Ahli Guz.

And as I said before this is still the tip of the iceberg. If you add to this the direct costs linked with having these ministries and parliamentary secretariats you will find many more millions.

Now I’m not against having ministries and well-paid ministers – on the contrary. But I am against the dishonesty in using the increase in the ministerial salaries as a cavallo di battaglia and then increase the bill by Eur 32 million.

We must not forget that the single most important function of the private secretariats of ministers and parliamentary secretaries is what is termed “customer care”. Basically it’s all about serving constituents of that particular cabinet member with anything ranging from the smallest of favours to finding jobs, housing and jumping the queue in hospital. Essentially it is exactly what the previous government of Lawrence Gonzi notoriously sucked at.

With such a huge army of cronies financed by the public coffers (averaging 30 per district) working to keep whoever voted Labour happy for the next five years, Joseph Muscat is already laying the foundations of his victory in the next election.

I call it “Il-politika tal-pjaċiri” and it can have a devastating effect on the result of an election in Malta because we are so tiny. It is what had almost kept Labour in power in 1987 in spite of the rampant corruption, unemployment, failed economy and political murders that took place in the preceding five years. It is also what the Nationalists have foolishly been trying to change since 2003.

Frankly, I believe that with this, Joseph Muscat will be able to pull off the next election quite easily even if he manages to ravage the economy and delivers none of the promises he made in the electoral manifesto.

This is what Lawrence Gonzi had been warning about throughout the campaign and no-one took seriously. It’s the collective personal interest of the few outweighing the general interest of an entire country.

Tghid incemplu lill Joe Cordina u nitolbuh jaghmel kalkolu ezatt?

Mhux ha nfittxu x-xahra fl-ghagina ghal xi dfferenza ta 8 miljuni, bejn wiehed u iehor, le?

The last government WAS aiming for a balanced budget by 2015. This government (Joseph) actually stated that he cannot guarantee a balanced budget in the short term.

This large Cabinet cost alone, proves it.

Issa ser ikun hemm Eur32 miljun inqas ghar-rohs tad-dawl u l-ilma.

Less services, broken promises and higher taxes on the way.

And what about all that hot air because Internal Affairs and Justice were one ministry and now the same has happened?

This has to be the comment of the whole legislature.

Cheap Labour.

[Daphne – I’ve given the figures from The Times report. I did not go into them myself.]

Joseph told journalists that the increase has to be seen in terms of ‘value for money’.