Time to get tough on failing municipalities – The Mail & Guardian

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Time to get tough on failing municipalities – The Mail & Guardian

COMMENT

The auditor general’s report on municipalities for the 2018-2019 financial year produced a grim picture. It was a scathing report given the persistent underperformance of municipalities as far as financial management is concerned. According to the report, only 20 municipalities in the country achieved a clean audit, while 28 municipalities did not submit their reports by the due date of August 31as required by the Municipal Financial Management Act. 

Municipalities spent more than R1-billion on consultants and R32.06-billion was reported as irregular expenditure. The report said the total deficit came to R6.29-billion. The number of municipalities that reported wasteful and irregular expenditure increased from 239 to 241, with four provinces — KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and North West — accounting for 71% of this amount. For instance, eThekwini municipality incurred R2.34-billion as irregular expenditure spent on improper procurement processes while the City of Cape town spent R240-million on legal services. Worse, 125 municipalities did not investigate any irregular expenditure identified in the auditor general’s report for the previous financial year.

The disheartening municipal audit shows improper procurement processes; the poor adherence to financial controls; an ongoing culture of poor accountability; a reluctance to hold wrongdoers accountable; an over-reliance on consultants for financial reporting services; a high rate of vacancies in key positions; poor project monitoring; weak supply-chain management; high levels of non-compliance with legislation governing municipal finance and accounting processes; poor record-keeping and documentation; and increased levels of false declarations regarding municipal tenders. 

In addition, municipalities are in dire straits financially and operationally, with most unable to meet their legislated obligations and showing reluctance to account for the use of public resources. This is disturbing given the scarcity of resources facing the country and the strain on the national fiscus in allocating resources to manage the adverse effects of Covid-19 on the economy. 

This all means that adequate services are not provided. This situation requires bold and decisive actions by the cooperative governance and traditional affairs department to get municipalities operating efficiency.


Recommendations

First, strengthen the oversight role of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee. This is the governance structure whose main role is to hold the municipal executive accountable for the spending of public funds. This is critical in curbing wasteful and irregular expenditure. The efficiency and effectiveness of this structure would go a long way to prevent the misuse of public resources. Its capability depends on capable support staff with legal and financial expertise. With this support team, the committee can counsel the executive as well as political structures and office bearers on the importance of complying with legislation governing municipal governance and performance. 

Second, vacancies need to be filled. The auditor general reported vacancies in key positions, which contributed to poor audit outcomes. This is evidenced by the fact that most municipalities’ annual financial statements continued to have material misstatements, according to the auditor general’s report. When critical positions such as chief financial officer and municipal manager are not filled within a reasonable time, municipalities become vulnerable to poor accounting and financial management practices. 

Third, municipal authorities need to strengthen supply chain management processes, and exercise oversight, to minimise improper practices.Non-compliance with supply chain management processes and regulations needs to be met with consequences.

Fourth, improve consequence management processes as a deterrent against corruption and bad decision-making that results in wasteful and irregular expenditure. A tolerance for wrongdoing has gone far too long and is hampering efficient service delivery in most municipalities. There is a need for a total rethinking of oversight and accountability and those caught doing wrong should face the full might of the law, sending a strong message that crime and mismanagement do not pay. 

The negative audit report suggests that municipalities have fallen short of their constitutional requirements by not serving the public as expected. To ensure better municipal performance, accountability must be taken seriously by both political and municipal administrative leaders. This means consequence management must be strengthened and upheld as a norm to deter municipal functionaries, councillors and others from contravening the law. In doing this, municipalities will begin to deal with any systemic issues that hamper their effective and efficient functioning. 

It is time for tough decisions to be made to build the publics’ trust in municipalities.



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Why Mexico’s president is flying commercial to see Trump

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Why Mexico’s president is flying commercial to see Trump

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will fly commercial to the United States on Tuesday for meetings with US President Donald Trump. That means the president of the tenth-most populous country in the world will hope his flight isn’t delayed, wedge any carry-on into the overhead and pray for a consistent cabin temperature, all while dreaming of more leg room. You know, like the rest of us.

The President, who says private presidential planes are the trappings of the “neoliberal elite,” will even have to make a stopover. There are no direct flights from Mexico City to Washington,” said López Obrador last week during his daily press conference. “But we can make a connection and arrive in Washington one day before the meeting we have.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would not confirm the president’s exact itinerary, citing security concerns. But we have many more questions than just what flight he’s on.

