Manuel Mallia returns to Cabinet, looks forward to 'serve people again'

New competitiveness minister Manuel Malli does not rule out reappointing his former chief of staff Silvio Scerri but indicates he will have new team

File photo: Manuel Mallia, right, was a home affairs minister before being dismissed by the prime minister after refusing to resign following an inquiry.
File photo: Manuel Mallia, right, was a home affairs minister before being dismissed by the prime minister after refusing to resign following an inquiry.

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Newly reinstated minister Manuel Mallia said he is looking ahead at the prospect of once again “serving the people” and said one of his main priorities will be that of having an open dialogue with the Opposition.

Pointing out that he cannot give any guarantees about anyone, Mallia said that he paid for somebody else’s error during his previous stint in Cabinet.

Mallia, who is now responsible for gaming and the maritime industry, said that “in politics you often pay the price for mistakes committed by others.”

Asked whether he felt that the Prime Minister treated him unfairly when he had been asked to step down as home affairs minister following the shooting incident involving his driver in 2014, Mallia said that his situation was different to Konrad Mizzi, who the Prime Minister kept on as a minister without portfolio.

“The two cases are unconnected and ultimately the Cabinet’s composition is the Prime Minister’s prerogative. The Prime Minister is the Primus inter pares and my job is to toe the party and government’s line,” Mallia said minutes after being sworn in as competitiveness minister.

“That’s how democracy has worked for a long time; we’re not reinventing the wheel here.”

Mallia did not rule out reappointing his former chief of staff Silvio Scerri but said that he will probably have a completely new team within his secretariat.

He brushed off Opposition leader Simon Busuttil’s claim that his return to Cabinet was “ridiculous”.

“If Busuttil wants to ridicule a ministerial appointments, then that’s a shortcoming on his part,” he said. “It’s the Prime Minister, not he, who decides on ministerial appointments. We shouldn’t talk in terms of the ridiculous – let’s leave the ridiculous for dramas.”