The turmoil within the Nationalist party highlighted the need for internal re-structuring of the party’s organs, Opposition leader Adrian Delia said.
Speaking during an interview on NET FM, the PN leader said disputes within the PN showed that when the party discussed matters properly internally, it could move forward.
The party has spent the last week facing calls for the leadership’s resignation, amidst disputes regarding who should take up former MP David Stellini’s seat in parliament. The turmoil and the recent electoral defeat at the polls led the party’s youth branch to call the situation “untenable”.
“We need to change the structures,” Dr Delia said. “We need to fill them with people who are willing to win, not only ready to criticise, but ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work,” Dr Delia said.
He also took aim at his internal critics, saying people were tired of hearing about division. "Let’s talk about unity," he said. Let us talk about methods to attract young people, he added.
From the first hour following announcement of large electoral defeats, Dr Delia said he had met people who had no experience in politics who said they were ready to help.
Dr Delia conceded, that the party administration needed to be focused and that the party’s management needed to be more precise.
Turning to his appearance on Xarabank, Dr Delia said everyone had warned him not to attend the programme.
The argument was that the leader of the Opposition should debate the Prime Minister, since they were both leaders of their respective parties.
However, Dr Delia said, he wanted to show he was willing to meet and debate with everyone. He also wanted to offer his fiercest critics a seat at the table, he said.
He also said the parliamentary group should not just meet but start working together as well.
There was a clear imbalance in Parliament – ministers had people in positions of trust and entire teams to help them with their work. Shadow ministers, on the other hand, did not have these teams, he said.
Mount Carmel is a ‘human tragedy happening before our eyes’
Turning to other issues, he said Mount Carmel Hospital was a “human tragedy happening before our eyes". He was reacting to comments by the former Chief Operations Officer at the hospital that patients had suffered freezing showers and poor conditions.
The government was not treating patients as people, he said. The hospital’s conditions were medieval.
On the collapse of an apartment block in Mellieħa, Dr Delia said the party had long sounded alarm that haphazard development would continue to result in these incidents.
The party was not against contractors or developers, but there were methodologies that allow for checks and balances. “I will not point fingers as to whose fault it was, but responsibility needs to be carried,” he said.
Meetings with paid-up members to start next week
Dr Delia said he will be visiting each locality to have meetings with paid-up members each week.
“We have to continuously follow what our paid-up members want us to do,” he said.
He ended his interview with an appeal for more people to join the party. “We are open to criticism, but we need more help,” he said. “For us to get stronger, we need people to help us,” he added.