mal- ta Film Week (MFW) project fell short of certain best practices and project management criteria. The Commission sought non-fi- nancial sponsorships to support the hosting of the MFW and the MFA events in 2022 but did not have contracts in place covering all sponsorships and non-finan- cial agreements it had agreed upon and the MFC did not fur- nish any relative documentation, including agreements request- ed. The Commission contended that these services were generally provided against no financial re- muneration as suppliers sought publicity and exposure from par- ticipation in this event. The Commission did not carry out any studies to determine the number of production houses that decided to invest in the Mal- tese Film Industry because of the Malta Film Week. It contended that its main aim was to celebrate the Maltese film professionals and increase the prominence of the sector on a national level. It is by now more than obvi- ous that the so-called Malta Film Commission is a one-man band. I tried to find who the members of this commission are, but I have to admit defeat. It is just Johann Grech, who apparently does not even have a financial manage- ment set-up. Not even a financial controller. No wonder that re- cords are scarce. This is an area that the NAO failed to investigate on the pre- text that it was not asked to do so by anybody. This reflects the mistake of both the PN and Ar- nold Cassola when they made a specific request to the auditor general rather than requesting him to check how the MFC op- erates. Irrespective of the abilities of Johann Grech – who also helps the Labour Party with its pub- licity during electoral campaigns – a public entity that spends, or invests, so much public money should never be the absolute do- minion of one man. This is what is wrong with the Malta Film Commission: It does not exist and is simply another name for the Malta Film Com- missioner! Apartments for tourists The Chief Executive Officer of the Malta Tourism Author- ity (MTA), Carlo Micallef, on Tuesday revealed proposals that would mean apartment owners would need to get the go-ahead from the majority in their block before being granted short term letting licenses. According to Times of Malta, the new rules would also require landlords to seek fresh approval from the majority of their apart- ment block neighbours every three years. It is understood the idea surfaced amid complaints of excessive noise, littering and fre- quent turnover of guests. Whilst I understand the com- plaints made by people who re- side in blocks of flats, I think that such a rule would only lead to many owners flaunting it. This is an obvious case of over-regula- tion. MTA cannot possibly mon- itor all flats let to tourists and it should never impose a regulation that it cannot control. This is elementary, as Sherlock Holmes would have said. How many complaints about the flaunting of this rule can MTA handle and follow up dai- ly? Or will MTA be employing a horde of third country nationals to do the job!? The number of tourists who want to live in holiday flats is al- ways rising since MTA's efforts keep luring low-cost tourists to visit Malta, rather than attract- ing high spending ones. Where do youngsters lured to Malta by state subsidised concerts go to sleep? Complaints about this problem are echoed all over Europe and it is not specific to Malta. Moving to high end tourism is a good idea but this would take years in the current circumstances. Perhaps decreasing subsidies to low-cost airlines during the sum- mer months would do the trick. 3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 NOVEMBER 2024 OPINION Film Commission is a one-man band micfal45@gmail.com Michael Falzon Film Commissioner Johann Grech at the Rinella Film Studios