We all know that the current government is living through its final days in its present form and that, within days, or perhaps even hours, the President will proceed with a cabinet reshuffle.
Some attribute the impending reshuffle to an effort by the President to enter the final 18 months of his term with a stronger and more effective government team, one that will help him implement commitments and promises that have yet to be fulfilled and improve the problematic image of his domestic governance, particularly given his stated intention to seek re-election in 2028.
If, however, the changes to the cabinet were genuinely aimed at improving government performance, they should have been made some time ago, allowing new ministers sufficient time to produce results. After all, miracles cannot be achieved within 18 months, especially when those 18 months are not entirely free of political distractions.
The changes should also have been sweeping rather than limited in scope, as reports insist they will be.
There should also have been an acknowledgement by the President himself that the results of his administration to date have not met either his own expectations or those of the public.
No such acknowledgement exists.
On the contrary, both the President and his close associates try daily to convince the public that Cyprus is experiencing its own “golden age” under their leadership and that they have transformed the country into a model state admired and envied throughout Europe.
It is therefore obvious that whatever changes are made in the upcoming reshuffle, and whatever changes are not made, will serve exclusively the President's pre-election objectives.
They will not be substantive changes but rather changes, or deliberate non-changes, involving individuals in ways that satisfy political parties and other pressure groups, thereby securing their support for his re-election bid in 2028.
In other words, a President who was elected on promises and commitments that he would remain independent of political parties and other pressure groups is now becoming hostage to precisely those forces, simply to gain a few votes.
The President's hurried acceptance the day before yesterday of DIKO's request for a meeting with the party's secretariat, ahead of the forthcoming cabinet reshuffle and the appointment of members to semi-governmental organisations, demonstrates exactly that.
It shows that Nikos Christodoulides has lost every sense of independence and autonomy as President of the Republic and has instead become captive to potential supporters of his re-election.
