During the Parliamentary debate on the motion against Government, the Prime Minister defended himself by referring to a phrase often used by Eddie Fenech Adami at the time he was Prime Minister; those who do not fight corruption are corrupt. Muscat emphasized the word corrupt during his speech in reference to the Leader of the Opposition.
However, after Thursday’s reshuffle, I doubt how many honest citizens can believe that his government is fighting corruption. The novel Il Gattopardo comes to mind. Its author, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, speaks about the change in government that took place in Sicily when the administration of the island passed from the Bourbons to the Savoy Monarchy. This was a radical change at the time. The author wrote the famous phrase that "Bisogna cambiare tutto per non cambiare niente" or “one needs to change everything in order not to change anything ”. I think that this is the general feeling of many Maltese with regard to with Muscat’s Government. In 2013, the people voted for a radical change and now they are starting to realize that things have remained the same or have become even worse. This reshuffle confirms this.
Tomasi di Lampedusa’s phrase is reminiscent of an older epigram that was coined by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in January 1849 and published in the journal Les Guêpes or The Wasps. Karr’s epigram became a French proverb plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose or "the more things change, the more they remain the same".This epigram was written in reaction to the French revolution of 1848. Karr had the acumen to perceive that the Second French Republic was going to drag France into another dictatorship and he was absolutely right.
On his election as party leader, Joseph Muscat promised a political earthquake. This reshuffle is indeed an earthquake for the way our Prime Minister is destroying what are known as State Functions. It is a sheer mockery and this not because Chris Fearne has been promoted to the Health Ministry. That is a good move as is also a sensible move to nominate Leo Brincat to the Court of Auditors. If I am not mistaken, Brincat qualifies as he is an accountant by profession. Nor is it a bad idea that Jose Herrera has been promoted to minister taking over Brincat’s post. So far, nothing odd.
But the mockery starts with the nomination of Manuel Mallia as Minister of Competitiveness. First, I do not know what the Government means by creating such a ministry. Undoubtedly, it overlaps with that of the Minister of Finance and that of Economic Service. The meaning of competitiveness is the ability for a country to sell and supply goods and services in a given market. Is not this what Edward Scicluna or Chris Cardona are supposed to have been doing up to now? Creating a new ministry that infringes on their portfolios is a clear message that the Prime Minister is not happy with the performance of these two ministers. Different would have been the case had a parliamentary secretary been appointed for he or she would have been working under the guidance of one of these two Ministers. The problem here lies in the fact that this is not a sub-section but a fully-fledged and independent Ministry!
But to crown matters, there is Konrad Mizzi. Mizzi had his two ministries taken away, but has been appointed a Minister without portfolio. The last minister without portfolio was Joe Mizzi in the legislature between 1996-98 and the Opposition mocked him no end. Konrad Mizzi is feeling the mockery and The Malta Independent has already reported that he does not like the idea of being called a “minister without purse”.
As minister without portfolio, Konrad will be working directly under the Prime Minister. Strictly speaking, such a minister has no specific responsibilities and does not head any particular ministry. This is why his sinecure is normally attached to the Prime Minister’s office. Yet, resorting to the use of such a post is anomalous for democracies like ours where there is a stable government. A minister without portfolio is normally associated with those countries ruled by coalition governments.
I am sure that in appointing Konrad Mizzi as Minister without Portfolio, Muscat is getting his cue from Alfred Sant’s government, when Joe Mizzi was given such a sinecure with the specific responsibility for oil exploration. Things have not changed much from then within Labour. The Prime Minister has taken under his wings the Ministry of Energy but Konrad Mizzi too has been brought under the PM's umbrella. In plain language Konrad Mizzi remains the de facto minister responsible for energy. Thus, Konrad Mizzi remains in Castile, where he has always been, even when he had the portfolio of health and energy. Therefore, there is not going to be any significant change with this reshuffle. In this scenario, it would have been more honourable for the Prime Minister to have kept Konrad Mizzi as Minister for Energy and removed only Health.
If by this move, the Prime Minister thinks that he is reassuring the nation, he has instead sent the exact opposite message. This reshuffle shows that the Prime Minister lacks acumen and his behaviour is reminiscent of a naughty child who still thinks that he can do what he wants by going round corners. But this is not the behaviour of a statesman. On the contrary, this is the behaviour of an ailing politician who is trying to save his face.
It is also clear that Muscat has ably assimilated the capacity of political manoeuvring which is synonymous with the way bureaucrats in Brussels deal with the rest of Europe. In analyzing suchbehaviour, the risk is that the people’s trust in the European institutions goes further down.What Muscat learnt from his experience at the European Parliament seems to be how to recycle a load of political trash.
The French will politely define this entire arrangement as a pastiche or a political parody. Indeed, this is a pseudo reshuffle. There is no logical rationale behind this move except that Joseph Muscat still wants Konrad Mizzi to form part of his Cabinet and be responsible for energy. As one commentator rightly remarked, Konrad and Joseph are conjoined from the hip.