There has been a massive, possibly wilful, mass deception over the recent changes in Cabinet.

For it is quite the wrong starting-point to base one’s analysis of what led the Prime Minister to his decisions from what those left out could think. They have been quite liberal with their comments, innuendos, sarcasm – and, this being a free country – they are all allowed their two minutes in the publicity glare.

Over the past weeks, there has been a massive campaign going on to make Lawrence Gonzi bend, be more inclusive, open the doors of Cabinet. Even I, at one point, joined this chorus.

The massive campaign is usually misunderstood because very few understand that threats, real threats, were made: Take me in, or else… Even fewer understand that it was not just the ‘rebels’ that piled on the pressure, but also the ‘goody-goodies’, the ones who would carry the teacher’s bag, perhaps the very ones who leaked an angry e-mail from their colleague just to blacken his name. Or the ones who leaked to a complacent media out of context quotes from meetings of the parliamentary group which just happened to blacken one or other of the ‘rebels’.

Only Lawrence Gonzi knows the real extent of the pressures: the fact that he withstood them all is a very big plus sign in my book. Up till some weeks ago, it was being said, (and I joined the chorus) that he ‘scares easily’. Now we know the opposite is true: this guy’s not for turning.

The Franco Debono episode showed that, in the end, no backbencher will ever be so foolhardy to bring the government down. Even though some of the backbenchers can now kiss their political future goodbye, none is so suicidal as to bring the government down. Over 22 months have passed since the election: Lawrence Gonzi is now past the Alfred Sant benchmark.

Nor can one analyse the Cabinet change from the non-change in the ministry for Gozo. Despite the strong denial from the Office of the Prime Minister that Giovanna Debono was about to be moved but resisted, I am led to believe that this is precisely what happened. My information comes from just a few days before and from words the minister herself told some close friends. It would also seem this is not the first time this happened, the same thing happened after the 2008 election.

And yet to replace her with another MP from Gozo would perhaps have exacerbated the situation in Gozo, pitted two camps against each other, created more enmity, which would indeed lead to loss of votes.

If I were Mrs Debono, however, I wouldn’t sleep easy in my bed. If there’s anything that this Cabinet change shows, it shows that Lawrence Gonzi has a long memory and knows how to bide his time. Right then he had other things to do, he could not tackle Gozo as well. Gozo has been put on a political backburner, which possibly explains Dr Gonzi’s sudden interest in anything and everything that’s happening there.

No, one must not try to fathom the reasons behind the recent decisions either from the personal situations of the people on the backbench or from the Gozo non-decision.

There are, as I see it, two main reasons behind the recent changes.

The first was a conscious, deliberate, decision to get healthcare reform back to the Christian Democrat template and away from the capitalist template. Some weeks ago I wrote that ensuring healthcare remains free is not just implementing a key electoral commitment but also a key Christian Democrat way of looking at social services.

This is something that neither Jean-Pierre Farrugia nor Frans Agius seem to have understood – that the government was not committed to a primary health reform that would have involved people paying money. And this is also something that the current Super One psephologists misunderstand too: there was no government U-turn out of fear that two or more MPs might vote against. The change is fundamental; it is at the basis of one key Cabinet change. Or rather, it is at the basis of what led to the Cabinet change in the first place.

There will be no payment system coming in by stealth. Full stop. No managing the health system with capitalist ideas. On the other hand, there will never be unlimited funds, so there will be increasing pressure to cut costs, to improve deliverables, to get the state-of-the-art hospital to function, and not just from 9 to midday. Walls and systems must be unravelled. There will be more consultation with the stakeholders, with the grassroots, rather than a confrontational approach that delivers nothing. And meanwhile, structural flaws, such as the lack of an oncology hospital on site, and the mad curb on hospital beds because the official who decided on the size of the hospital reportedly took his soundings in August rather than in January, and subsequent administrations completed the mess by installing the services on the roof, putting paid to any increase in height – must be addressed.

The second big Cabinet change was to lighten Austin Gatt’s load. On the one hand, the Prime Minister has said this is so as to let the minister focus on the tricky delivery of the bus reform and on the huge roadwork programme.

On the other hand, Austin Gatt should be thanking Dr Gonzi for taking Enemalta away from him. Enemalta is the albatross round every government’s neck. It must be admitted that even the famous Austin Gatt cure worked with the dockyard, is working with public transport, but did not work with Enemalta. This is not because of the famous two massive blackouts on significant days (maybe they were simple coincidences) but more because there has been no shake-up in the corporation’s structure or maybe it was handled badly.

To defend the indefensible, Dr Gatt was having to cross swords with practically all Malta whenever it came to matching the rates to the prices of oil purchases. And this made Dr Gatt Malta’s bogeyman. He even carried the can for decisions accepted and endorsed by Cabinet.

Oh, and there’s also another reason: Dr Gatt is deeply involved in the detailed planning around the Piano plans for City Gate and now also the bus terminus.

Still, this may have created a superministry. Not Dolores Cristina’s one, though that is a superministry. Nor Mario de Marco’s one, even though he remains a parliamentary secretary. Tonio Fenech’s one.

I had argued for the creation of an economics ministry alongside the Finance Ministry. This was not to be: the reason being compactness of Cabinet made its working much easier. (More about that soon). This was not due, in any way, to any doubts as to Mr Fenech’s ability. I still have my doubts how one minister can cope with getting Malta back to financial and fiscal ways of virtue, the wider shores of Ecofin crucial deliberations, and also cope with problem areas such as Air Malta (see last week’s article) or Enemalta.

Besides, with Austin Gatt (or anybody else) at the helm of Enemalta, the Minister of Finance had a useful foil when it came to imposing rate hikes. Now there will be no one.

Deep down, this slight Cabinet change reflects, as others have said, not a weak head of government, but a strong one. A weak head of government would have gone on to appoint as many backbenchers as possible, leading to potential conflicts, confusion galore, and general mess.

Analysing how Dr Gonzi moved these past months highlights the strategist in him. No wonder: he got his training at his granduncle’s lap. He was less than five years old when Dom Mintoff blew it, the colonial government took over and Archbishop Gonzi became the real power in Malta. I don’t know if it’s apocryphal but I heard that his father once said he (the father) did not bring him up, but the archbishop did. He must have spent his formative years in that elegant and airy Piano Nobile of the Archbishop’s Palace and heard and witnessed many decisions being taken, affecting many, many people.

Constitutionally, we say that the choice of a Cabinet is the prime minister’s prerogative, and certainly it is. Normally, however, it does not extend so much as to decide that if the prime minister in question would like to work with a small team, then so be it. Other countries certainly don’t work like that. Maybe things are different here.

Certainly, Dr Gonzi is seriously risking putting his ministers under extreme pressure, and maybe not all can take it. When one considers the sheer amount of flying around they do, it is a wonder they can enjoy families.

I am sure Dr Gonzi does not consider he is high and mighty with his team, but he must understand that is how he is widely perceived. It is true there is much work to be done and the government cannot waste its time in internal fiefdom wars (that is what mostly took place pre-2008). It is equally true that loyalty and dedication to the nation have to be paramount. At the same time, however, he must allow those of his backbench who would want to, to offer their help and collaboration to the super-loaded ministers. It would be a foolhardy minister who would reject that, considering the pressure they work under.

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