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Karl Schembri
The annual PBS charity telethon l-Istrina held on Boxing Day is bound to end up being organised by one of the recipients of parts of the funds usually raised, as the only two tenders last Friday were submitted by Razzett tal-Hbiberija, and a joint collaboration by the Eden Foundation and Sign It, called the Charity Consortium.
The national station took the decision to issue a call for tenders for the charity event after its long-standing presenter and Where’s Everybody’s director Peppi Azzopardi decided to call it a day last year. Observers commented that it is already very late in the day for any of the two bidders to live up to expectations and organise the massive event that usually includes prizes given away to donors every minute.
Even more controversial is the station’s decision to issue a call for tenders in what looks like a commercial venture despite the charity cause of l-Istrina, including a request for bank guarantees.
In fact the Sign It-Eden consortium did not even submit costs in its application, opting instead to present a letter outlining how it intended to organise the event.
“I’m against the idea of getting this event done through a call for tenders, as if it were a commercial venture,” said Ruben Caruana, director of Sign It. “The way the call for tenders was worded was in such a way which we found off-putting, because this is supposed to be largely a voluntary event for which only the basic costs should be covered.”
Caruana said his company teamed up with Eden Foundation because the latter had the setup to run a charity event like l-Istrina, while they could provide the technical backup.
But the fact that two charitable organisations are bidding for the tender is expected to raise eyebrows, while the involvement of Sign It – a customary partner of Where’s Everybody? – is also expected to generate questions given that Sign It’s general manager happens to be the current PBS editorial board chairman and former PBS director John Camilleri.
kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt
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