Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/527016
14 THERE is an old saying that goes something like: 'It's a dark and dangerous job, but somebody's got to do it..." And there are few jobs to which it applies better than that of a local warden: i.e., some- one whose job is technically to en- force motoring regulations… even though most people prefer to think of it as squeezing money out of or- dinary citizens, in order to enrich their own private operators. That, at any rate, is undeniably a widespread popular perception in Malta: frequently echoed (with varying degrees of aggression) in online comments and other public arenas. And this week, the same perception was given further le- gitimacy by none other than gov- ernment MP Stefan Buontempo, who announced that the ongo- ing reform of the warden system would do away with the concept of 'quotas'. Ask Kenneth Demartino, how- ever – operator of the larger of Malta's two private warden service agencies – and he will flatly deny that his local wardens operate or have ever operated on a quota sys- tem. Something clearly does not add up here… and with the gov- ernment and the private warden agency supplying entirely different versions of how the traffic enforce- ment system actually operates, perhaps it is time to demystify this anomaly once and for all. I meet Demartino at the Guard and Warden Service agency in San Gwann, and the first question practically asks itself. Quotas, or no quotas? Who is telling the truth here: the government, which is in the process of revising the system, or the agency, which is responsi- ble for that system's management? How, in a word, does this system operate? "Let's go back to basics: the year 2000, when the warden system was set up. Tenders were issued for the supply of service to the local coun- cils. What is the supply of service? Very simple: employing people, giving them uniforms, equipment, cars, motorbikes, computers, printers, the lot… and then, leas- ing them out to local councils for a fixed fee per hour. That is how the system started..." OK, but that was 15 years ago. What about today? "It's still the same. The exact same thing hap- pens, 15 years down the line. The only difference is that about six years ago there was a reform – if you can call it that, but anyway – and the local councils, which originally managed the system, were changed into regional com- mittees..." Malta, he explains, was divided into five distinct geographical 're- gions' – four in Malta and one in Gozo – which took over respon- sibility for enforcement from the councils. "A law enacted through parlia- ment created a new entity: the regional committee. This was ba- sically given the authority to take over and run the local warden business themselves. So when you get people saying, 'I phoned up the local council', and the local coun- cil says that famous expression: 'm'ghandix x'naqsam' [I'm not involved]…people assume that I, Kenneth Demartino, am involved. But I'm not involved: the regions are. Those regions are my clients. They request from me a number of hours of service, and I put my local wardens into a roster system…" In this sense, the agency operates just like any other rental service. "The best way to explain it is that there are companies in Malta that rent out cars. I rent out bod- ies. And when I rent out bodies, I have no motivation and no interest in whether one ticket, 10 tickets or 100 tickets are issued on a daily ba- sis. It has zero effect on me. I have a service level agreement to pro- vide trained wardens, to make sure that equipment is functional, that I have the appropriate vehicles, that I provide training to my wardens on a regular basis, etc… There is a misconception that we make mon- ey from the contraventions. That we have a vested interest to issue as many tickets as possible so that we become richer, and richer and richer. It is not the case… at all, at all, at all." How, then, does his agency make its money? "We are paid on an hourly basis by the regional coun- cils to lease out wardens to their locality. It's a self-financing pro- gramme – all the money from con- traventions goes into the coffers of the regional committees. All of it. Let's be clear: no commissions, not to me, not to the local wardens. When the money is received by the regions, they have to pay all the bills. They pay the commissioner for justice, they pay the prosecu- tor, they pay the authorised officer; they pay the salary of the execu- tive secretaries of the regions, the honoraria of the president…. They pay Datatrak [now called 'Locus'], the IT company that provides all the technology… and they also pay us, the Guard and Warden Service, for the wardens they hire." OK, but while this may dispel the perception that Demartino's company makes money directly off traffic contraventions, it still con- firms that issuing tickets is the only source of revenue sustaining the warden system at present. So even if Demartino himself has no vested interest in issuing more tickets… the system as a whole does. "Yes. If they don't collect enough money from the citations, they need to put their hand in their pocket and pay us through the budgets they are given. So if anybody put a 'quota', it is the government… be- cause local councils belong to the government, not to us." This in turn implies that a quota system does exist, even if unofficial and not operated by Demartino's company… "No, because I have often said publicly in the past that I, as a warden agency, do not accept any authority – whoever that authority may be – to impose a quota sys- tem on my agency. I have written to Buontempo, and… here, let me read you the relevant part…" He fishes out a copy of the letter from a file. "'Dear Mr Buontempo, allow me to refer to your recent statement reaffirming that warden agen- cies do have a quota on fines that need to be issued on a daily basis. This is categorically denied, and was never the case in our warden agency… I am sure you are fully aware that our services are paid for by the regional council, and are based on hours deployed, and not on the number of fines issued […] It is worth pointing out that, for challenging this [i.e., attempts to impose quotas] we were in fact fined on many occasions... This clearly shows that no local warden and/or any warden agencies ever imposed quotas, or ever accepted quotas from such authorities…'" This raises the obvious question: if the reform is not about remov- ing quotas (which were in any case non-existent)… what is it about? In what way will this reform change the current modus operandi? "The reform was never about quotas; and this is why, in my opinion, Stefan Buontempo should never have made such a statement. The reform was about managing an enforcement system on a national level, so one can basically say that we would have equal enforcement in all of Malta and Gozo. "Why? Because when you have five separate regional committees, you also have five different region- al policies. Under the old system, still in force today, a region could come to me and say: 'in my area, I want you to educate, not enforce. So please, Mr Demartino, tell your wardens to go out on the roads in my region, not to issue tickets, and instead explain why [motor- ists] were breaking the law and giving them a warning instead of a fine'…" In region 2, however, the policy might be to enforce zero tolerance with immediate effect. Region 3 could be an in-between situation. "And region 4 could be 'happy- go-lucky, do nothing... not even give me a service'. This was pos- sible because the different regions were autonomous. They had all the authority to take their own deci- sions. So Malta had five different regional policies on enforcement. And you, as the driver, would need to understand that you were in a region where there was a zero tol- erance policy. So you'd need to be on your best behaviour. Then you drive into another region, where the policy is different…." In the eyes of the public, he adds, all the confusion this gave rise to was laid at his agency's door. "When I keep on saying that, be- cause of the lack of a central body that has ultimate responsibility for enforcement in Malta, we as the operators were getting hit by all the bad press. In the eyes of the public at large, there is nobody to manage the wardens on a day-to- day basis…" Even the hours of service vary from region to region. "In one area you might find wardens operat- ing at 5am. In another, wardens would not start operating before 10am. So again, the man in the street would need to understand this. How many times do you hear Interview By Raphael Vassallo maltatoday, SUNDAY, 14 JUNE 2015 Quotas? What quotas? COMMISSIONS All the money from traffic contraventions goes into the coffers of the regional committees. All of it. Let's be clear: no commissions, not to me, not to the local wardens… Once regions are empowered to draw up policy, they could ask me to provide wardens at fixed points... so I obey. What is the interpretation? 'Kenneth Demartino is putting wardens outside the tunnel to entrap people, so he can make more money…' ENTRAPMENT