The returning Manuel Mallia is considering appointing new people in his secretariat for competitiveness, a new portfolio he has been given after his sacking as Home Affairs Minister 18 months ago.
Following the swearing-in ceremony, Dr Mallia was asked whether he will be re-appointing his former chief of staff Silvio Scerri to a similar position in his new ministry, with the minister not ruling out the possibility by saying that he has not yet thought about appointing his closest officials. "But the probability is that there will be new people," he said.
When asked whether he feels vindicated to be re-appointed a Minister after he was sacked, Dr Mallia said "No, it's just a matter of the Prime Minister deciding that my place is back in the executive".
Asked whether he has learnt from his mistakes, Dr Mallia said that there is never any guarantee against errors. "What guarantee do you have that you will remain a journalist in the near future?", he said.
He said that when one says "mistakes", in his case they were not his own mistakes, but the mistakes of others which reflected on him. He had been dismissed after he refused to resign in the wake of a shooting incident involving his driver, which the government had initially attempted to cover up.
Dr Mallia reiterated that he "came into politics to serve" and he will continue building on the work of his predecessors to improve on Maltese people's standard of living.
In the spirit of dialogue, the Minister said that he looks forward to working with the members of the opposition in his sector. When asked whether the opposition, who backed his sacking, would want to work with him, he replied, "Why not?"
"Ridicule should be left for the world of comedy", not for decisions of the Prime Minister, Dr Mallia said when asked about the Opposition Leader's description of his new appointment. These, in the end, can only be done by Dr Muscat and Dr Busuttil has no say in them, the Minister said.
Asked about the PM's change of heart with regard to his services as minister, Dr Mallia replied that "The circumstances are completely different and once he took the decision [to sack me], as you know, I still continued to work. I met my constituents every week in different PL club houses to speak to them and help them however I can.
"I remained active because I believe that I was elected to serve my constituents," Dr Mallia said.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/24oLFgT
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