We have some insight into how the President flies commercially because this is not the first time he has done so. He’s done so multiple times on domestic flights in Mexico.

Videos and news reports show him starting his journeys in Mexico City’s aging airport, mobbed by selfie-seeking travelers shocked to see a president walking by.

He then heads through security and makes his way toward his gate. CNN can’t confirm if he is ever tempted to purchase unnecessary magnets at tourist shops or buy an overpriced coffee.

When he has boarded his plane in the past, he sits in coach, chatting with other passengers the entire time. The spectacle has become a signature of sorts for the longtime politician.

This week’s flight will be slightly different, though — the trip will be López Obrador’s first international visit since taking office in December 2018. It’s unclear how exactly that might change what has, at least domestically, become pretty standard operating procedure.

In the US, he will have to go through customs and immigration, though his diplomatic passport should at least gain him access to a faster line. It will make for an unusual day at the office for whichever US Customs and Border Protection officer is tasked with stamping that passport.

Is this safe?

If you subscribe to the notion that presidents are targets, then the answer is no — traveling through multiple public airports and being trapped on planes with strangers increases López Obrador’s exposure to potential threats. But he might disagree.

The President has eschewed armed guards since taking office, disbanding the previous presidential security detail. He instead travels around with a handful of aides and escorts who routinely allow the public direct access to the President.

His office doesn’t publicize the exact details of his trips and he often shows up to the airport unannounced.

But for this trip to the White House, the President has already said publicly he will fly on Tuesday.

A simple search online shows there are not that many flights to choose from, especially during a demand-sapping pandemic. Mexican officials could of course book a series of one-way flights, making the ability to map potential flights more difficult.

But anyone who wants to see the President in person could make a pretty reasonable guess about which flight he might be on leaving from Mexico City.

There also exists the risk of collateral damage any attack on the president could pose to the public traveling with him: Earlier this year, a passenger who discovered López Obrador was on his flight to the Mexican city of Villahermosa asked to be let off the plane. In a video shared widely online, the man could be heard saying it was not safe for his family to be onboard.

There’s also the fact that the President is choosing to fly in the middle of a pandemic. The infection risk of flying can be mitigated when best health practices are practiced, like wearing a mask. But López Obrador has never worn a mask in public and it’s unclear if he’ll do so on this trip.

Mask or not, flying commercial is certainly riskier than staying at home or flying private. And López Obrador does have his own plane. He’s just choosing not to use it.

Wait, he’s got his own plane!? Why doesn’t he just use that?

Officially, the Mexican government purchased a 787-8 Boeing Dreamliner for presidential use back in 2012. The plane’s price tag was a whopping $218.7 million.

López Obrador, a leftist known for his populist positions and strong base among lower income communities, had long decried the plane as a notorious example of government excess and vowed to never use it.

The plane has been up for sale for more than a year (asking price: $130 million), but López Obrador has struggled to find a buyer. The government keeps it at an airfield in Los Angeles, California, and still pays for its maintenance and storage.

López Obrador said earlier this year he would sell tickets and raffle off the plane to the winner. But what, exactly, would the lucky raffle winner do with a wide-body jet engine passenger aircraft? He later changed his proposition, saying he would still sell tickets to cover the cost of the plane but, instead of gifting the plane itself to the winner, would instead give a 20 million Mexican pesos cash prize to 100 winners, the equivalent of roughly $900,000.

Meanwhile, attempts to sell or lease the plane will continue.

Critics say López Obrador’s unwillingness to use that plane, or another plane from Mexico’s Air Force, is a cheap political stunt designed to appeal to the many Mexican voters who will never be able to afford a plane ticket.

Supporters have backed his stance, saying boarding a plane with wide leather seats, a double bed, and a spacious bathroom with a shower would be unconscionable with so many Mexicans struggling with poverty.

No matter which side you fall on, flying commercial is definitely the cheapest option. A Kayak.com search over the weekend for a one-stop, roundtrip Mexico City — Washington, DC, ticket, leaving Tuesday and returning Thursday, was a little more than $1,100 USD per person.



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Billionaire Kanye West’s Company Gets Multimillion-Dollar PPP Loan From Trump Admin

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Billionaire Kanye West’s Company Gets Multimillion-Dollar PPP Loan From Trump Admin

Douliery Olivier/ABACA via Reute

Billionaire rapper and shoe designer Kanye West’s company has received a multimillion-dollar loan as part of the federal government’s coronavirus stimulus package, according to records released Thursday by the U.S. Treasury’s Small Business Administration.

