Watching Konrad Mizzi being interviewed on TVM’s Dissett recently, I couldn’t help saying to myself “there goes a technocrat as yet unspoiled by politics – a welcome change from the conventional stuffy politicos whose sincerity doesn’t always come over clearly to viewers”.

Mizzi was truly on top of his ministerial job. Well prepared with copious notes for reference, the minister fielded every searing question promptly, succintly and directly, totally devoid of any political slant, despite the unusually frequent mid-sentence interruptions from the interviewer. I reckon the latter must have absorbed almost half the allotted time. Not a word of protest from the interviewee.

Why was it necessary for such a competent young man to have to go the whole political hog in order to head such a ministry?

Perhaps the Law Commissioner might be thinking along the lines of reducing the size of our House of Representatives, as well as the Cabinet, but allowing for the appointment of one or two technocrats of Mizzi’s calibre.

As I personally see it, the main reason why the average politician in Malta doesn’t enjoy the esteem they deserve is the abundance of lawyers: in public, sadly, they speak and act as if they are in the court room.