Former Finance Minister Edward Scicluna once spoke of a ‘kitchen Cabinet’ when asked about the Joseph Muscat era. Prime Minister Robert Abela’s recent moves to give more ministerial powers to four Cabinet members perceived to be closest to him isn’t quite that, but it does come across as the establishment of something of an inner circle within the Cabinet itself.
Abela’s January reshuffle raised some eyebrows at the time. On the face of it, for example, it seemed strange that Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi was handed a pretty hefty demotion from Planning Minister when it was his ministry which has spearheaded the highly sensitive, but well-received contractor’s licensing reform.
Likewise, there didn’t seem to be all that much method to why Malta Enterprise was shorn off of Miriam Dalli and given back to Silvio Schembri, or why Zrinzo Azzopardi’s portfolio was split between three ministries.
But within the context of the findings of the public inquiry which looked into the death of Jean Paul Sofia in a construction collapse, the changes all point to an attempt to retroactively mitigate what the inquiry could have concluded.
The fact that within hours of the inquiry’s report being made public Abela then hived JobsPlus – which was roundly criticised for how it gave out work permits for foreign nationals – from Clyde Caruana’s realm to Byron Camilleri only adds to this notion that Cabinet changes have been made off the back of the Sofia inquiry.
The change was said to be so that JobsPlus can work closer with Identità, but it has no doubt left Caruana smarting: he has always had the employment portfolio under his wing, and served as the CEO of JobsPlus itself before he was co-opted into Parliament in Edward Scicluna’s stead back in 2020.
January’s Cabinet changes seemed to indicate that while Malta’s Cabinet remained pretty much the largest in history, meaningful power was being centred in the hands of a few people who – it can be deduced – are trusted by the Prime Minister.
The fact that the four Ministers drafted into a Cabinet committee coordinated by the Prime Minister’s head of secretariat which has been tasked with implementing the Sofia public inquiry’s recommendations are the same four ministers who benefited most from that January reshuffle gives credence to that indication.
The four Ministers in question are Clint Camilleri – who had the Planning subject added to his already large Gozo portfolio, Silvio Schembri – who had Malta Enterprise added to his Economy portfolio, Jonathan Attard – who was tasked with the reform of the construction industry and given supervision of the BCA and OHSA together with the Justice sector, and Byron Camilleri – who was handed JobsPlus together with the Home Affairs sector.
While perhaps not quite a ‘kitchen Cabinet’ as Edward Scicluna had so infamously referred to when testifying about the Joseph Muscat era during the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry, this centralisation of a lot of decision-making power in is certainly interesting.
What’s for sure is that it seems that Abela is indicating that his preferred next Labour Party deputy leader – there will be a vacancy come the summer when the current incumbent Chris Fearne gets booted upstairs to the European Commission in Brussels – would be one of these four ministers.
One wonders who it would be: Silvio Schembri has reportedly long been angling for a higher post within the party, while the lure of having a Gozitan deputy leader for the first time ever in the form of Clint Camilleri and the effect that may have in galvanising Labour Party support on the sister island could also be enticing. The power wielded by Byron Camilleri and Jonathan Attard is also on the rise, and they are both considered special by Abela.
Could Abela’s reliance on this small group of Ministers however backfire on him? A poor electoral performance come June coupled with the centralisation of a lot of power on four individuals in what is Malta’s largest Cabinet in history may risk alienating some within the party.
Likewise, the fact that Abela has seemingly ‘chosen’ his horses for the deputy leadership race which will kick off over the summer may spell trouble. Others who may have been interested in the post, such as Miriam Dalli – who came to Malta from Brussels no doubt with ambitions of a higher position of leadership within the PL – may feel aggrieved that they have been excluded from this inner circle of trust.
After all, these four ‘chosen ones’, so to speak, do not come without question marks to their name.
Schembri for starters has faced calls to resign in connection with the Sofia inquiry given that he was politically responsible for INDIS Malta when the entity officially signed over the Corradino site where Sofia was killed. He has argued that the land was actually allocated a year before he was made Minister.
Clint Camilleri meanwhile remains something of a marmite figure – some associate him with clientelism in Gozo and with the almost uncontrolled environmental degradation on the sister island, while others will argue that he has recently fronted a new regional development strategy for Gozo which is designed to address that latter concern.
Byron Camilleri also has been no stranger to criticism. He holds political responsibility over the police force, an institution which has been on the end of heavy criticism because of how it has handled – or failed to handle – major corruption cases. He was also Home Affairs Minister when Bernice Cilia was murdered, allegedly by her estranged husband, and an inquiry showed that the resources made available for the police to tackle domestic violence cases and protect women such as Cilia were nowhere near up to scratch.
Likewise, Jonathan Attard has spoken much of court reform during his tenure as Justice Minister, and there has certainly been an increase in the number of judiciary members during his time in the job, but there continue to be significant shortcomings as well. So much is this the case that the Association of the Maltese Judiciary, which represents judges and magistrates and which is usually very measured in when and what on it issues statements about, warned that the court system is at “the brink of collapse” and that the authorities have exhibited “persistent failures” when it comes to tackling staffing and resource issues in the court house. That items of evidence continue to go missing does not help him.
It will be interesting to see who emerges from the four as the main contender to be deputy leader – and also whether it will be ‘negotiated’ down to a one-horse race, or whether someone else will throw their hat into the ring and challenge the status quo.