The mechanism put in place this year to increase female participation in politics had a noble cause at heart, but it also means that Malta’s already large Parliament has become even bigger.

Following the addition of 12 new women MPs, the House of Representatives now has 79 members. It means that Malta now has one MP for every 6,000 people.

Before the mechanism was introduced, Malta already had 67 MPs, and already held the record of most MPs per capita. That situation has been further compounded by the addition of these new parliamentarians.

While we are completely in favour of having more women MPs, perhaps this was not the best way to do it. One wonders why we need so many Parliamentarians in a small nation of half a million people.

Over the years, arguments have been made in favour of having fewer, better paid, full-time MPs. This would have led to more professional and efficient MPs. Instead, we have taken the opposite approach and added even more people than we need.

It is no secret that many backbenchers do not contribute much to politics. Some of them are hardly ever present in the chamber. Others only deliver the occasional adjournment speech. Few are very active.

While we do not wish to sound like we are criticising the new MPs - and hopefully they will deliver beyond our expectations - the fact remains that we do not need 79 Members of Parliament.

To make matters worse, Renzo Piano’s parliament hardly has enough space for the customary 67 MPs, let alone for 79. In fact, changes have to be made and more chairs have to be added.

One cannot understand why this was not done immediately after the gender mechanism was introduced. Why was this work left until the last minute, when Parliament reconvenes in a couple of weeks?

Indeed, this situation was already flagged by this newsroom three years ago, when the mechanism was first proposed.

The same argument can be made with regard to the Cabinet, which has 24 members after the swearing-in of another two Parliamentary Secretaries on Thursday.

While a Cabinet of this size is not something new, it has often been argued that this is too large for Malta, and the €100m expenditure over the course of a legislature is far too excessive.

It has become practice to give Cabinet appointments to most of the government’s Parliamentary Group, in what many see as a way of keeping people happy.

But one must keep in mind that we are not only speaking about ministers and parliamentary secretaries here, but also about their secretariats, which total hundreds of people, all of whom are paid from our taxes.

In 2022, especially in times when the pandemic and other factors have greatly affected global economies, one would expect the government to move towards a leaner, more efficient executive. But it seems that Abela is more interested in keeping his people happy, even if this comes at a great cost and a heavy burden on public coffers.