Every political pundit in town, it seems, has given up on grading the quality of the new Samak Cabinet line-up. The reason is clear: it's not the qualifications that count.

Nobody is quite sure whether the prime minister himself had any say in picking the new ministers in the first place. That could be his saving grace, though.

If Samak could "boast" about not having the freedom of choice of his own Council of Ministers, he could then disclaim responsibility for forming another below-par Cabinet.

Remember when he introduced his first team of ministers with the bizarre confession: "It's a bit like an ugly duckling." And he didn't even promise to do any better the next time around.

I have since refused to attach a name to any of his Cabinet members' faces. The reason is simple: they aren't supposed to be "working" ministers. Either they are nominees of some powerful figures within the parties in the coalition government - or they are the "financiers" of the parties. Or if the money men are too shy or overtly disqualified for the job, their stand-ins will be nominated.

And these are the men and women who are supposed to have the necessary brains and ethical standards to lead this country out of its ongoing trials and tribulations.

To be fair though, the premier did try to recruit some non-partisan academics, who are supposed to be among the country's best and brightest. But not only has he failed to get the really good and competent economists, the ones he has managed to lure into the net have shown great reluctance to jump in with both feet.

Virabongsa Ramangkura, the so-called "man for all seasons" in economics, first rejected a ministerial post. He told close friends that former premier Prem Tinsulanonda, with whom he had served as an outstanding economic adviser before, would frown upon his accepting this post. It's no secret that Samak has declared himself a political foe of Gen Prem, who is also president of the Privy Council.

Virabongsa and Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee during an economic seminar.

But for some mysterious reason, Virabongsa was eventually persuaded by Samak to become his chairman of the economic advisory board. But is it going to be smooth sailing?

For one thing, Virabongsa, who holds several executive posts in a number of business concerns, says he won't quit his posts in the private sector. He will not draw a government salary as the PM's chief adviser. And he is working around the requirement for political appointees to declare their assets to the anti-corruption agency.

That's going to be a tricky proposition. Virabongsa will find it difficult to fend off "conflict-of-interest" allegations if he continues to earn salaries, which are known to be substantial, from his private firms while providing advice on economic issues to the government.

Besides, Virabongsa's high-profile position in the government will offer him access to lots of confidential information about high-level government policies which could be seen to benefit his own business interests.

Virabongsa says he sees nothing wrong with his attending Cabinet meetings as the premier's chief economic adviser, because that's what he had done when he held a similar position in the Prem administration. That's not going to go down well with Samak's critics and Virabongsa's detractors.

Virabongsa doesn't have to be reminded, of course, that whether it's in terms of political integrity, personal respectability or ethical standards, Samak is no Prem.

Quite apart from the issue of conflict of interest, the other major question is how Virabongsa and his five-member advisory team could have any impact or make any real difference to the Samak government's performance in resolving the escalating economic malaise.

The advisers don't have any legal authority. Nor do they carry any political clout within the coalition government, in which various factions vie for influence over the formulating of economic policies that will benefit their own coffers and boost their electoral chances in the future. How Virabongsa and his team of advisers can effectively penetrate that wall of political protectionism remains a big question mark.

In the end, Samak's position after the latest Cabinet reshuffle boils down to his sad state of affairs: he now has a new Council of Ministers not of his own choice - and a team of economic advisers he personally chose that can't make any difference in the first place.

And he has nobody else to blame.