On Saturday, the reshuffle that has been mooted for a number of weeks finally came.
Four were promoted to ministers, while three more had their portfolios changed. Besides Edward Scicluna, who will be resigning his seat, Silvio Parnis is the only member of cabinet who will be returning to the back benches.
Some of the changes were expected – Clyde Caruana was predicted to take the Finance Ministry portfolio even before he was co-opted into Parliament, while Miriam Dalli was a pretty obvious choice for the Energy Ministry portfolio, given her focus on the field during her tenure at the European Parliament.
However, some other changes did raise some eyebrows. Justyne Caruana replacing Owen Bonnici as Education Minister was one such change, with Caruana returning to Cabinet after she was forced to resign by Prime Minister Robert Abela less than a year ago.
Firstly, it seems that in his changes, Abela has reacted to criticism towards the government for its response to the second wave of Covid-19.
The removal of Silvio Parnis as Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly comes after he was roundly criticised for his response – or lack thereof if you exclude the infamous roly-poly – to the spread of Covid-19 within elderly homes, which continues even today.
The elevation of this portfolio to a full-blown ministry – now under the responsibility of Michael Farrugia – will likely be described as a response to the criticism that the government had done nothing to care for the elderly.
Also related to Covid-19 is probably the shifting of Julia Farrugia Portelli away from the Tourism Ministry. She too was roundly criticised for how she marketed Malta as a destination for mass events – mass events which ultimately were the first cause of the second wave of cases last July.
Her pained talk of mechanisms on international media were, and continue to be, a source of ridicule, and the confusion that reigned over who could stay open and who couldn’t, bag of crisps or not, also further damaged any faith there may have been in entities under her remit being able to enforce important Covid-19 mitigation measures.
On Sunday, Abela boasted that this is the most feminine cabinet in history, the youngest cabinet in history, and the most Gozitan cabinet in history.
The former is a positive and agreeable point – although one must look forward to seeing more women in politics, as having four in a Cabinet which numbers at 27 is still a very low percentage.
The latter two are worthy of analysis. With the exclusion of Silvio Parnis, it is another veteran of the party – who has served 23 years in parliament – who has been consigned to the back benches. It is yet another signal of Abela’s desire to rejuvenate the party with younger blood in its ranks.
The renewed emphasis on Gozo is also interesting. It is said that one shouldn’t give too much heed to the polls, but the most recent poll did have the PN retaking the lead in Gozo – a district which Labour only won by the skin of its teeth in 2013 and 900 or so votes in 2017. It would be reasonable to think that in making these changes, Abela also had one eye on trying to strengthen his hand in Gozo for the next general election.
No other Cabinet in Maltese history has seen so many ministers. With 20 ministers joining the Prime Minister – making it a total of 21 – one cannot help but note the overlap between portfolios, perhaps leading one to question the sheer number of ministries and the cost that they, and their staff, will bring.
The new Ministry for Inclusion and Quality of Life is particularly vague, while the similarly new Ministry for Research, Innovation and the Coordination of the post Covid-19 strategy goes from overlapping with a couple of other ministries to being deeply specific.
One hopes that there won’t be any of the typical government bureaucracy and red-tape which affects the effectiveness of these ministries and their portfolios.