Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1201983
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 JANUARY 2020 OPINION AT first, I thought Chris Fearne was merely throwing a strop. Not attending Robert Abela's inaugural speech as Labour Party leader; conspicuously ab- sent at his swearing-in ceremo- ny as Prime Minister; sending his driver to pick up his be- longings at the Health Minis- try… only to later (somewhat grudgingly) accept to remain part of Robert Abela's Cabi- net… it all looked to me like a classic – albeit understandable – case of 'bad-losership'. But after a week of witness- ing the new Prime Minister in action, I'm beginning to see things from Fearne's point of view. For one thing, Robert Abela seems hell-bent on setting a new world record for the sheer number of U-turns a prime minister can possibly make in his first seven days in office. Let's go over a few of them. Before the election, Robert Ab- ela told us that he saw no need for a Cabinet reshuffle. Three days later, he announced a major shake-up to his team of ministers: replacing three old faces with new ones, promot- ing junior ministers to strategi- cally sensitive portfolios… and above all, pandering to previ- ous criticism by not appointing Chris Cardona – or even talk- ing to Konrad Mizzi, it seems – while moving Owen Bonnici out of the Justice Ministry. Any more of a reshuffle than that, and we would be looking at a whole new deck of cards. And like some of Abela's other public appointments – for in- stance, his chief-of-staff – the changes seem mainly geared towards appeasing critics of the previous administration (you know, the same critics he had side-lined and pooh-poohed until the day of the election). Meanwhile, prior to last Sun- day, Robert Abela had also said that the Venice Commission's proposals should not be adopt- ed "lock, stock and barrel": adding that "there are propos- als which do not make sense for our system… we have to pick and choose what to imple- ment from it." Yet within hours of his ap- pointment as Justice Minister, Edward Zammit Lewis claimed that 'implementing the Venice Commission proposals' was 'top priority' for his govern- ment. And Abela himself said: "A number of recommenda- tions have already been imple- mented and I am committed to continue with the rest. I will not prolong, and we will make the necessary changes in the coming days and weeks…" Elsewhere, Robert Abela had also earned rebuke for his (pre-election) claim that, while 'tolerating' public protests, he viewed the ones organised by Repubblika and Occupy Justice as a form of 'provocation'. Last Thursday, however, he gave his assurance that the wreaths and candles would not be removed from the site of the Daphne Caruana Galizia monthly vigil (as was the policy of the previ- ous administration)… earning brief applause even at the vigil itself. Small wonder Chris Fearne would be so pissed off. Those were all his own promises in the same PL leadership cam- paign; which Robert Abela ended up winning by promis- ing the clean opposite. You could, I suppose, take it as a cautionary tale for politi- cians: always patent your own campaign proposals. For had Fearne been an author instead of a Labour leadership con- tender… he would at least be able to sue Robert Abela for copyright theft. But there are other literary analogies that can be made: like the one I so shameless- ly plagiarised in the headline. It is indeed 'a strange case' to have two such totally anti- thetical human beings rolled up into one Prime Minister: a post that now appears split between 'Dr Robert' – who for the moment seems genuinely concerned with reconciling the differences that we all know ex- ist – and 'Mr Abela': who gave the Labour audience precisely wanted it wanted to hear, for as long as it took to get elected… in other words, who capitalised on those very differences, to achieve power for himself. As with the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novella, it raises the question of how long these opposing alter-egos can conceivably co-exist, before one gets the upper hand. And if the book is anything to go by, the answer is likely to depend on forces beyond either Dr Robert or Mr Abela's control. For the moment, however, it must be said that the transfor- mation has worked spectacu- larly to Dr Robert's advantage. So far, the unexpected volte- face appears to have success- fully disarmed (or at least sur- prised) all but his most ardent critics: including some who had very recently endorsed a street graffito comparing the new prime minister to 'canine excrement'. (Which reminds me: Repub- blika's open letter to Robert Abela this week should really have started with the words: 'Dear Dogshit'… if nothing else, it would have got his at- tention right away.) Naturally, this doesn't mean there is nothing left to com- plain about: for while some of their demands have been met (e.g., the removal of Police Commissioner Lawrence Cuta- jar), others (e.g., the Attor- Raphael Vassallo The strange case of Dr Robert and Mr Abela We may be facing a situation whereby Dr Robert and Mr Abela keep simply alternating between roles, indefinitely, depending on the circumstances of the day