Cherry on a stale cake

For all his easy smiling, Nationalist leader and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is proving to be quite a complex politician. The attempt at a straight style when he took over the mantle of glory and woe has given way to a pronounced predilection for spin. One practical example is the way he ignores the inordinate delays in executing public projects, like the repair to the Manwel Dimech Bridge and the completion of the Gozo Ferry terminal, and tries to focus attention on frequent recourse to legal action by unsuccessful bidders.

He has a point. But so do all those who feel irritated by the cumbersome law and order process. While it exists, political administrators too have to lump it. If they try to bypass it, they would by puncturing one of the tiers of the democratic process. The spin in the Gonzi approach lies in the way he points a finger at legally protesting contractors, while shying away from political responsibility for repetitive delays in execution of public contracts and public commitments.

Unfulfilled promises and delayed projects offset such improvement as takes place in parts of the economy and the fiscal sector. They cannot be spun away. Yet spin has become the name of the game. The latest complex spin is the impression that Dr Gonzi is trying to project that, should he be re-elected, he will form a Cabinet which will have few, if any, of the old faces in it.

That spin is taking place whenever the Prime Minister has any meeting of significance. He has taken to be counter-weighed with fresh faces, some sitting MPs, a few new candidates who will stand on the PN ticket in the forthcoming election, increasingly being touted to be held in late November, though I, for one, do not buy that.

The spin projection was lightly confirmed by the PN general secretary to this newspaper (September 8). It seeks to convey the certitude that, if elected, Dr Gonzi will ditch most of his present Cabinet colleagues to replace them with younger, fresher though untried material, and may the devil take the hindmost among those ditched, and among newcomers who do not make the grade.

That pitch is complex, but questionable. PM Gonzi knows as much as the next garrulous party member and observer that he presides over a stale Cabinet team. Nevertheless, he is determined not to replace any of his ministers. Not even with the young members whom he has taken to taking along in focus discussions. They are good enough to be considered if he wins the general election, but not now. For the moment they merely serve as fresh cherries on a stale cake. Presumably none of the sitting backbenchers have dared ask the PM whom does he thinks he is kidding. Much less has he been asked that by those who at the moment are simply prospective candidates.

The more he parades of the latter, the more transparently complex will the Nationalist leader become. For the fact is, few of the new candidates will stand any realistic chance of being elected in a by-election, let alone the first time round. The PM parades cherries which may never have the opportunity of decorating a new cake.

Were Dr Gonzi serious about the projection that he intends to shake, rattle and roll, he would kick off by doing that now. He knows that he can stay in office for 10 more months. If he shortens that to six, he could still try out some backbenchers, to introduce fresh energy and give an inkling of how he would reshape things were the electorate to give him the opportunity to form a new Cabinet.

That would presume that the spin about a November election is no more than that. Isn't it?