Singer Ira Losco has not made good on her promise to explain how much she is being paid to promote politicians and government projects on her social media platforms.
Instead of giving the information herself, she asked The Shift to try to obtain the information from Project Green, the government agency which with she has a promotional contract.
The Shift revealed last week how Losco’s social media posts showing her with her family at parks and recently-refurbished outdoor spaces were being sponsored by the government through a publicity contract reached between Losco and the agency’s CEO Steve Ellul.
Losco’s posts did not specify that they were sponsored content. The singer, who has over 150,000 followers on Facebook alone, also tagged the personal social media pages of Environment Minister Miriam Dalli and Ellul, a prospective Labour Party MEP candidate.
Following the report, independent politician Arnold Cassola reported the ‘abuse’ to the standards commissioner since politicians and government officials are forbidden from using public money for their advantage.
Speaking to The Shift, Losco admitted that she was being paid by the government for the promotions and said she would have no problem publishing her contract. She insisted that she saw nothing wrong with her posts.
But when asked for a copy of the contract, she said it ought to be published by Project Green itself.
“For any detailed questions about personal contracts with the said organization please direct your questions to Project Green, they will provide the information you require, you will have no issues retrieving it,” she told The Shift in a terse reply.
The Shift has already filed a request for a copy of the singer’s contract.
It is yet not known whether Project Green has signed similar contracts with other influencers to boost the latest government greenwashing initiative, as well as Ellul’s prospective political campaign.
Dalli’s assistance for Ellul is irking some sitting Labour MEPs.
The Shift has already reported how some have complained directly to Prime Minister Robert Abela about how public funds at Project Green are being used by Ellul to increase his public profile and image.
According to these MEPs, Ellul is using the government agency to be seen as much as possible in the media by promoting the public-friendly Project Green initiatives.
Handpicked by Dalli, who he helped in the last electoral campaign, Ellul was placed on a €90,000 a year contract. Project Green has a budget of €700 million to spend with a specific brief to greenwash the island.
One of Ellul’s first beneficiaries of that budget was architectural firm X,Y,Z, which is co-owned by Labour Party deputy leader Daniel Micallef.
Let the pigs keep nosing their shit . But the King has no clothes, and Abela goes out with a tie , thinking it is a gala night.
Il FATT huwa wiehed li bi FLUSNA tal Lejber lil kulhadd jixtru.
I’m still unsure how to pronounce it. Is the emphasis on the first syllable, as in Soylent Green, or the second, as in Hollywood-exorcist type stuff?
It’s not the first and only “Don’t ask me. Why don’t you ask them yourself?” instance in recent local history, isn’t it!
She is learning quickly and now she is a puppet of this regime and could soon enter politics to get her snout deeper in the trough now she has a taste for it?
If I am not mistaken by maybe misreading some passage in this article, Ms Losco is now also some kind of ‘influencer’ (?).
It is convenient of Ms Losco to refer to Project Green for publishing her contract with them, while first admitting that ‘everything is in order’ and she sees no problem with anything in all this.
With 150k followers, it gives one the impression of a person who can reach plenty of people through her social media accounts. Going with the assumption that these people hold her in high esteem, they might not necessarily question what she posts. Maybe slightly different to the usual PL propaganda, but being pro-PL nonetheless.
There seems to be something cooking behind the doors of the sitting PL MEPs. Alfred Sant already announced that he’s not standing for re-election in the 2024 EP elections. So it must be the other three getting nervous and considering that they might be replaced by other applicants to run their candidacy on the PL ticket.
If the majority of the Maltese electorate would use the EP and local council elections next year to send the PL a message of discontent by not voting PL, it might trigger the beginning of the end of the PL era.
As the saying goes – Like grandpa like granddaughter. At least he used to do it for free running around showing l-Orizzont.
So now Ms Losco has rendered herself as a Politically Exposed Person?
Clearly, not all is above board with this contract. Yet again! Ms Losco sounds annoyed and uncomfortable. We taxpayers have every right to know about the latest additions to the pigsty!
kemm taf x’tghid rosanna – KULHADD JITHANZER (kienet qieghda tirreferi ghal tal-qalba u ministri0 u riediet issir hanzira bhalhom. Malta spiccat PIG STY.
Make every vote count.