Joseph Muscat starts a new legislature on the wrong foot.
In his first full-scale interview, the Prime Minister said that looking ahead he was keen to show the electorate that certain mistakes committed during his first term would not be repeated. Yet, he has already made two decisions that run diametrically opposite to what most had been expecting in the new legislature.
Dr Muscat has chosen to keep as minister an MP who opened an offshore company in a tax haven. He also kept by his side a chief of staff who is under investigation on suspicion of money laundering and of having received kickbacks in the sale of passports. The chief of staff, Keith Schembri, denies the claims.
These first moves go against the sentiment of at least half the electorate, risking giving rise to justified fears DrMuscat does not mind riding roughshod over those who disagree with his thinking rather than being keen to avoid repeating mistakes.
Even people within the Labour Party had disagreed with Dr Muscat when he chose to keep Konrad Mizzi in his Cabinet and Mr Schembri as his closest aide after the allegations made against them. Keeping both after the election is, at best, a big blunder and, at worst, crass arrogance.
When asked why he had chosen to keep Dr Mizzi, Dr Muscat said that, besides considering his competence, the electorate’s choice had to be respected. Of course, voters elected other candidates too, so it is not that the Prime Minister did not have a choice. Or did he?
After the 2013 election, Dr Mizzi was made energy minister and, later, given the health portfolio too. He lost both in the wake of the Panama Papers, though he still sat on the Cabinet. He should have stepped down – or forced to go – once it emerged he had an offshore company.
Mr Schembri should have stepped aside too, at least until the conclusion of the investigations against him, though the reports by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit are damning enough.
Having said that, Dr Muscat did well to have a mix of new and old faces in the new Cabinet.
It is significant that he decided to give the biggest and certainly one of the toughest ministries to a young politician, Ian Borg, who served as parliamentary secretary for EU funds and 2017 Presidency of the European Council in the previous administration. He is now responsible for transport, the rebuilding of roads, lands, planning and other capital projects. Rehabilitating the road network is a tough job in itself, however, it needs to be done with all the required expertise and efficiency as its present state is simply appalling.
Edward Scicluna, Chris Fearne, Evarist Bartolo and Josè Herrera have been confirmed as finance, health, education and environment ministers respectively. They need to ensure they do not repeat past mistakes and Dr Herrera, particularly, must ensure no more environmental sins are committed.
Michael Farrugia will have to prove himself as Home Affairs Minister, especially in view of criticism levelled at the police, as will Joe Mizzi in his new role of minister responsible for energy and water. Dr Muscat is demanding high standards from his new Cabinet members. Regrettably, his decision to keep Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri sends the wrong message.