The new Prime Minister said he had appointed a large Cabinet, 14 ministers plus himself, and in addition eight parliamentary secretaries to avoid having mega ministries. Within that total there is one mega ministry that is headed by newcomer Manuel Mallia. He has a parliamentary secretary to look after Justice. Yet the rest of the portfolio is still big, one reason being that the PM placed in it a number of functions usually looked after by the sitting prime minister, such as the secret service.

Another area which has been irking the public for years is that concerning water and electricity bills

That will leave time to the Prime Minister to attend to the rest of his duties more efficiently. It leaves Minister Mallia with various babies to rock.

The ministry incorporates Home Affairs and Justice which should, ideally, be kept separate, although there have been times when the two areas were under one minister, including that under the outgoing Administration, until quite recently.

Other ministries, though not mega-sized, still have portfolios which are quite sizeable. They place a burden on their ministers to get to grips quickly with their outstanding problems. These problems are not always in the public domain, or at least under public scrutiny.

For instance the minister in charge of transport has inherited a very unenviable situation. Public transport is run by a private company, which still receives a subsidy from the Government. Although it has surpassed the initial criticism about bad service and has settled down considerably well, there are still substantial pockets of dissatisfied passengers whose complaints do not seem to be addressed. The transport authority has not intervened enough, as the regulator, to see to that.

There is also the situation regarding non-resident passengers, who are charged a rate well above that applicable to residents. The company seeks to justify that rate and the outgoing minister and the transport authority backed the company in that regard. Nobody seems to care that the blatant discrimination, because that is what it is, is earning Malta very bad publicity from tourists who resent being fleeced, although one is talking only of a few euros per passenger over the time they are here.

This is a situation which the incoming minister has to tackle, no doubt also under pressure from the Tourism Minister. This situation is well known. What is not well known is that the company is not running according to its expectations. If it is making a profit at all, it is not an adequate return on capital employed. A reduction in its earnings – if rates for non-residents are reduced to the normal rate – will give the company a louder voice in its claim for a higher subsidy from the Government, which may not have been pressed on the outgoing Government but will surely be placed in the lap of the new Government.

Similarly there is little awareness that the subsidy to the company is time-framed. In three years or so, it will end. Unless a fresh subsidy is given, the company will in all probability want to raise rates quite sharply. There will be a public outcry and the new Government will get the blame, unless the expected development is anticipated and countered early.

And so it goes on with the various ministries, not least the Ministry of Finance where the revenue projection, I have good reason to believe, is substantially overstated because of the inclusion of non-sustainable revenue.

Another area which has been irking the public for years is that concerning water and electricity bills. It is not just that the energy tariffs in Malta are very high and thereby a substantial burden on residential and business consumers alike. That was one of the issues affecting the intensity of the result of the general election.

Apart from that is the way the billing for the two utilities is handled. The billing is done by a company set up for this specific purpose. It is called Arms Ltd. Billing is in a mess. Consumers complain daily in the media, about late bills, plus other gripes. That is only the tip of the iceberg. Harrowing stories of lost files and exaggerated estimates are told.

This sector now falls under a minister who, on the face of it, has the leanest portfolio of all. He is responsible ‘only’ for energy and water services.

The leanness is deceptive. The minister, newcomer Konrad Mizzi, is the man who inspired the new Government’s promise to reduce residential energy bills by a quarter. He is responsible to see that the Prime Minister’s commitment to have a new and cheaper energy facility is up and running within two years. If that happens, it will be a remarkable achievement. Minister Mizzi is tasked with ensuring that it does.

The temptation will be for him to concentrate all his energies on that objective. As a minister operating in a politically sensitive sector, he cannot do that. He has to satisfy consumers that tackling the bad service given by Arms Ltd is a parallel priority for him.

He has to get to the root of the problem. Is it due to an inefficient computer system, to inefficient or motivated staff, to a mixture of these various factors? Whatever the reason or reasons proper identification and early remedial action is imperative.

Konrad Mizzi has a lean ministry. He has leaner meat to chew on.