I would first like to apologise to Norma Saliba if I have offended her personally or professionally in any way or form in my last article (November 7). The complimentary tone in her own article of November 12 was refreshing and I will take it to heart.
So, what does the Nationalist Party stand for?
Saliba agrees that, up to the moment that Malta became a member of the EU, the PN did stand for something. Now, just think where we would be if the electorate had opted for what Labour stood for at the time.
Too young to remember the pitiful state of the country in 1987, Saliba could be forgiven for not knowing that the party that now employs her as head of communications once stood for austerity, mass unemployment and a state police force that assisted thugs in breaking up any form of civil protest.
She will not remember the dirty money connected to the ‘buying’ of import licences. But she knows about the dirty money connected to the mass importation of TCN slaves who are exploited out of large sums of money to come and work in underpaid jobs.
The PN always stood for honest leadership. Neither Eddie Fenech Adami nor Lawrence Gonzi needed to employ some shady accountancy firm to open a secret offshore company within days of coming to power.
Fenech Adami was mercilessly criticised by Labour leadership for taking on the presidency. So be it. But first of all, he left Castille voluntarily after nearly two decades of dedicated service and, secondly, he did not start receiving €15,000 a month as a consultant for a Swiss company that he knew was owned by the same people that were handed over €400 million for doing next to nothing. That, my dear, is possibly what Labour stands for. Try balancing the success of a fake Vitals against that of a real Mater Dei Hospital.
The PN allowed the police force full autonomy and freedom from political interference. No one was above the law. You could have been a judge, and if you did wrong, you would still face justice.
The PN stood for an economy that produced a level playing field for all businesses and a socio-economic reality that improved the quality of life for all sectors of society. It reduced the top income tax bracket from 65% down to 35%. That. my dear, was the biggest tax break in history, not the 2025 budget.
The PN never froze pensions for some five years in a row. It increased them and wages at a higher rate in the last seven years of its time as compared to the first seven years after 2013.
The PN allowed the police force full autonomy and freedom from political interference- Eddie Aquilina
Under the PN, the GDP belonged to a greater number of ordinary people. Today, it belongs in the majority to millionaire developers and their political puppets.
The PN stands for normality. Clayton Bartolo has said recently “no one is perfect”. No government can or will be. But no one like Labour can defraud the public as well as it does.
How normal is it to have a 29-member cabinet, each with its army of ‘persons of trust’ costing the taxpayer over €24 million a year and producing nothing in return? How normal is it to have 76 MPs with backbenchers being given well-paid chairmanships of government quangos to keep them in check?
Labour stands for a fake accountability based on saying “sorry” when caught, and its MPs receiving daily suggested narratives on WhatsApp from HQ on how to stock reply to journalists’ questions. The best one repeated every day is “the prime minister has already spoken clearly on this and I have nothing more to add”.
PN cabinets have had a few non-performers but they were never a circus of clowns that is, according to Evarist Bartolo, the very Labour cabinet that Saliba now works for.
The PN stands for sustainable development and sustainable new industries. It always understood that the economy is for the country and not the other way round. During the economic crisis of 2008, it fared as good as the top countries in the EU.
It also stands for political responsibility towards future generations. In the last few years, the national debt has doubled and will soon be tripled. Labour only stands for being re-elected, no matter the cost to our children and grandchildren.
As I have said already, I have no quarrel with Saliba. I imagine she works hard for her salary. She might be an unpaid volunteer motivated simply by love for the party. I don’t know. But having given up a salary of €72,000 for promoting our national language for a year merits some form of monetary compensation.
On my part, I was never paid a salary or paid in kind for acting as a “wardrobe attendant” to a prime minister.