The Times’ informed sources have struck again. They have provided an early insight on what the reshuffled cabinet will look like later this week. First off there’s the confirmation that no new faces are expected to be seen so the demi-revolution spurred on by the backbench winter of discontent seems to be destined to remain a media speculation that never came true. Either that or Dr Gonzi feels he can withstand the pressure from the quarters that have reached a boiling point. Some Ministries will get new faces (or returns). Dolores Cristina will return to Social Policy, Giovanna Debono will (for the first time) shift Ministry to Education (and away from Gozo) while Joseph Cassar will be promoted to Health. In J’accuse’s eyes the biggest winners are the Gozitans who, after years of sterling service by Madame Debono, will now find the dynamic Chris Said promoted from Public Dialogue to the island’s ministry. It is not clear whether Said will retain his dialogue post but the informed sources seem to confirm that Said will retain Local Councils within his portfolio – which makes sense in a “subsidiarity” context.
The reshuffle is a result of contingency plans and still has to take into account the vacant seat in parliament. Anyone expecting any signs of change in the GonziPN government is being told that the answer is not in the faces. They chose to shuffle the cards, but its the same pack. So what should we expect from what lies beneath? Lets hope its not just a lot of shuffling of feet. With or without the (very weak) threat of cup-a-soup progressive politics (just add water) PN needs to do some serious soul-searching. Fast.
* Ed’s note: This post was published on 02/09/2010 at 08.48 hours. Timestamp has been changed to allow the I.M.Jack post published earlier to remain as the main article.