The money was handed out in the latest round of the Paycheck Protection Program, part of the Trump administration’s $2 trillion CARES Act designed to provide economic relief to small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.

Yeezy LLC, a California company, is listed in the Treasury’s log as a recipient of a loan worth between $2 million and $5 million. The company self-identified as being male-owned and a Black or African-American business. It said 160 jobs were saved using the loan.

Trump’s Small Biz Rescue Bailed Out Kushner’s Family, Obama’s Aides and Other Political Elite

California business records list Kanye West as the manager of Yeezy LLC, a holding company established in Delaware and run out of a La Palma, California, office. West’s Yeezy sneaker empire reportedly made $1.5 billion last year.

West’s loan poses major questions of conflict of interest, given West’s outspoken support for President Donald Trump, his multiple visits to the White House, and the outrageously lavish lifestyle he leads with wife Kim Kardashian West.

Both he and his wife have celebrated attaining billionaire status recently. After being effectively broke years ago, West turned his fortunes around with his best-selling Yeezy sneakers and attained billionaire status in April, according to Forbes. 

Last week, his wife claimed to be a billionaire, too. “I am so proud of my beautiful wife Kim Kardashian West for officially becoming a billionaire,” West tweeted, alongside a photo of some vegetables.

PPP loans, available for companies with fewer than 500 employees, are written off by the government if companies spend the money on eligible costs and retain a certain percentage of staff during the pandemic.

The list of 40,000 companies to receive loans of $150,000 and above was made public on Monday after complaints from Democrats that previous rounds of funding were not transparent.

The program has been plagued with issues, from digital portals that crashed as soon as applications opened, to banks prioritizing their biggest customers, to Trump-friendly companies receiving big loans. Several large companies, like Shake Shack and Harvard, returned loans after attracting negative publicity.

Loans of $150,000 and above represent about 13 percent of all loans approved but about three quarters of total loan dollars approved, according to CNBC.

Yeezy LLC has been contacted for comment.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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PM’s Tiger Force helps in recovering 16,000 tonnes of sugar, wheat from hoarders

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PM’s Tiger Force helps in recovering 16,000 tonnes of sugar, wheat from hoarders

The News/Files

ISLAMABAD: Authorities on Monday recovered as much as 16,000 tonnes of sugar and wheat from hoarders during a crackdown based on a tip-off from Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Corona Relief Tiger Force.

According to a report, the raid was carried out by the government of Punjab on PM Imran’s orders against the hoarders.

The Tiger Force had reportedly provided special information about the hoarders, following which Rs1.1 billion worth of stocked-up sugar and wheat were seized.

In addition, almost 716 tonnes of wheat, 2,000 tonnes of rice, 10,000 kilogrammes of unhealthy meat and 800,000 litres of milk were also been recovered and subsequently destroyed.

In this regard, PM Imran has directed that the recovered sugar, wheat, and rice be sold in the market at the rates set by the government.

Advising the Punjab government to stabilise wheat prices, the premier directed for the price of a 20kg bag of flour to be reduced by Rs150 and emergency measures be taken to control the prices of flour.

PM directs for a coordinated strategy

Meanwhile, PM Imran Monday directed all the provincial chief secretaries for the formulation of a well-coordinated strategy under the Minister for National Food Security for equal pricing of wheat and flour in all the provinces, besides ensuring sufficient stock of these commodities with regard to the requirement of any province.

He directed this while chairing a meeting to review measures for bringing down prices of essential commodities, PM Office media wing in a press release said.

The prime minister observed that strategy should focus on farmers and common man as in the past, the elements involved in hoarding and undue profits had not only deprived the farmers of their just profits but also forced the ordinary people to purchase flour at exorbitant prices.

The meeting was attended by Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam, Adviser on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Dr Shahbaz Gill and senior officials.

Chief secretaries of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and additional secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa attended the meeting through video link.

The prime minister directed that there should be no impediments in the inter-provincial transportation of wheat as the provision and availability of regular and low-price wheat was his government’s priority.

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Amy Cooper, White Woman Who Called Cops On Black Man In Central Park, Is Being Prosecuted

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Amy Cooper, White Woman Who Called Cops On Black Man In Central Park, Is Being Prosecuted

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A white woman who called police to say she felt threatened by an African-American man who had asked her to leash her dog in New York’s Central Park is being prosecuted over the incident, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said on Monday.

