Hitting the ground running…

Home Affairs/Justice

Few of the current cabinet members have inherited larger and more pressing problems from the preceding administration than Home Affairs (and National Security) Minister Manuel Mallia; and arguably none has had to face such high expectations of speedy delivery.

In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to state that most of the former government's problems, culminating in its landslide defeat at the polls last March, could trace their origins to shortcomings deeply embedded within the judicial system as a whole.

The entire showdown between former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi and maverick backbencher Franco Debono, for instance, had begun with the latter's calls for an overhaul of the judicial and penal systems: calls which were echoed separately by the European Commission, the Council of Europe and elsewhere.

It is therefore unsurprising that the incoming government would make the same reform its number one priority, as both Mallia (responsible for home affairs) and parliamentary secretary Owen Bonnici (Justice) have done in their first 100 days in office. And while some of their decisions have elicited sharp criticism - not least, the surprise amnesty which resulted in the premature and (almost) indiscriminate release of many inmates from the Corradino Correctional Facility - the energy and drive with which this thorny portfolio is currently being administered has so far been little short of remarkable.

In its first three months, the Labour administration has already embarked on a thorough and ambitious reform of the prison system - which had been woefully neglected in preceding years, of not decades - and has also commissioned an exhaustive report into the many glaring problems afflicting the administration of justice at all levels.

In both cases, the results were consequential in the extreme. Among Mallia's first initiatives as the minister responsible for prisons was to pay a surprise visit to CCF where he found that several warders had acquired the habit of ignoring the punch-clock altogether, and had made it a habit to absent themselves from duty for long stretches at a time.

As a result of this and other embarrassing revelations, prison director Abraham Zammit handed in his resignation with immediate effect.

Mallia's response was to announce a forthcoming revision of the entire management structure. Zammit has since been temporarily replaced, but preparations are under way to split the position of prison director into two separate posts: one, to be filled by a retired police officer, would be responsible for the basic administration and disciplinary matters; a second directorate will also be created to manage the hitherto unaddressed issue of correctional programmes for inmates.

Indications are that this secondary administrative position will most likely be filled by a foreign expert, as Malta at present lacks personnel with the necessary qualifications.

Meanwhile, other problems that had been allowed to fester at CCF under the previous administration - for instance, barefaced daylight robbery at the prison tuck-shop, which amounted to exploitation of people who had no choice but to pay grossly inflated prices for essential items - have already been addressed.

Naturally, reforming such a sensitive area comes complete with its own risks. As a former (very prominent) criminal lawyer, Mallia has been heavily criticised for implementing an amnesty that may have directly benefited his own former clients. The minister immediately rebutted accusations of having used his position to favour his own former clients; but this perception was not at all helped by the way he was greeted by inmates within CCF itself on a much-publicised recent visit to the facility.

In footage aired on national TV, many prison inmates were seen embracing Mallia or patting him on the back in a very clear expression of familiarity. Chants of "Malta taghna lkoll!" (the Labour party's electoral motto) likewise added to the general impression that the amnesty may have served more of a political than an administrative purpose.

Still, the speed with which the new administration has tackled (or tied to tackle) many of the systemic problems that had been ignored for so long stands in sharp contrast with the astonishing laissez-faire attitude of Mallia's immediate predecessors, who had studiously avoided repeated calls for a reform of the system despite sustained pressure by human rights watchdogs and the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Degrading Treatment.

Justice

A similar hands-on approach has so far been adopted by junior minister Owen Bonnici with regard to the far weightier problems engulfing the law-courts. Here, the problems run far too deep to be resolved by simple administrative changes here and there. Bonnici's first action was to establish a commission for judicial reform, headed by retried European Court judge Giovanni Bonello, to identify key problems and to draw up a framework for a national discussion on the issue.

Again, the speed with which this initiative unfolded was impressive. In less than three months, the justice commission published a preliminary report containing no fewer than 136 proposals - including some fairly radical structural and systemic changes that would (among other things) keep the judiciary at an arm's length from the executive arm of government - which, under the present system, gets to pick and choose magistrates and judges in apparent defiance of the principle of the independence of the judiciary.

By far the most consistent complaint concerning the administration of justice in Malta is the often outrageous duration of judicial proceedings. Some ongoing cases have taken more than 30 years, with no closure anywhere in sight. It has since been revealed that the backlog of pending cases would require eight whole years to be reduced to zero... but only if no new cases were brought before the courts in the meantime. In reality, however, new cases are filed at a marginally higher rate than old ones are concluded... as a result, this already unwieldy backlog is constantly growing.

The Justice Reform Commission has adopted a multi-pronged approach to this problem; taking on board individual suggestions that aim to further decentralise the court system, speed up current cases and reduce the number of vexatious proceedings initiated before the courts in future.

But the system itself may prove recalcitrant to change. The immediate response of the Chief Justice Dr Silvio Camilleri - himself a former attorney general (and government legal advisor) appointed to the post directly by a minister - responded with a complaint that the judiciary had not been consulted on changes that would have a direct and far-reaching effect on their own profession. This in turn elicited a response along the lines that the consultation process had yet to begin, and that the judiciary will be given an opportunity to participate fully in the discussion.

Still, from the initial sparks it would appear that both the prison and justice reform are likely to be met with fierce resistance from an establishment which has already indicated it prefers to maintain the status quo.

Health

Delays of the kind that have hamstrung the justice system are by no means limited to the law-courts alone. Similar systemic problems at Mater Dei had also dominated the election campaign: with Labour coming into power on the strength of a promise to radically reduce waiting lists and addressing issues such as bed space shortage at Mater Dei.

