A party worth fighting for

A survey found that 75 per cent of the Maltese are dissatisfied with the way the government is running the country. It comforts me to know that the comments I made a few days before are shared by others.

A member of the executive committee of the Nationalist Party's youth organisation, Frank Psaila, castigated me in this newspaper for being so open and for having pointed a finger at those who made the decision to pull out PN candidates from the Zejtun and Marsa local council elections. He implied that the whole party was behind this decision.

Mr Psaila was five when I was in Tal-Barrani with other campaigners and supporters of Guido de Marco. There I inhaled tear gas and was confronted by Labour thugs and police officers who still serve until this day. But it was the only way to win back freedom for this country, for Mr Psaila and his peers to enjoy!

It is understandable that Mr Psaila's priority is economic well-being now that democracy is guaranteed. But we Nationalists who fought for democracy still put democracy at the top of our priority list. That is why we are scandalised when those who are running the party today take such sacrilegious decisions against democracy.

I am proud to have worked closely with great men who have offered sterling years of service to their party and country; Prof. de Marco, John Dalli and Eddie Fenech Adami. I am a Nationalist because I have seen what it means to believe in what one preaches and I have suffered for my beliefs. However, what bothers me is the naïve manner in which Mr Psaila portrays decision-making in the PN today. I wonder if, like me, he fears that the party may not be tolerant of the opinions of individuals such as myself. I am not a yes man. And only yes men move from the ground floor to the second floor. The others are kicked outside!

The decision to withdraw from Zejtun and Marsa was taken, according to a public statement by secretary general Joe Saliba, by a strategy group. And for Mr Saliba it was a wise decision.

The truth is that if the PN went for elections in these two Labour strongholds, Labour would have won by about 5,000 votes in the two localities! I can understand that Mr Saliba would not have wanted such a shocking result at a time when he will be seeking re-election as general secretary. For him it could have been a good decision. But for the party it is a sacrilege.

Can Mr Psaila tell me who decided to set up the strategy group? Who are its members? Are they the same people who led the party to a humiliating defeat in the EU parliamentary election last June?

It is unacceptable to us Nationalists that a game of numbers and figures should prevail over the simple rules governing democracy.

There is a general feeling that the PN is out of touch and the party administration strives to ensure the re-election of the same officials in a bid to tighten its stranglehold on the party.

I have no other forum where to voice my opinion other than this newspaper and my fate within the PN in the immediate future is sealed. There are already names being whispered in the ears of PN councillors on who to vote for. I wonder whether the councillors will follow blindly these exhortations or will think about what is happening to my party and what future my party has if it continues in this way?

I would rather speak my mind now than when it is too late.

The outcome of the next election will not be determined by what I say but a decision to ignore the local council elections result, minimise its importance and not hold anyone accountable will be a grave mistake.

If we are a democratic party that does not only hope to win an election in three years' time, we must ask ourselves why two consecutive electoral tests led to a massive decline in support for the PN.

If an individual or some strategy group blames it on the electorate and find no one culpable then I am sure this party will only spiral into a downward spin that can only make it more arrogant, more exclusive, more distant from the middle class and win it a one way ticket to the opposition benches.

People who gave all to the party are being treated in the same way the Nationalist voters of Marsa and Zejtun have been treated, with contempt.

I will not be silenced, not until the party we knew regains its soul and sense of reality. Our party is a party worth fighting for.

Mr Zammit is a member of the PN executive committee, a former mayor of Marsa and a candidate on the fourth electoral district.