By the rivers of Babylon

To anyone who watched Bondi+ even once before the last election, there was something surreal about the atmosphere on tonight’s episode (special guest star: Joseph Muscat).

Predictably, gone was the aggressive questioning style that Lou Bondi normally reserves for ‘antagonistic’ guests. Even his questions sounded more like prompts for a very well-prepared Prime Minister to elaborate on a number of very specific projects – for instance: land reclamation, cruise liner terminals in Gozo, different uses for the new parliament building, and many more. And rarely, if ever, was Muscat pressed on any aspect of his replies.

Like his tie, it would seem the talk show host’s demeanor has also faded to a pretty shade of pink. And the reason for this change was not long in being identified.

Fielding his first question, Muscat claimed his biggest satisfaction was that the cataclysmic disasters “so many had predicted” had failed to materialise.

“There were people who said there would be mayhem in the streets if Labour won,” he pointedly told the journalist, who had claimed he would be personally targeted by an attack on the eve of the election.

Later, Muscat shrugged off an apparent dip in his own popularity, registered in our polls, by pointing towards some unpopular decisions he had taken in his first 100 days. “Some people grumble because I appoint Jason Micallef,  some people complain because I appoint Lou Bondi to a board of national festivities...”

As for the rest, most of the substance was rooted firmly in disasters of another kind: namely the mess (“a Babylon”, as Muscat repeatedly described it with specific reference to the healthcare service) left for the incoming government by its immediate predecessor.

Muscat’s biggest shock, he said, was not the state of the economy (on this front they had come prepared for the worst) but the institutional bureacracy which weighs government down at every turn.

“I am not satisfied with the situiation. There is a sense of frustration... for example, I took a decision the other day which I thought was small, and once I pushed the button, I thought: OK, this is when things should start happening.”

But nothing happened – and Muscat points towards a ‘scary’ level of bureacracy that affects not just government, but everyone who comes into contact with any government department.

On health in particular, he was scathing. “This is where I was shocked the most. It’s Babylon. The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing...” Outlining that each hospital adhered to a different system, and none had an inventory of items or an audit trail (“maximum outlook: tomorrow or the day after"), he identified three areas to be addressed with urgency: out-of-stock medicines; primary healthcare; and the emergency ward at Mater Dei.

But while the procedures will be revised in all those departments, Muscat stressed that there would be no layoffs and that the health service will remain free.

Inevitably, Muscat was asked about Franco Mercieca – and Bondi compared the case to that of Tonio Fenech’s antique Maltese clock (but not, curiously, his flight to Spain, or works on his residence, etc). Whose was the more serious breach of ethics?

“Tonio Fenech’s, undoubtedly,” came the lightning reply... for unlike Mercieca, Fenech never had a waiver to allow him any leeway.

This provided a cue for Muscat to outline his plans for a reform of the Ethics Code (which was "written before people had mobiles and internet”) and to come up with one that was clearer and more concise.

Back on the subject of controversial appointments, Bondi asked whether the prime mInister’s decision to offer former Commissioner John Dalli a post could be construed as a provocation aimed at Commission president Barroso, who has stood by Dalli’s forced resignation.

Muscat replied by indulging in a little nationalism.  “One, this country is governed by us Maltese, not by the Commission. Two, I believe the Commission’s decision is not based on the person concerned. But whatever the Commission’s reason, when I saw that the police Commissioner, after months of investigating in full independence, concluded that there was no case against him, we decided to use the capabilities of John Dalli.”

Stressing that he “was not Dalli’s lawyer” (“nor I his prosecutor” - Lou) Muscat added: “If the police commissioner and the attorney general tell me there is no case... this is my country, and we are ‘Europeanist’ [he used the word a lot] but we will not take a diktat from Brussels.”

Later, Muscat would return to the European theme for a frank admission that his party had suffered on account of the European referendum campaign. “It was traumatic for us. But it was thanks to this trauma that we rediscovered our identity, the cause for which our movement was founded.”

This identity, rooted in ‘European values’, is manifested in a commitment to guarantee equality and civil liberties for all: and Muscat cited the transgender identity bill, civil unions legislation and the end of the concordat with the Vatican governing marriage laws as examples that he has already implemented.

For a large segment of the programme, Muscat was given free roam to repeat and elaborate on various electoral promises: we were reminded that tablets would be given out to year fours, in what was a straight deja-vu from three months ago. And, strangely, after his rousing defence of la patria against foreign interference by the Commission,  Muscat also reported that the Commission was well pleased with his own plan to introduce childcare centres.

But apart from the healthcare sector and its many horrors, little that was said about Muscat’s first 100 days was actually new. We did, however, learn that government is considering leasing out the Renzo Piano parliament building for public use. We also discovered that the ‘idea’ for a roofless theatre was actually down to lack of funds: Piano personally told Muscat he had been briefed to build a parliament, and used the leftovers for the theatre when the plans were changed.

Asked about his relations with new PN leader Simon Busuttil, Muscat noticeably changed his verb tense to the conditional future: ‘hoping’ that there would be good relations, while voicing his personal opinion that Busuttil has so far adopted an aggressive, arrogant style of Opposition designed to appeal to the hardcore elements within the party.

Sticking vigorously to the line that his party is still the underdog, despite controlling a majority of none seats in parliament, Muscat played down the PL’s chances in next year’s European election.

On the other hand, he expects the PN to to do better now that it is opposition. “The PN never won its third seat because these elections always came after disastrous issues for government. I expect my government will be judged by some people on some things. We will be the underdogs again...”