As the Cabinet grows leaner, some ministries are getting fatter. Will this really help to keep government in focus? Or will ministers with too much on their plate pick and choose, consigning important issues to the sidelines? JAMES DEBONO analyses the effect of last week’s reshuffle on ministerial portfolios
The third Gonzi cabinet includes two ‘super-ministries’: one combining social policy and education, and the other combining finances with the energy infrastructure.
Both super ministries will have a great bearing on the government’s policy goal of turning Malta into a centre of excellence by 2015.
Dolores Cristina not only has kept Education, but has also reclaimed the social policy ministry, a post she occupied before the 2008 election while giving up the culture portfolio, which has now been transferred to parliamentary secretary Mario De Marco.
Cristina will be presiding over a major educational reform, which will see the more inclusive educational colleges replacing a deeply streamed educational system.
As social policy minister, Cristina will have to address growing poverty and welfare dependence in those parts of Malta which also register high rates of school failure.
It also remains to be seen whether the government intends to embark on the next stage of pension reform through the introduction of the second pillar – a compulsory new insurance system to supplement normal pensions – and whether this is advisable in the current economic climate.
Her predecessor (another ‘super minister’) John Dalli was too preoccupied with tackling waiting lists and implementing a long due rent reform to even start addressing this issue.
Although Cristina has a lot on her plate, she is only assisted by one parliamentary secretary: Clyde Puli, whose portfolio is restricted to sports and youth.
Finance Minister Tonio Fenech will not only have the task of restraining the spending of all the other Ministers, but will have to handle the hottest potato of all; the utility bills controversy which has blighted successive Gonzi administrations since 2004.
Fenech will also the added responsibility of meeting Malta’s energy deadlines which include the closure of the Marsa power station, the building of the new Delimara power station and the development of the energy cable to Sicily.
Since the new Delimara power station extension will produce less energy than the one at Marsa, Malta will face a power shut down if the cable linking Malta to Sicily is not developed by 2015.
Fenech will also have to restore confidence in Enemalta’s environmental credentials while ensuring the timely disposal of the 7,000 to 10,000 tones of toxic waste which will result from the use of heavy fuel oil at Delimara.
Despite the major challenges facing Fenech’s ministry, he is assisted only by parliamentary secretary Jason Azzopardi, whose responsibilities include governments lands and small businesses: an interesting combination, considering that the government intends to reform the way government land has been leased to businesses in commercial areas like Valletta. Azzopardi’s role will be even more significant considering that revenue from government lands will be used to fund the new city gate project.
While Fenech’s load has been drastically increased, Austin Gatt – relieved of Enemalta – will have more energy to dedicate on infrastructure and the public transport reform.
Significantly, the two parliamentary secretaries operating within the Office of the Prime Minister have wide-ranging responsibilities to an extent that may well be described as being ministries in everything but name.
As Parliamentary Secretary for Consumers, Fair Competition, Local Councils and Public Dialogue, Chris Said finds himself confronting the top concern of the Maltese: the cost of living, while also directing the government’s communications strategy.
And Mario De Marco’s portfolio includes three sectors, namely the Environment, Tourism and Culture, which at some point or another had a minister responsible for each one of them.
Yet the success of any government, irrespective of its size, depends on the leadership skills of its Prime Minister. The setting up of a strategy unit in the Office of the Prime Minister, which will include Mepa strategic unit on land use and a unit on research and innovation, could help. But this is no substitute for the Prime Minister’s own hands-on approach to government and his ability to ensure serenity for the cabinet by keeping his parliamentary majority intact.
Lean governments are not a new thing in Maltese history. Both Dom Mintoff in 1971 and Eddie Fenech Adami in 1987 led governments composed of fewer than nine ministers while presiding over single-seat majorities.
Both governments were among the most successful in Maltese history, to the extent that both won re-election while managing to reform the country.
Yet unlike the present government, which is a continuation of nearly two decades of Nationalist rule, these two governments represented a definitive break with the past.
They also included a young generation which was eager to govern after cutting its teeth in Opposition.
On the other hand, the present crop of Ministers reached political maturity while comfortably serving on the government benches, with most of them lacking a memory of a Labour government except for the small interlude between 1996 and 1998.
Leaner governments clearly work but only when the leadership has a clear sense of direction.
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