Let us, for a moment, transport ourselves to a time when Lawrence Gonzi had just won the 2008 election with a one-seat majority, a government already flavoured by dissidents and independent opinionists, ready to grab Gonzi by the throat.

Let us, for a moment, transpose this picture to the first week of a new Labour government.

Day 2. All permanent secretaries have been asked to hand in their resignation by 3pm of that same day. No, not because they were charged with treason but because the Labour Party has a whopping majority and they are already feeling they can do whatever comes to mind.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat recently said that asking for a resignation does not mean accepting it. True, but that’s what they did except in the case of two of the permanent secretaries.

The role of a permanent secretary was created specifically to be non-political and to act as a bridge between governments. Who cares! This new Government is all about meritocracy. I am not sure on what merits, however.

Day 3. The new ministers take their oath of office. Some people in the street asked me what one or two of the parliamentary secretaries would be doing because they could not make head or tail of their title. My God! Everyone knew we were going to have a big Cabinet but not one of epic proportions. Wow! The expenditure is unbelievable, a staggering €92 million over five years.

Wonder of wonders, it had to be the Nationalist Party that mentioned the unbelievable decision by Muscat to get justice and home affairs under one ministry. Gonzi was slaughtered by all and sundry because of such a decision.

As they say, times change. I can’t believe how fast, though. People were ready to go to the streets because of that decision, smudging Carm Mifsud Bonnici and Gonzi on the way. Where are all these people today?

What baffles me is seeing Muscat trying to justify it. I mean, in one of the largest Cabinets in history, why couldn’t Owen Bonnici become Minister of Justice rather than parliamentary secretary?

Day 4. After five years in opposition, never ever mentioning the need to revise the code of ethics of ministers and parliamentary secretaries, as a good opposition would have done, Muscat asks for a revision of the code.

Did the new Prime Minister forget that they tortured a former Nationalist parliamentary secretary in 2007 simply because he was caught on camera walking in his professional office?

Could this be one way whereby the Prime Minister would be appeasing his professional ministers/parliamentary secretaries to get an increase in remuneration? What about cutting down on conflicts of interest and maintaining just and fair ethical boundaries. Was this only Gonzi’s dream?

Day 5. On TVM’s Dissett, Muscat admits that, on checking, he did confirm that all ministers and parliamentary secretaries in the 2008-2013 Legislature had, in fact, paid back the €500 increase in honoraria. Manipulation of facts is an unfortunate reality in the political arena. Indeed, it turned out to be all about perception and not about reality.

I wanted to end this brief exercise with a note on health. It has been a great pleasure for me to work in this sphere. Patients and staff have always been and will remain close to my heart.

I wish the new minister well and trust that he will continue to build upon our successes.

At this point, I must, however, make an observation about something that baffled me somewhat. The minister decided to set up office in the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department.

That a minister has an office in the hospital is a known practice. I myself had an office at Mater Dei Hospital. Mine was, as per practice, within the administration section, considering that a minister is there to set policy and strategy and not to run a hospital on a day-to-day basis.

I wonder what message the minister wanted to transmit by setting up office in the A&E. If one trusts one’s management team, an office there would, obviously, not be required. Are we transmitting a message reminiscent of the 1980s?

The other thing that got me thinking is that, on TVAM, the new minister seemed to think he was still in opposition. I hope he is fully aware that Labour’s constant five-year badgering of the previous government led to a massive Labour victory and a mandate to govern for five years. Continuing to criticise the previous Administration will not win Labour more votes now.

As to the allegation of someone intentionally hiding 1,000 referral forms since November, my recommendation is to check with the hospital CEO. He would surely confirm that, last year, an exercise was set in motion to check each and every appointment for 2014 and try one’s very best to give an earlier appointment. This exercise was taking place successfully.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank from the bottom of my heart all voters in the seventh and 11th district who expressed confidence in me and elected me to the House of Representatives. I promise them that I will do whatever it takes to be their voice in Parliament on the Opposition benches.

Joseph Cassar is the former Minister of Health.