Opposition Leader Alfred Sant yesterday insisted that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi should get rid of his "non-performing ministers" to get the country back on track.

Dr Gonzi had already appeared to rule out the possibility of a Cabinet reshuffle any time soon as he swept aside Dr Sant's call early last week.

Reading out a list of more than 20 "reasons", Dr Sant said the "prevailing lack of leadership, management and vision" at government level could be tackled only through a reshuffle.

"We have been challenged to come up with reasons why the Cabinet should be changed round and we have taken up the challenge," Dr Sant said.

The first eight reasons brought up by Dr Sant were related to the economy. "Since Dr Gonzi took office in March 2004, public debt rose by Lm190 million - an increase of 15 per cent over the amount accumulated till then. The retail price index also increased from 1.75 in March 2004 to 2.77 today," he said.

Despite the government's promises to curb its recurrent expenditure in last year's budget, expenditure in the first seven months of 2005 increased by Lm30 million from the Lm520 million spent in the same period last year, he said.

Listing a series of taxes introduced since Dr Gonzi took office, Dr Sant said the government was failing in areas such as tourism and employment.

"The decline in manufacturing profit and the increasing unemployment in Gozo are another two reasons why Dr Gonzi should reshuffle the Cabinet," Dr Sant said.

A number of government projects, Dr Sant said, had either exceeded the original estimated cost or else had not been completed on time. He added that the site earmarked by the government for the development of a golf course falling between Ghajn Tuffieha and Mellieha had not been identified by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority initially.

When it came to the social aspect, the government was also failing as the health service was dwindling fast. "Between March 2005 and today the number of people awaiting an operation increased by 6,800," Dr Sant said.

Other reasons cited by Dr Sant were lack of consultation with the public, the wastage of resources on private consultants, the privatisation of Sea Malta - which he said was in "limbo" - and the decision not to add public holidays falling on a weekend to workers' leave.

"Though Dr Gonzi had promised a new leadership style, over the last months a number of chairmen of public companies were either changed, resigned or else asked not to be reappointed."

Dr Sant said Dr Gonzi had too much on his plate.

As to how he expected the situation to improve by simply changing an "incompetent" minister's portfolio, Dr Sant said that since the government could not bring in people from outside to head the ministries, there was no other way of bringing about some form of change other than by changing ministers' portfolios and possibly bringing in Nationalist backbenchers.

"This is the only way forward once Dr Gonzi has ruled out calling an early election," Dr Sant said.

When asked if he thought the Labour Party stood to gain if a reshuffle did not happen, Dr Sant said he was aware that a reshuffle could reinstate trust in the government. This proved that Labour was asking for a change "in the national interest", Dr Sant said.

A journalist asked Dr Sant how he could be calling for a reshuffle when he had lost the reins of government after 22 months between 1996 and 1998.

Dr Sant replied that the Labour government had started a series of initiatives during that short period which had not been continued by the Nationalist government, adding that the Labour government had collapsed because "an ex-leader was constantly voting against the government".

"Apparently, Dr Gonzi faced similar problems with (Eddie) Fenech Adami but he appointed the former Prime Minister as President to avoid problems," Dr Sant said.

He said one main problem of the Gonzi government was that it had remained unchanged from the time Dr Fenech Adami was Prime Minister.