Another patch on another hole

It’s that time of the year again. In the boring and cold first months, the Prime Minister decides to change his ways. Well, “decides” is the wrong choice of word; “he is made” is more appropriate. As in the previous new year and the one before it, Dr Gonzi had to backtrack on a matter he had hitherto been very adamant on. And it is not changing tack as in admitting a mistake. That would be a show of leadership and humility, which are both commendable. But it was a situation whereby he painted himself into a corner, and since one wouldn’t want to stay there forever, had no choice but to change course.

In early 2009 we saw the Prime Minister with his back to the wall on the issue of the St John’s Co-Cathedral project. Only when he knew he would be losing a vote in Parliament did he give in. As is his wont, he would not admit doing this so that he would not face defeat in Parliament but, instead, he had notoriously announced the reason he was going in reverse is that the issue was “dividing the people”. In fact, it was his parliamentary group which was split on this.

The start of 2010 gave us another priministerial volte-face. This time on providing legal assistance to suspects under interrogation. Although the provision had been featuring in the Criminal Code for many years, the legal notice necessary to enforce it had not been issued. After years of government skirting this issue, the Labour Party gave notice of a parliamentary motion calling for the said legal notice.

It was when the Prime Minister realised the opposition’s motion may pass – since government MPs were also criticising their own Cabinet on the procrastination – that the legal notice was published.

The Prime Minister had famously said then that “we had no plans not to issue the legal notice”, to which I had commented here on how the double negative tells us a lot about the Prime Minister's crumbling confidence.

Which brings me to last Wednesday, when the Prime Minister stuck to his new year tradition of back-pedalling for convenience, as opposed to conviction.

In spite of what the Labour Party and a lot of people have been saying and writing with regard to raised ministerial salaries, the Prime Minister wasn’t giving a hoot and stuck to his guns defending his Cabinet’s actions. It was only when he got wind of a possible motion from the opposition to repeal the raise and that, possibly, one (I would say two) of his own would vote with the opposition on the matter, that the Prime Minister budged. Even though, in essence, he didn’t change much, but, at least, the fact that there’s a problem was acknowledged. Not with regard the double salaries though.

Again, as I had commented on the previous roundabout turns, admitting to a mistake and changing tack where necessary are a sign that one is ready to listen, learn and change but in the case of our Prime Minister, it is none of the above. In all three instances, the Prime Minister’s detour occurred because there was the threat of losing a parliamentary vote and, thus, the only motivation was the apprehension of such an occurrence.

The same happened when the Prime Minister’s advisors came up with the idea of parliamentary assistants as a compromise with dissenting members. The noises of disgruntlement from his backbenches made him insecure, so he simply took the advice of throwing money at the problem and gave his MPs an extra pay packet. Jean-Pierre Farrugia did not accept this and was thus in a position to call the shots – from the government side – on the remuneration issue.

If the foregoing didn’t have repercussions on people’s lives, it would easily be written off as slapstick stuff and one would merely stand by with arms crossed and watch the government trip and fall on its face.

But a responsible opposition speaks out for an electorate which is hearing precious nothing from the government that echoes its vulnerability and its daily struggle to make ends meet. Statistics and house visits show us there are those being hit disproportionately hard by steep price rises on staples like food and energy. Still, no solutions are in sight from the government. Instead of new policies, we have an inert Cabinet – except when it came to its own pay rise – and the Prime Minister’s bickering while trying to patch over another hole in his sinking ship.

Dr Dalli is shadow minister for the public service and government investment.