If PM wants reshuffle he should just do it - Sant

Labour leader Alfred Sant yesterday took a dig at the PN's strategy of showcasing its potential Cabinet alongside the Prime Minister, saying that if the PM were serious about a reshuffle he should "just do it".

Dr Gonzi never had the nerve to take the plunge, he said, adding that it was a weakness that has haunted this administration.

Speaking at a party activity in Marsa, fresh from a short trip abroad, Dr Sant himself was not flanked by the usual faces. Accompanying him instead were his former deputy, George Vella, and Karmenu Vella, a former party heavyweight who left the limelight after Labour's defeat in 1998.

Introduced yesterday as the Opposition Leader's "special consultant", the former tourism minister was welcomed by Dr Vella, who said Labour needed him back in the team.

Dr Sant's indictment of what he called the government's incompetence and lack of transparency more or less characterised his whole speech.

Speaking of the PBS debacle in connection with the choice of winter schedule programmes, Dr Sant said that Allied Newspapers' bid for a current affairs programme competing against Bondiplus had been sidelined because "they are not part of the inner circles".

"Despite them clearly not siding with us, I think it's hard to deny they have undoubted competencies when it comes to news. Yet, they were sidelined."

The public broadcaster was in a quandary, the result of political interference and nepotism, Dr Sant said.

The exclusion of Bondiplus and L-Ispjun by the editorial board during the selection process for the winter schedule has been highlighted by former editorial board chairman John Camilleri as the reason for the controversy. Pierre and Diane Portelli, the producers of L-Ispjun, recently signed an affidavit declaring they never tried to curry favour with the PBS board of directors and always conducted their business activities with PBS above board.

In their affidavid, made in reaction to a recent interview in The Times with Mr Camilleri, they said they had paid for airtime for every one of their TVM programmes after difficult negotiations with PBS management and after they had submitted an official application in the selection process.

Dr Sant yesterday said that Dr Gonzi's claim that he ran a competent administration could not ring more hollow. If there was anything that characterised this government it was incompetence.

He listed examples of such incompetence, from the unfinished Mgarr quays to the stalled works in Mechants Street in Valletta, from the promised redevelopment of City Gate to the recent dispute between the Water Services Corporation and the Health Department over sewer spillage in Balluta Bay.

Speaking about the Mater Dei Hospital, he said that on top of having cost Maltese taxpayers millions over budget and gone well beyond the target dates, the government only realised there was a shortage of nurses after the hospital was completed.

He said the price control aspect of the euro changeover campaign needed beefing up. "It's not enough to have the Fair campaign, but the government has to take a hands-on role."

Statistics for Slovenia were now starting on an inflationary trend, when initially the statistics did not show there was such an impact. The government needed to be more proactive, he insisted, adding that Labour would give more power to the price control agency.