Insights

In the third episode of the Ganado Meets Strategic Leaders podcast, Max Ganado, consultant at Ganado Advocates, speaks with Kenneth Wain, a philosopher, educator, and Malta’s first Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations, to discuss voluntary organisations and the legal and strategic framework in which they operate.

Kenneth Wain is a strong believer of a participatory democracy and that participation is, in itself, a form of education. In fact, Wain gives importance to delving into the role that voluntary organisations are expected to play in civil society during the university lectures he delivers. In this regard, rather than just political tools, voluntary organisations should be empowering tools for their participants.

The necessity for voluntary organisations started emerging very clearly at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Notwithstanding this necessity, it is surprising to see that many citizens, including lawyers, educators and even volunteers involved in the area, know very little about the philosophy surrounding voluntary organisations, their role, and their importance to democracy. The voluntary sector fills a vacuum in society that can no longer be reached by the Church or the Government, therefore, it is essential that politics allow this sector to flourish, Wain and Ganado discuss.

The Absence of an Adequate Legal Framework

In the early 1990s, the only laws that Malta had in relation to voluntary organisations involved one provision in our Income Tax Act which had the effect of providing tax benefits to non-profit organisations and another provision in relation to religious organisations. The absence of an adequate legal framework in this regard exposed a weakness in terms of the institutional support available for such organisations to survive. This situation started changing slightly in 2004 with the enactment of the Voluntary Organisations Act, in 2007 with the enactment of the Second Schedule to the Civil Code dealing with foundations, associations and the issue of legal personality, and with the appointment of Wain as Malta’s first Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations.

Notwithstanding the abovementioned developments, another difficulty that arose related to the fact that there was only one law which was dealing with all the different sectors of voluntary organisations, these ranging from sports to the environment, to disability, to health, and to pure democratic thinking and freedoms, amongst others. Wain says that while this created an obvious advantage of the law being all-encompassing, it also created the disadvantage of the law not being focused enough, possibly creating systemic discrimination between types of voluntary organisations and others.

A Lack of Autonomy and Resources

Any trends of convergence or division between organisations as a result of the existing legal framework at the time could not be studied since the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations was not afforded enough resources or autonomy to act, Wain explains. Wain mentions that while the aim of the law in creating the Office of the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations seemed to imply the creation of an autonomous or independent office, this was not necessarily the case. In fact, the Commissioner did not have any control over the Office’s budget, for instance, and had to resort to the Ministry to fund its operations. This created problems in relation to both the cashflow available to the Commissioner, as well as to his ability to take decisions independently. As a consequence of this, Wain reflects that one of his greatest challenges during his time as Commissioner was preserving the integrity of the role and ensuring independence and autonomy from the government, while knowing that it is, at the same time, completely dependent on it.

This lack of autonomy was also present in the fact that the law made the Commissioner the Vice Chair of the Malta Council for Voluntary Organisations, which council administered government funds, Wain highlighted. For one to ensure that the voluntary sector is truly autonomous, a system would need to be in place whereby the government would not apportion money to the Commissioner itself. This is, however, difficult for our community to achieve due to the level of proximity between Malta’s ministers, civil servants, and the citizens in general. Wain stresses that it is not part of our culture for political parties to think about the way we can possibly reach a standard of intellectual autonomy for our institutions and our citizenry to be educated into.

The Importance of a System of Rules and Regulations

Wain explains that he worked to persuade the voluntary sector community that his role as Commissioner was to defend their interests and right to be, promote them, and help them grow, rather than to extend the government’s control over them. Wain wished to pass on the message to voluntary organisations that even in a democracy one needs a structure, rules, regulations, and the idea of authority because if these were not present, one would have an anarchy instead.

While it is the case that certain types of organisations prioritise fundraising more than others due to their dynamic and underlying activities, the same regulations regarding accounting and the presentation of financial statements apply to all voluntary organisations. It can be argued that this is discriminatory or suppressive in relation to certain organisations, however, such regulations work in their long-term interest because it would mean that they become more credible, especially when they are using funds contributed to them by the public, Wain and Ganado discuss.

Notwithstanding the importance of regulations in this area, the law that was initially drafted can be said to have been quite weak, making it difficult for the Commissioner to enforce. Moreover, the law was often undermined since while supposedly only enrolled organisations enjoyed certain benefits such as receiving government funds, there were a number of organisations that despite not being enrolled were still enjoying such benefits. It was only in 2018 that we saw a radical revision of the law being made, wherein enrolment was made mandatory, and the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations was given a lot more powers of enforcement against voluntary organisations.

Strategy for the Future of the Voluntary Sector in Malta

To ensure that the voluntary sector survives and emerges as it should in our society in the future, our strategy should focus on the serious implementation of the law. Moreover, citizens should be educated, not only on the meaning of a democracy, but also on how to make it work, even if this comes at a cost. It is only in this manner that a citizen may become an unselfish volunteer in the common good.

This article was first published on the ‘Times of Malta’ on the 12th of April, 2023.