The Federation has been informed that Minister Christian Cardona has appointed the following members to the Central Co-operative Fund Committee:
- Miguel Borg – Chairman
- Joe Abela – Deputy Chairman
- Davina Sammut Hili – Member
- Stephen Sultana – Member
- Noel Bartolo – Member
- Emanuel Zahra – Member
In accordance with Regulation 4(2) of this Legal Notice the new Central Co-operative Fund Committee must consist of eleven voting members:
- six independent members appointed directly by the Minister;
- three members elected by a majority vote from amongst members of eligible and registered primary co-operative societies;
- two members from amongst members of eligible and recognised organisations.
The six minister-appointed members, appointed for 3 years, must be independent persons (Legal Notice 344 of 2016 issued on the 21st October 2016, corrected by Legal Notice 408 of 2016).
The Legal Notice specifies that the six independent members will remain in office as long as:
- he or she is not involved, directly or indirectly in any activity or function of the Committee that can give rise to any conflict of interest; OR
- he or she is not involved, directly or indirectly in any activity or function of the Committee that can prejudice the work undertaken by the Committee; OR
- he or she does not offer or is engaged in any other kind of service to any co-operative society registered with the Board or founding members in the process of setting up a co-operative society, or any recognised organisation, or the Co-operatives Board.
In addition to the above, the minister-appointed independent members of the Central Co-operative Fund Committee are subject to the existing rules governing public funds including the Public Administration Act, the Public Services Management Code and the Schedule to Legal Notice 344 of 2016 covering the Code of Ethics.
On the 21st January 2016 this website had reported that the Central Co-operative Fund Committee Members, backed by the Central Co-operative Fund (Provisional Board) Members, have consistently denied funding to the Malta Co-operative Federation (since the Federation’s inception in November 2012), and that the Federation considered this to be an act of deliberate discrimination against the Federation and against the Federation’s Members. The Minister had recognised that this situation was unsustainable and in an initial attempt towards removing this discrimination he (only recently) issued Legal Notice 344 of 2016 which, in effect, altered the composition of the Central Co-operative Fund Committee and completely eliminated the Central Co-operative Fund (Provisional Board).
Notwithstanding their consistent denial of funds to the Federation, two of the three outgoing Central Co-operative Fund (Provisional Board) members, Miguel Borg and Noel Bartolo, have been moved by the Minister from their positions on the Central Co-operative Fund (Provisional Board) to the new Central Co-operative Fund Committee.