Working together as a team

Before the end of this week the Nationalist Party will have a new deputy leader. Following the election of Dr Lawrence Gonzi as leader, the post of deputy leader has become vacant and hence councillors will, this coming Friday, convene to vote for the candidate of their choice.

The party is going through a healthy process of renewal. As one of the two contenders for the post (together with my friend Tonio), I am having the opportunity to meet hundreds of councillors who will be making this choice.

I can gauge a sense of enthusiasm within the party ranks. Councillors attend the different meetings and participate by asking questions as well as by presenting their suggestions and making their own points.

The party is gaining a great deal through this process, just as it has emerged the stronger and more invigorated following the election process leading to the choice of a new leader.

As I visit the different party offices and meet the members of the various branches, I feel very much at home. Over the past years, I have always made it my policy to remain close to the grassroots. I firmly believe that politics is about keeping in touch, genuinely listening to what the party activists have to state about one issue or another and trying relentlessly to be of service in whichever area of responsibility is entrusted to me by the prime minister.

I have so far had occasion to serve in four different ministerial portfolios: transport and communications; environment; resources and infrastructure; as well as tourism.

Irrespective of the portfolio for which I have been given responsibility, I have always made it a point to visit on a regular basis the committees that pertain to the different towns and villages around Malta and Gozo to explain at first hand to the members what my ministry was working on, whatever difficulties have been encountered and what is being planned for the future.

That has meant listening to what the members have themselves wished to say, respond to their questions, deal with their legitimate requests and in all situations listen to and evaluate complaints, suggestions and sound advice.

I pride myself for having followed this course of action even when there was not the slightest talk of any race for the post of deputy leader. That has been and will always remain my approach to politics - keeping my feet to the ground and remaining in touch with the persons who matter and who have every right to participate in the formulation of party policy.

I believe that making decisions close to the people implies allowing all sectors of society to participate in the decision-making process from its very initial stages. In that way decisions are made bottom up rather than the other way round.

Decisions become that much more acceptable since the persons to be affected by them have had every opportunity to be involved in the process leading up to them.

On a national scale, this has been the learning curve that we have gone through in the process leading up to membership of the European Union. Civil society and all interested sectors were involved in decision making from formulation stage right up to the final documents that would then be endorsed by the European Commission.

In the lead up to the last general election, we have promised that what we have learnt in this process now needs to be applied to the implementation stage as well.

The same principles apply within the Nationalist Party and even more so for the fact that the party owes its very identity to the Christian Democrat values that it holds. We could never entertain the pragmatic approach since that would mean that the party would have divested itself of its very identity and merely become merely an opinion polls' vehicle wherever those polls lead one to.

Much as values and principles are not up for any form of negotiation or compromise, the methods adopted from time to time to implement those values could change. Similarly, one may occasionally have to change the format (but not the content) of one's message.

I still recall the days when participating in countless corner meetings was the recommended path to reach within people's homes, even if the persons inside keep their doors and windows as closely shut as possible! I personally recall a few episodes where the persons inside not only kept their doors and windows bolted but also made their displeasure at any invasion of their privacy quite manifest!

In an age where multiple television and radio stations has become the norm, and zapping between one station and another the trend, we no longer request our party candidates to indulge in corner meetings.

In fact, in the present contest for the post of deputy leader, I am making considerable emphasis on two fundamental needs: the first relates to how the Nationalist Party communicates its message to as wide an audience as possible. It is no use to have the best product or achievements to be proud of and then not be able to pass on that information to the persons who will at the end of the day determine whether the party is voted back into government at the next general election or not.

The second fundamental need relates to our own internal communications' strategy - how we interrelate with each other. We have sectional committees in the various towns and villages as well as branches to focus on young people, women, the aged, workers, self-employed and local council members. How do the different structures relate to each other?

Are the opinions of the different branches given due weight at the stage of policy formulation? When the party is in government, do the party structures interrelate well enough with the different ministries and public authorities?

I firmly believe that it should be the role of whoever occupies the post of deputy leader to ensure that our communications strategy is upgraded in order to remain a highly effective one, and that party activists will always feel that their opinions do matter.

These are the people who have given so much of their time and energy to promote the party in which they believe. For many of them, this has entailed considerable sacrifice to them and their families and they did not shun their duties and beliefs, even in the more difficult years.

This two-pronged approach that I have been advocating in my meetings with councillors implies that the Nationalist Party will in the coming years be reaching out to others as well as reaching within its own ranks to ensure that activists will always know that they do matter.

My own active participation at the various party levels, be it within the Youth Movement of which I was president, as party information secretary, as president of the Administrative Council when Lawrence Gonzi served as secretary general, or within the different ministerial offices that I have occupied emphasises that we have always achieved success by working together as one team.

That is the most important experience that I shall always carry with me from the Fenech Adami years at the helm of the party. Recollecting my own political experiences in the deputy leadership race, I have realised that the six general elections for which I have stood as party candidate were the six elections that the party was contesting under the leadership of Dr Fenech Adami.

I have stood for election to parliament in the 1981, 1986, 1992, 1996, 1998 and 2003 general elections. Eddie was chosen as party leader in 1977 and, in real terms, he was won five out of those six elections. On my part I have been returned regularly to parliament since 1987 and, in the last three general elections, I have been returned to the House from two districts.

Throughout these years, we have not so much spoken about the achievements of one individual or another, as we have spoken about making it together, about working together as one team.

I am confident that this will remain the hallmark of the Nationalist Party in the years to come. By working together as one team, we shall ensure further success not only for the sake of the party but also in our country's best interest.

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