Vance said his office has initiated a prosecution of Amy Cooper for falsely reporting an incident in the third degree.

The May 25 incident was shown on a video that went viral.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, Editing by Franklin Paul)



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Active virus cases reach 93,932

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Active virus cases reach 93,932

ISLAMABAD – The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Sunday said that 129,830 patients recovered from coronavirus disease so far while 25,527 tests were conducted in last 24 hours.

The forum said that 3,191 new cases reported across Pakistan and 93 people died during last 24 hours taking the total death rate to 4,712. Also, it said 467 people are on ventilators. The data released by the NCOC said that since 26 February, 228,474 COVID-19 positive cases were detected across till date. 129,830 COVID-19 positive people recovered across Pakistan.

It said that total active COVID-19 cases in Pakistan at the moment is 93,932 with 3,191 new positive COVID cases detected on July 4 and 93 people lost lives due to due to the pandemic during last 24 hours. Though Implementation on the smart lockdown in the country has significantly reduced the number of deaths due to novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country, however again 3,191 cases were tested positive.

93 more die in single day as infections surge to 228,474

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) only 93 people lost their lives in the country due to COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours. It said that 129,830 people recovered so far across Pakistan making it a significant count and 467 ventilators are occupied across Pakistan out of 1,525 ventilators allocated for COVID-19.

It said that total active COVID19 cases in Pakistan are 93,932). A total of 228,474 cases detected so far (AJK 1288, Balochistan 10766, GB 1545, ICT 13409, KP 27843, Punjab 81317 and Sindh 92306). About the deaths the official data said that 4712 have died including 1501 from Sindh, Punjab 1871, KP 1020, ICT 134, Balochistan 123, GB 28 and AJK 35. So far 1,398,352 tests have been conducted and 792 hospitals with COVID19 facilities with 5,130 patients admitted across the country.



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UK journalists demand justice, release of MSR

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UK journalists demand justice, release of MSR

The News/Files

LONDON: The Overseas Pakistani Journalists Action Committee (OPJAC) on Monday called for Jang Geo Media Group Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s release, demanding immediate justice in the case.

At a protest in West London, journalists from several TV channels and newspapers gathered under the OPJAC’s banner and raised slogans for the release of MSR — who has been in National Accountability Beaureu (NAB)’s custody for nearly four months in a case pertaining to the purchase of a private property almost 34 years ago.

The Pakistan Journalists Association (PJA), Pakistan Press Club, and members of two other associations took part in the protest. The Pakistani diaspora in the UK also participated in the demonstration against the PTI-led government’s moves to curb freedom of media in Pakistan.

“This is the worst example of the state’s oppression in order to swallow the media’s freedoms,” Wajahat Ali Khan, a protester, said.

“We condemn the fake case against Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and demand his immediate release. Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman has been detained only to teach a lesson to the entire media fraternity of Pakistan.”

Noting that every patriotic overseas Pakistani condemns MSR’s arrest, another participant in the protest, Shaukat Dar, said: “We demand that he be freed immediately. It’s a mockery of justice that MSR has been in detention for nearly four months without any evidence of wrongdoing against him or any case against him.

“The PTI government and NAB Chairman are responsible for this illegal action.”

Dar added that the entire world’s journalists had only one demand and that was the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

OPJAC Convener Azhar Javed lamented how whenever a government was in trouble, they would attack the journalists’ fraternity. The sacrifices of the Jang Group dated back to Pakistan’s history of 70 years, Javed added.

“It was unfortunate that the media was being strangulated in Pakistan on the belief that it will somehow help the PTI government,” he rued.

Another participant, Ghulam Hussain Awan, said: “MSR gave 180 kanals to the LDA and got 56 kanals in return. For this crime, he is being punished today which is clearly politically motivated.”

Pakistani media has spoken against the arrest and detention of MSR.

Senior journalist Kashif Abbasi also condemned the illegal detention of the veteran journalist, saying there was no basis to keep him under continued detention.

The NAB had arrested MSR on March 12 even before formal charges were made against him. The case — which was used to justify this arrest — was a property transaction that occurred 34 years ago in 1986.

Previously, the South Asia Democracy Watch wrote to The White House, the Secretary of State, members of the US Senate, and House members of the Foreign Relations Committee condemning the illegal confinement of Jang Geo Media Group Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

The US State Department, European Union, and the German government have also raised the question as to why Mir Shakil was arrested without being charged with any crime.