Newly appointed Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia certainly started his term with a bang: in fact he had barely taken his oath when he announced that he would be setting up an office in the emergency department at Mater Dei: thus putting on display his government's credentials as a (literally) hands-on administration.

But things didn't immediately go according to plan. For one thing, the manoeuvre was viewed as a case of somewhat excessive government interference in the operational management of what is ultimately a medical institution.

Moreover, doubts were raised (among others, by the Medical Association of Malta) as to whether the presence of a minister in casualty would have any impact at all on the efficiency of the department - given that the cause of the bottleneck at the emergency ward can usually be traced to the scarcity of primary healthcare services to act as a buffer-zone; and specific problems in other hospitals, among them St Vincent de Paul (which falls under a separate ministry).

Notwithstanding these and other reservations, Farrugia is widely regarded as one of the more pro-active members in Muscat's Cabinet. In a sense this was inevitable given the sheer extent of the management crisis he encountered upon assuming the role.

Within days of his appointment, he announced that his ministry was suffering from a €63 million deficit; and no sooner did he open his office inside Mater Dei that he found 1,000 referral applications for appointments in 2014 which had not yet even been issued yet.

But this was not the only surprise announcement associated with this particular ministry. Journalists attending a press conference at the health ministry were surprised to see two government MPs (only one of whom was the relevant minister) speaking on behalf of the ministry; whereupon it transpired that Labour MP Marlene Farrugia - the minister's partner - had taken the unorthodox initiative to enroll as a voluntary assistant within the health sector. 

Although technically there was nothing immediately wrong with the appointments coming so soon after a campaign built on the back of nepotism charges leveled at the outgoing PN government, reactions to this seemingly family arrangement did not go down well with the wider public: especially when government came out with two conflicting justifications for this state of affairs (according to which, Prime Minister Muscat would have asked Marlene Farrugia to assume a role he later claimed he new nothing about).

In the end, damage was greatly limited by Ms Farrugia's lightning decision to step down as voluntary assistant to her partner the minister. Ultimately, then, the incident now appears only as a minor glitch in an otherwise functional ministry.

Social Policy

Of all ministerial portfolios on offer, this particular one appears to have special resonance among Nationalist and Labour parties alike. With both sides of the house setting much store on their 'Christian democrat' and 'Socialist' credentials respectively, care for the elderly and underprivileged has always featured prominently in Malta's general political rhetoric. Traditionally, the social affairs portfolio has been the preserve of party heavyweights such as former PM Lawrence Gonzi and Dolores Cristina; as such, the decision to award the ministry to Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca - considered by many to be a stalwart of the 'old left' - was widely applauded when Muscat unveiled his Cabinet three months ago.

Nonetheless, it was the same ministry that has arguably caused the greatest headaches for government; namely after it transpired that some 70 transfers had been effected among the nursing staff at St Vincent de Paul hospital for the elderly.

Again, this appeared at a glance to immediately contradict the Labour Party's promise of 'meritocracy': government found itself on the back foot, fielding accusations of the same political 'vindictiveness' that is still strongly associated with the all-but-forgotten era of Dom Mintoff: only on this occasion, the ministry also had to respond to charges of insensitivity as a ward reserved for dementia patients was transformed into the battle-ground for an unsightly exchange of political blows.

The problem remains technically unresolved to this day, with industrial action directives issued by the nurses' union still in force. But even this sensitive issue simply pales into insignificance compared to the unexpected dilemma posed by parliamentary Franco Mercieca to his prime minister.

Unlike health minister Godfrey Farrugia (and other Cabinet members who had to forego lucrative private practices to take up their executive roles) it emerged that Mercieca - one of only two specialist ophthalmic surgeons on the island - was still seeing private patients in violation of the code of ethics.

This was especially embarrassing for Joseph Muscat, as the Labour Party had made enormous political capital out of the previous administration's rather cavalier attitude towards the same ethics code. Muscat responded by issuing what he called a 'limited waiver' in Mercieca's case - an unsatisfactory solution to begin with, as we were never told why the concept of a limited waiver should not also have applied to, say, former finance minister Tonio Fenech - but in any case, Mercieca would go on to ignore even this 'limited waiver', and continue with his practice despite the very public embarrassment this caused his PM.

The opposition naturally seized on Muscat's apparent indecision to launch a fierce counter-attack - pouring scorn on the Labour Party's earlier motto, 'Malta Taghna Lkoll'; and while Muscat has so far resisted calls to remove Mercieca from office altogether, it remains a fact that the junior minister has openly exposed his prime minister's apparent lack of control over his own subordinates. 

Other ministries at a glance

Civil liberties - This previously unheard-of Cabinet portfolio numbers among the most active of the lot to date. Entrusted to Helena Dalli, it was arguably the first off the block to announce any significant changes to the status quo after the 9 March election: when Dalli addressed a press conference to announce that an out-of-court settlement had been reached with Joanne Cassar (a transgender individual who had been previously been denied the right to marry on grounds of her sexuality), and that the law would be changed to remove the anomaly from the statute books.

Economy and small business - Unlike previous administrations, Muscat took the initiative to split the finance and economy ministry into two: assigning the micro-management to Chris Cardona/Edward Zammit Lewis, while leaving veteran economist Edward Scicluna to handle the macro side of things. The move displayed a certain foresight, as Scicluna's ministry was almost immediately overtaken by the announcement of Excessive Deficit Procedures imposed by Commission in view of a projected breach of the growth and stability pact.

This left Cardona and Zammit Lewis to handle other less immediately cataclysmic aspects of Malta's economy: and so far this second ministry has proved to be among the more active: its top priorities having been a reform of the 'Global Residence Programme' aimed at attracting wealthy foreigners to domicile in Malta; while commissioning a much-needed national strategy on the digital economy.