Joseph Muscat seems to be enjoying himself as the prime ruler of this little country of ours. He has the best position anyone wanting to have it his own way all the time can hope to hold. We have now become used to the way he overrides decisions taken by his own ministers – at least those he does not like very much.
It started off with Godfrey Farrugia, whose idea last year to erect a tent outside Mater Dei Hospital to create more space did not live 24 hours, as the prime ruler did not like it and it had to be dismantled. Dr Farrugia went on to resign seeing that the PM did not have confidence in his capabilities. But it’s not that his replacement, Joseph’s blue-eyed boy Konrad Mizzi, has come up with any solution – shall we say roadmap? – to resolve the hospital’s overcrowding issues. Just as much as he has not found one for the fuel prices issue and the ghost of a power station.
It continued more recently when the prime ruler’s intervention saved the job for John Role, who was unceremoniously dumped by Minister Michael Farrugia, only to be reinstated after public outcry. Muscat took credit for the decision, and once again came across as a man who listens, the superhero of those in need. Few thought that the U-turn was humiliating to a minister Muscat does not like very much.
It’s happening again now and, surprise, surprise, it involves another minister who is not on Muscat’s good books. Chris Cardona is in the eye of the storm for the design of the stalls that will make up the monti open market in Valletta and, lo and behold, the prime ruler intervenes and the stalls will now be changed, as a call for expressions of interest confirmed last night.
Of course, Muscat has so far insisted that the monti will be relocated in Ordnance Street, fulfilling an electoral promise he made to the hawkers which earned Labour a few hundred votes last time round.
But the thinking behind this relocation has nothing to do with Cardona; after all, the prime ruler has already humbled the minister on the stalls’ design.
It has to do with Lawrence Gonzi. The decision to have the open market just outside the new Parliament building is to debase the Gonzi legacy and an attempt to humiliate the man. Having the monti just outside a project that Dr Gonzi conceived, is dear to his heart and started to implement before losing the election is Joseph Muscat’s way to try to belittle his predecessor.
Dr Gonzi brought in the most acclaimed and renowned architect in the world to give Parliament a home it deserved, but Muscat now wants to surround it with cheap bras, knickers and boxers.
That’s the kind of respect that Muscat has for the institution.
It’s also his way of ridiculing the former prime minister.
That’s how the prime ruler’s mind works.