Three years ago, Joseph Muscat created the largest Cabinet in Maltese political history. Coming after the biggest election victory in Maltese politics, it was perceived as due recognition to those who had contributed to the victory.

It was also nicely balanced between representatives of the core Labour Party and of the Moviment, the second arm of the winning team.

Putting it like that, it looked more like the sharing of the spoils than creating a government machine that really works, that does what it is there for. After all, the previous government had tried to manage with the smallest Cabinet in history and look what that got it – rebellion from those who had been left out, too much power concentrated in too few hands (and many of them inadequate for the job).

Anyway, the Muscat administration Mark 1 spawned a whole glut of Ministers who in turn spawned a whole glut of aides, some good, many bad, some downright scandalous. But since years in Opposition had engendered a deep yearning for positions of power, swanning around in suits, cars, being in the news on a daily basis, not even the biggest Cabinet in history could satisfy the yearnings of many who voted Labour or who had long been Labour supporters and who feel, felt they were owed a place at the top table. Hence the present dissatisfaction among the Labour grass roots.

Whatever. The real question one should ask is whether the present Cabinet is doing what is expected of it. I have an answer to this question and the answer comes from none other than Dr Muscat himself.

Over the past months, there has been endless speculation on Cabinet reshuffles, but what emerged was just the replacement of one Cabinet member when circumstances so demanded, but nothing like a general reshuffle.

Now however Dr Muscat is creating a sort of super Cabinet, composed of him and Konrad Mizzi, soon to be elected as the party’s Deputy Leader. With the super ministry created for Dr Mizzi – energy and health jumbled together – the other Ministers have been sidelined to a sort of supportive chorus.

Consequently, they tend to focus on the patch they were given… and to micromanage it. We see examples of this on a daily basis – Joe Mizzi and the buses, Carmelo Abela and the police, Leo Brincat and the environment, Chris Cardona and Malta Enterprise, Edward Zammit Lewis and Air Malta, and so on.

Micromanagement is a long-standing Labour tradition in government. There is no real ideological reason to do this except because of the clientele links it offers.

I suspect there is more to it. Being appointed minister is a massive boost to a person’s self-appraisal. Once in the ministerial chair, driven around in one of those GM cars, the new minister becomes the ministry’s CEO, running the show, supervising appointments and promotions, taking decisions, many times, I suspect, even writing the press releases.

But ministers and the Cabinet are not for that. They are not there to become sort of super civil servants or to take over the customer services of the ministry (even though, theoretically at least, that is electorally remunerative). A minister is there to provide an overview, to map out strategy, to lay down policies, to be super partes rather than an operator in the field. A Cabinet is there to provide an overview on a national level.

I am certainly not impressed by the quality of the speeches our ministers make because many times they show an abysmal lack of grasp of the issues at play. Having them written by staffers who know even less than they do about the subject matter shows the level of incompetence at a national level. I shudder to think what will happen when we have the EU Presidency in just a few months’ time.

Whenever I met staffers of ministers from other countries, I have always been struck by the fact they know more than their ministers and the ministers listen to them. The same takes place, for instance, in the EU Commission. Here it is exactly the opposite. The minister surrounds himself with people who know less than he does and all they seem to do is stand around and act important.

And when the Minister starts to micromanage, you know what to expect.

The Prime Minister defends his Ministers, but choosing and handpicking and nominating Konrad Mizzi says volumes about what he thinks of the rest. It is sometimes said that if you want a job to be done, give it to the person who has a full plate who will tackle this additional job as well, and better than those who have less on their plate.

Our government is the equivalent to a local council in any country in Europe. It is in its nature to be local in outlook and that is understandable. But Malta is a sovereign nation and now sits at the table of the EU. We cannot remain local, partisan, and limited in our vision.

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