Editorial: The Prime Minister has no clothes

There are only two ways to react to the Prime Minister’s statement last Thursday, when he announced the retention of Konrad Mizzi in his Cabinet and Keith Schembri as his chief of staff: you either take him at his word or you don’t. Either way you look at it though, Joseph Muscat has become a problem for the country. Ever since Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri were caught in possession of companies in Panama, that opaque jurisdiction chosen by tax evaders and money launderers to conceal ill-begotten gains, there has been a clamour for them to resign or be sacked. Whether or not they have done anything illegal, this was widely seen as the only avenue open to the Prime Minister if he was to preserve some political respectability. Instead, he has appointed Dr Mizzi as a minister without portfolio, but still in charge of energy projects, and he has done absolutely nothing in regard to Mr Schembri, citing personal confidence in his chief of staff. So let us suspend disbelief for a moment and take the view that Dr Muscat honestly believes these decisions are in the best interests of justice and the country, as he put it; and that he was totally genuine in his assertion that his demotion of Dr...