Bernard Grech was always prone to insecurity in his role as leader of the Nationalist Party. After all, his predecessor was ousted by a handful of MPs and their associates who call the shots within the PN and Grech was placed in his stead.
The Nationalist Party leader knows that the same people who put him in his role wouldn’t mind doing the same thing to him. So please them he must for Grech has no room for manoeuvre.
Many deserted him. He has no one to confide in. No one to turn to. He was advised, before he accepted to replace Adrian Delia at the helm of the party, that the chalice was poisoned and that he would never ever be able to be his own man. For reasons known only to himself, he wanted the role badly and his wish came true. He is now stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Recently, Grech said Prime Minister Robert Abela should be investigated and brought before justice in connection with the Vitals and Steward case. He, or, more precisely, those who dictate every political utterance he makes, are using the extremist card again.
We’ve been here before. The very same antics were used against Abela when he acted in the national interest on the migration front during a pandemic. Albeit back then the actions of the usual suspects within the PN also targeted our armed forces, along with the prime minister.
On the hospitals matter, the prime minister protected and is continuing to protect the national interest. But Grech’s puppet masters don’t care. Short on policies, cheap shots and political gimmicks are their political arsenal. Now, the people who call the shots within the PN, through Grech as their spokesperson, came out guns blazing against the tax
rebate from which more than 250,000 taxpayers are expected to benefit.
This same approach was taken when the government embarked on a public consultation process regarding the most radical and much-needed reform within the construction industry.
Bernard Grech has no time for policies and visionary politics- Daniel Attard
At first, the opposition, through its spokesperson MP Stanley Zammit, hinted that the PN would take an active part in the public consultation process. Yet, it did not. Once again, the handful of MPs that call the shots within his party had the upper hand and Grech, in yet another nod to the people who ‘made’ him, stated that his party had no interest in joining the public debate.
It’s a sad situation indeed within the PN.
The man who is expected to lead his party is constantly watching his back, afraid that, without prior notice, the same people who gave him the leadership role would take it back from him and he’ll be left out in the cold. Rather than putting forward concrete proposals on bread-and-butter issues and instead of outlining his party’s vision for Malta, Grech resorts to the usual cheap shots and political gimmicks that his political masters order him to do.
His speeches are incoherent and devoid of political substance. His behaviour in parliament is unruly. His Sunday morning sermons are a rehash of his past speeches: cheap, partisan and the usual puerile attacks on Labour and its people.
One would expect better from a man who tries to depict himself, but fails spectacularly, as a prime minister in waiting. When his party did come up with a pre-budget document, it was riddled with grammatical mistakes and poor on substance. It was shot down by employers, economists and seasoned political analysts.
Recently, he said that the PN had become the workers’ party. But then he went on to defend the astronomical increases in water and electricity rates under the 2008 – 2013 Nationalist government. He shot down Abela’s recent announcement that stipends, children’s allowances and pensions shall increase again.
Grech has only one thing on his mind: saving his place at the helm of the Nationalist Party. Notwithstanding the fact that, in his case, the role is largely ceremonial, for he rides in the back seat, Grech has no time for policies and visionary politics. Cheap shots and political gimmicks are the order of the day.
That shall be his legacy.
Daniel Attard is a lawyer and former Labour mayor of Mtarfa.