Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech reacted on Wednesday to trust ratings showing him way behind Prime Minister Robert Abela, insisting that solutions for Malta did not lie in one person but in everyone doing his part.
He was replying to a question by Net TV interviewer Trevor Degiorgio who recalled, how, three months before the 2008 general election, surveys had shown the PN trailing, but then party leader Lawrence Gonzi was leading Labour leader Alfred Sant in the trust ratings. The PN eventually won that election (albeit by a whisker).
The latest Malta Today Trust Barometer showed Robert Abela at 41.1% and Grech at 16.7%.
Grech pointed out that the important thing was that according to the surveys, in the past two years the PN had cut Labour's lead from the last general election by more than half, even though his trust rating had gone down.
He recalled that even before he became party leader, he had declared that he did not have all the solutions for the country.
This country, he said, would not be pulled up from the depths it had sunk to by some 'messiah'. Similarly, no single person could make the PN instantaneously perfect, now or in the future.
It was for the people, all together, to understand that they each had a duty to restore the country in all its sectors.
He was not shrugging off his own responsibility, Grech said. As party leader he set direction and indicated how he wished to see things, but everyone had his own responsibilities.
For example, he said, there were hundreds of academics, but only a few, maybe five, spoke up, whereas abroad the academic body was vociferous in national issues. The same applied to those in business and in financial services. They complained to him, but then they said they were afraid to speak up because they would lose money or contracts.
“You cannot just look at your own patch, beyond your patch there is a reality, a country, and the future of your children to consider. I took my decision and am working and determined to do more,” Grech said. “The moment that I see that my presence could be an obstacle, I will do the responsible thing because the country is bigger than me,” he said.
Replying to various other questions, Grech asked who would assume responsibility if Malta did not recover the €400 million given to Vitals/Steward in the hospitals deal which was declared fraudulent by the courts.
"Who will assume responsibility when the funds disappear,?" Grech asked.
He pointed out that one of the reasons for the deterioration of the health service was the way funds were squandered by this deal. And yet Prime Minister Robert Abela was not fighting to get the money back, he said.
Grech criticised the prime minister for refusing to give interviews and hold debates.
He spoke about a worsening quality of life and said the PN wanted to change Malta's economic direction from one of quantity and mediocrity to quality and high standards. An example, he said, was in tourism. A time would come when Malta would not be able to handle greater numbers, he said, and ways had to be found to grow the sector without a great number of visitors. The answer lay in attracting higher spending quality tourists.
The economy also needed to grow in areas which did not need more foreign workers, he said, although some foreign workers would still be needed for some sectors.