The once-upon-a-time Labour movement had claimed Malta is going through its best of times. I am obviously referring to the ‘L-Aqwa Żmien’ election slogan, written to give the impression that our country is in a league of its own.

However, whoever lives in Malta nowadays and is willing to call a spade a spade knows that this statement cannot be any further from the truth.

In the past years, Malta has been led by a government that chose to distance itself from the truth, hide what should have been exposed and defend the indefensible.

These same people developed an aura that emanates arrogance and have distanced themselves from the true needs of citizens. Such arrogance has made them lose touch with reality on the ground.

This is an approach where citizens are not valued for their potential but are rather viewed from a perspective of influence. This same approach facilitates a philosophy where who you know is much more important than what you know. This is not the way we should conduct politics and certainly not how I intend to continue serving the people.

Many of us are hopeful for the day when politics in Malta pass through a much-needed paradigm shift that leads to positive values and principles being engrained back into our society, something which has been diluted in the past few years. As a Nationalist Party, we share this same goal and we want to make sure we represent citizens as per the true meaning of politics, that is, to be of service to the people.

We want to be different because we want nothing to be ashamed of, such as the abuse of the power of incumbency, disrespect towards journalism and the hijack of public broadcasting, to name just a few.

We are a reference point for weak governance and rule of law- Ivan Bartolo

The so-called ‘workers’ party’ has showcased some of the worst examples of corruption throughout the past years and, while corruption may be subjectively irrelevant when compared to bread-and-butter issues, it is a price which is paid for dearly by those who are the most vulnerable.

The worrying state of disillusionment which we were brought into as a country is not surprising. This is the result of promises made at the higher echelons which are meant to protect the few, of decisions or lack thereof which do a disservice to citizens and of developments which have shattered our reputation across the globe. From being a very relevant player at the European Union’s table, we became a reference point for weak governance and rule of law.

We are nowhere near the best of times. We can do better than the mess that the country was brought into and be agents of change to get our country out of the chaos that exists around us. We need to be honest, genuine and humble in the way we do politics and offer a bright future to the citizens of our country.

We can do this effectively by looking people in the eye and working together to reinstate confidence in our institutions, clean our country’s embattled reputation and ‘whitelist’ Malta back where it should be to secure a better future for our future generations.

Sugar coating the situation will get us nowhere. What we need to do is address the problems head-on without cutting corners or taking any half-measures. We will continue keeping our feet on the ground so that we continue to share the same sentiment of the people.

We shall not lose our focus from the people and we will conduct politics for a better Malta for all.

Ivan Bartolo, PN spokesperson on social housing and poverty.