The government’s official website, www.gov.mt, has wiped out all available information on appointees to the dozens of government boards and agencies that form part of the extended public sector.

In an inexplicable move that goes against the concept of open government and transparency, the names of hundreds of individuals appointed to government boards have been removed from the website.

The government’s online service now only provides the name of the board or agency and the ministry under which it falls. There is no longer any information on the boards’ compositions or any information on the entities’ chairpersons and board members as was the case until recently.

The government’s chief spokesperson Edward Montebello has not replied to a request for an explanation. Montebello, a former Labour Party spokesperson, regularly refuses to take questions from the independent media.

The deletion of public information from the government’s official portal comes in the same week that Principal Permanent Secretary Tony Sultana is holding an expo, which is more an expensive public relations exercise, showcasing the government’s advancements in the use of technology.

Sultana, who headed the government’s IT agency, MITA, until a few weeks ago, is also not explaining the new restrictions imposed on public information.

The government’s lack of transparency, the withholding of public information and an aversion to the independent media have increased dramatically under the current administration.

While questions from independent digital media newsrooms are consistently and deliberately ignored, freedom of information requests are also frequently turned down by ministries and public agencies.

The government has also had its various departments and agencies mount a SLAPP campaign against The Shift’s freedom of information requests in an attempt to financially cripple the independent newsroom.

The government has so far been losing one case after another.