The petty chronicle of politics writ small said yesterday that Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg carried on with his political appointments within his constituency, in another ‘business as usual’ stiff upper lip mode.

What the Maltese public knew of Dr Borg before these past days was that he had been the youngest mayor of Dingli ever appointed. Then of his elevation to the post of Parliamentary Secretary in charge of the not inconsequential posts of EU affairs and preparing for Malta’s Presidency of the Council.

A blip on his fame happened when he made a gross remark referring to orgasm in the House of Representatives, for he which he later apologised.

But now he has become an unfortunate poster boy for the Labour government, ever since an Ombudsman report was leaked which condemned the way he had gone about in his acquisition of a Wied il-Lunzjata site.

For days he kept a stiff upper lip about the business, made quite wrong assertions about the Ombudsman report, and saw no reason to stop the building works on this controversial site.

It was only after his boss, the prime minister, expressed his public disagreement that Dr Borg made a U-turn and announced he is halting all works on his Rabat property.

The way things have unfolded is no mark of honour for Dr Borg. The fact the building works have now been stopped is no sign of contrition or atonement. It has all the marks of a decision forced on him by his masters.

Until the prime minister publicly expressed his disapproval, Dr Borg was quite unrepentant, even going on the offensive when the media dared question him.

There was, is, no sign of contrition, or that Dr Borg has realized how his actions and his repeated declarations damaged the reputation of the government he forms part of, the party he represents and all those who are in favour of good governance.

As this paper’s sister Sunday paper said yesterday, “By virtually ignoring the Ombudsman’s findings, and by vaguely claiming there were undefined ‘inaccuracies’ in its report, Dr Borg, the Prime Minister and the government at large are demonstrating a condemnable lack of respect for the Office of the Ombudsman. They are simply hiding behind the Permanent Commission Against Corruption’s other investigation, presumably until they can figure out how to deal with this fresh crisis.”

Coming as it does in the wake of claims and charges against Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon, and of so many other scandals involving the present administration, Dr Ian Borg’s behaviour until forced confirms the widespread impression this is a Cabinet and an administration out of control where the guiding principle is to grab as much as one can in the shortest time possible. They are making up for lost time, ie the 25 years Labour spent in Opposition.

Now that the EU Africa summit is over and the CHOGM too, it is high time to have a Cabinet reshuffle to promote those who are working well and to sideline those who are bringing this government in disrepute.