As part of an ongoing series, an article in this paper yesterday described the first 500 days of the Labour government by focusing on Minister Manwel Mallia.

This was not done capriciously or out of some prejudice but because, it’s true, Minister Mallia (and a couple of other ministers) has come to represent the public face of the PL administration.

It may be also because of the relentless onslaught he suffers at the hands of his direct opponent, Jason Azzopardi including and especially the gruelling and rollicking question times in Parliament.

It may be also because his figure is an open invitation to cartoonists who have declared open season upon him.

It may also be, however, because the minister has been put in charge of one of the vastest ministries in Maltese political history, including not just the police but also the army.

It may also be because the minister, in his inimitable way, succeeds in becoming confrontational when faced with opposition and criticism.

Let us try and put things in some sort of perspective. Manwel Mallia is not the typecast Labour politician who has risen through the ranks. His background is the Law Courts and he has been a brilliant and effective legal counsel for most of his life.

In this he may serve as a warning what happens when people without political training and background find themselves on the front bench. It is just not enough for a minister to have the technical and professional knowledge without getting training in how to marry political power to dealing with the civil service.

The list of the cases where the minister has found himself in the news, for the wrong reasons, are not cases where he made a political point or two but rather cases which unfortunately put the Labour government in a bad light.

Was there any impellent reason why so many mass transfers of police officers had to be carried out, and then on the eve of the European Parliament election? Was there any reason for so many high-powered promotions in the army which led to so many brilliant members of AFM to resign from the force? Was there any reason why the police force had to be given such a huge top-heavy structure that not even the UK’s Metropolitan Police have? And what is holding up the official appointment of the new Commissioner of Police now that the one appointed by the minister himself has resigned for reasons that were never made clear?

This is not to say the minister is without his good points. His dialectical skills are forensic but effective. Many times, he thinks on his feet and his repartee is deadly. The Mallia-Azzopardi Punch & Judy shows are among the highlights in parliamentary sittings.

But meanwhile there has been no substantial and effective improvement in the police action of tackling crime and the causes of crime. On the contrary, there has been some slackening. As for the army it is still doing what it used to do in PN times, except for the names of the commanding officers.

This happened before and it was not right then, nor is it now: When you appoint as minister a lawyer who represented so many accused in so many trials, it will be hard to escape from people perceiving gross conflicts of interest. Especially, as in this case, when the minister takes it upon himself to go and announce an amnesty in prison and being welcomed, hugs and backslaps and all, by inmates.