MSR’s arrest has also caused an outcry in Pakistan as well as in international forums. Most major journalistic organisations — including Reporters without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists — have termed it as an attack on press freedom.

Pakistan has also fallen three spots in the Global Press Freedom Index — from 142 to 145 — out of 180 countries.

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Simon & Schuster Advances Publication Date of Trump Tell-All

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Simon & Schuster Advances Publication Date of Trump Tell-All

Responding to an increase in publicity and advance orders, Simon & Schuster announced on Monday that it was planning to release a tell-all book by Mary L. Trump, President Trump’s niece, on July 14, two weeks earlier than originally scheduled.

The move by the publisher came after a New York appeals judge, ruling last week in response to a court action brought by the Trump family, decided it could proceed in releasing the book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.”

For the last few weeks, the Trumps, led by the president’s younger brother, Robert S. Trump, have been trying to stop publication of the book, which Simon & Schuster has said will detail the family’s “dark history” in an effort to explain how Donald Trump “became the man who now threatens the world’s health, economic security and social fabric.”

Charles J. Harder, a lawyer for Robert Trump, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Last week, a judge in Dutchess County, N.Y., temporarily halted the release, even though the book has already been printed — and is a prepublication best seller on Amazon. The next day the appeals court judge decided that Simon & Schuster could go ahead with publication but did not address the question of whether Ms. Trump had violated a confidentiality agreement with her family, as Robert Trump has alleged.

That agreement was put in place nearly 20 years ago, when Ms. Trump settled a lawsuit with her family concerning the contested will of the president’s father, Fred Trump Sr. But in an affidavit filed in New York last week, Ms. Trump claimed she had consented to the secrecy pact — and signed away her interests in several family properties — without knowing that President Trump and his siblings had lied to her about how much they were worth.

“Because the settlement agreement was based on and induced by fraud,” Ms. Trump’s lawyer, Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., wrote in a court filing, “it cannot be enforced — and cannot bar publication of Ms. Trump’s book.”

In his court papers, Mr. Boutrous claimed that the Trump family “significantly and deliberately undervalued” the appraisals of the properties, causing Ms. Trump and her brother to agree to a buyout in which they were cheated out of millions of dollars.

Under the agreement, she and Fred Trump III signed away their interests in several family real estate holdings, including the ground leases for the Beach Haven and Shore Haven apartments considered two of the “crown jewels” of Fred Trump Sr.’s empire.

Mr. Boutrous has also claimed that it was preposterous that the Trump’s family’s secrecy agreement could be construed as a “sweeping, lifetime gag order” that could stop Ms. Trump from writing about her family now. The president, as Mr. Boutrous pointed out, has given interviews about his sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, and his older brother, Fred Trump Jr. Dozens of books, Mr. Boutrous noted, have been written about the Trumps, including nearly 20 that the president wrote himself.

In its statement announcing the sped-up publication schedule, Simon & Schuster offered a few new hints about the contents of the book, describing it as “an authoritative portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that made him.”

According to the statement, Ms. Trump, who is 55 and a clinical psychologist, explains how Mr. Trump “acquired twisted behaviors,” including a penchant for seeing human beings in “monetary terms” and a habit of punishing qualities like “empathy, kindness and expertise.” In the book, the statement says, Ms. Trump describes how her uncle “dismissed and derided” his own father as he succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease and practiced “cheating as a way of life.”

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Cori Bush, Progressive Missouri Challenger, Raises $170,000 In June

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Cori Bush, Progressive Missouri Challenger, Raises $170,000 In June

Cori Bush, a registered nurse challenging Rep. William “Lacy” Clay from the left in Missouri’s Democratic primary, raised nearly $240,000 in the second quarter, including $170,000 in June alone. 

Bush’s strong fundraising haul marks a major improvement over her totals in the first 14 months of her candidacy, suggesting that she is picking up momentum ahead of the Aug. 4 primary. Bush had raised less than $260,000 in her entire campaign prior to the second quarter.

Bush, an ordained minister who got involved in politics as a Black Lives Matter activist after the police killing of Michael Brown in 2014, managed the sum during a tumultuous period in her life. She was hospitalized twice for COVID-19 in March and April, and continues to be active in St. Louis-area street demonstrations against racist policing. (Bush reported on Twitter on Sunday night that police in Florissant, Missouri, sprayed her in the eyes with pepper spray.)

