New cabinet meets for the first time following election win
The new cabinet features 21 ministers and two parliamentary secretaries
Prime Minister Robert Abela’s new cabinet has met for the first time since the general election.
The new cabinet of 21 ministers and two parliamentary secretaries was revealed last week.
The new team is made up of familiar faces, with all having previous experience as a minister or parliamentary secretary, but many have been given new roles.
Abela’s cabinet for this legislature has an additional six ministers, but only a quarter of the number of parliamentary secretaries seen last time.
In a video posted to Facebook, the prime minister can be seen telling cabinet members, “We have the most ambitious manifesto any political movement has ever had. Today we kick off the implementation of that manifesto”.
A large display screen featuring the words, “Electoral manifesto implementation” can be seen at the end of the table.
“We’re going to need one thing; the way we push our people to always be on the ball and tenacious in their work,” Abela told ministers and parliamentary secretaries.
“Our mission now is to make people’s lives easier and better as we promsed in our manifesto. The full manifesto has to be implemented, and we have the ability and the determination to do it.”
The new cabinet was revealed days after the Labour Party’s unprecedented fourth consecutive election win.
Abela’s team – and his confidence in them – featured heavily throughout the election campaign, with the Prime Minister frequently pitting what he described as their proven credibility against PN candidates fielded by Opposition Leader Alex Borg.
During the election campaign, Abela told a Labour mass meeting in Mqabba that he could “deliver on our plan because I have a great team”.