Ira Losco passes the buck to government on greenwashing payments

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.