“Whether I was in the hospital fighting COVID or in the streets fighting for justice, people all over St. Louis and the country have continued to invest in our campaign,” Bush said in a statement. “Voters want a true fighter in Congress ― that’s why we’ve raised half a million dollars purely from individual contributions from regular, everyday people.”

As is typical of progressive insurgent candidates, Bush’s donations have come almost entirely from small-dollar donors. Supporters donated about 12,000 times to her campaign in the second quarter, with an average contribution of $15. 

Bush has plowed her fundraising dollars into a mail, digital and “connected TV” advertising campaign ― spots on streaming services like Hulu ― and retained $107,000 in cash on hand as of the end of June. 



Cori Bush leads a march against police brutality on June 12 in University City, Missouri. For a second time, she is running to unseat Democratic Rep. William “Lacy” Clay.

Clay, a 10-term incumbent, has yet to disclose his second-quarter fundraising figures. (Election law requires them to become public on July 15.)

As of the end of March, Clay had raised nearly $630,000 and had more than $515,000 in cash on hand. That gives him a major cash advantage, but not an insurmountable edge of the kind typically boasted by entrenched incumbents. More than $500,000 of the money he raised through the end of March came from political action committees; 79% of those PACs were funded by big business interests.

Clay, the son of St. Louis Rep. Bill Clay Sr., a civil rights leader, is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a co-sponsor of Medicare for All legislation in the House.

While Clay checks many progressive boxes, he is not an advocate for independent progressive power in the House in the mold of the four-member “Squad” or California Rep. Ro Khanna. And he was behind the curve on police violence, voting against a June 2014 amendment that would have ended the transfer of military equipment to local police forces. The vote occurred mere months before Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked nationwide outrage at police use of Pentagon vehicles and weapons against protesters.

Bush, who lost to Clay by almost 20 percentage points in her 2018 run, is campaigning on a platform of Medicare for All, police demilitarization and reform, and the Green New Deal. She is backed by Justice Democrats, the left-wing group behind Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s upset victories, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), whose presidential runs Bush supported.

Bush’s 2018 run was featured in the Jan. 2019 documentary “Knock Down the House.”



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France’s Louvre Reopens Most Of The Museum — Sans Big Crowds

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France’s Louvre Reopens Most Of The Museum — Sans Big Crowds

Visitors wearing face masks wait to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum on Monday. The most visited museum in the world reopened to the public after closing in March.

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Visitors wearing face masks wait to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum on Monday. The most visited museum in the world reopened to the public after closing in March.

Chesnot/Getty Images

France’s Louvre Museum reopened on Monday after closing in March due to the coronavirus. But things are far from business as usual.

The world’s most visited museum has implemented new measures, including a mask requirement and an online-only reservation system to protect art-lovers from the virus.

One unintended consequence of these restrictions has been an experience devoid of the usual crowds of tourists, which normally reach up to 50,000 people a day.

Freddie Keen, a traveler visiting from London with some friends, told NPR it was easy to take his time seeing some of the Louvre’s top attractions.

“It was definitely a much more comfortable experience seeing the Mona Lisa without having any peer pressure from hundreds of people staring at you and waiting for you to move on,” Keen said.

Floor markers in the Salle des Etats, where the Mona Lisa is held, have been put in place to ensure guests adhere to a physical distance of at least 3 feet. Visitors must also follow a one-way path through the building. A third of the museum is still closed to the public.

The Louvre said it expected 7,000 people on the first day of reopening. International tourists made up around 70% of the 9.6 million visitors in 2019.

Museum Director Jean-Luc Martinez said he was hoping to attract more French tourists this summer because of the current travel restrictions.

“We are going to be at best 20-30% down on last summer,” Martinez told AFP, adding the museum expects between 4,000 and 10,000 visitors a day.

During the four-month shutdown, the iconic art destination lost an equivalent of $45 million in ticket sales this year, the museum director was quoted as saying.

France’s tourism industry could soon get a much-needed boost. Last week, the European Union lifted travel restrictions on visitors from more than a dozen countries considered low risk for spreading the coronavirus.

EU Sets New List Of Approved Travel Partners. The U.S. Isn't On It

Because of the rising level of virus infections among Americans, the United States was not included on the list. The EU says it would continue to reexamine the situation every two weeks.

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