Nationalist Party deputy leader David Agius’s statement following a meeting of the executive committee on Independence Day celebrations shows that the enthusiasm and energy required to cherish the party’s legacies are gradually eroding.
One of the PN’s proud legacies is Independence Day. The executive committee’s decision to hold a rally for loyal party members and the annual Independence Day celebrations outside the party headquarters instead of the Granaries in Floriana really begs serious justification.
Barely a month before Independence Day, the executive committee met to decide on the venue for the celebrations.
One wonders who they are trying to fool. When do we ever see decisions on such a grand event taken and discussed a month before the actual event?
Who was in charge of the logistics and planning of this event? They should stand up and be counted.
Where financing and budgeting were involved, they left the situation to deteriorate to such an extent that the outcome could only be to change the venue.
Is this what the previous leaders of the party worked and strived for? These people struggled against all odds to secure Malta’s status as an independent democratic country. Did George Borg Olivier ever hesitate or consider deciding otherwise when Malta was left to stand alone economically, without the financial aid of the British, faced with a rundown of the British forces leading to high rates of unemployment?
Did he ask the party whether Malta could sustain itself economically and, considering the present negative situation, decide to give up? Certainly not.
We are boasting about the high quality of life on our island, the seeds for which were planted and have been progressing ever since the bold decision of former PN leaders.
Now, 55 years later, an executive committee decided that the party is not financially stable enough to organise these celebrations. How shameful! Moreover, the mass meeting usually held on the day – which was once a show of force by the party – will not be held at the Granaries.
It is evident that these members are confirming the low level the party has gradually subsided to and they are doing nothing except making empty promises without any facts to support them.
Who can forget the statement made by general secretary Clyde Puli after the party’s worst electoral defeat how we should celebrate the deficit of about 42,000 votes and not, as predicted by a survey, the deficit of around 72,000 votes!
The Nationalist Party is hardly able to survive to contest another election before being wiped out and relegated to history
The party has lost all those enthusiastic persons who used to contribute voluntarily towards the organisation of such events. Indeed, these volunteers were so well-organised that they would plan the logistics and financial projections so that the organisers would at least break even, if not end up with a surplus.
Organising a fund-raising marathon on the occasion of the birthday of the party leader was OK, but organising a marathon for funds to celebrate Malta’s Independence anniversary was not planned. The committee should know that party followers always contributed.
During the last fund-raising marathon on Workers’ Day, the PN collected a whopping sum of €525,078.
Such events are always pre-planned, projected, co-financed and sponsored by business entities and supporters, including the activities and contributions from party followers.
The executive committee members should hold themselves responsible for the reputation they are giving the party and, above all, for letting down the previous party members who painstakingly held this event successfully ever since 1982.
Agius should not mince his words and should pass on a message that would resonate with the party faithful, namely that all is over and the party is on its knees, hardly able to survive to contest another election before being wiped out and relegated to history.
The party, it seems, is not in a structurally sound enough position to hold a mass meeting. This is the real issue, and it is a serious one.
A party that cannot convince its followers to attend a mass meeting – whether due to internal conflicts or because numbers have dwindled so much that they cannot occupy the Granaries – indicates there are serious organisational problems within the party ranks.
The coordination among local PN clubs is seemingly not functioning, and this is an unmistakable indication to whoever is leading the party and whoever is in the executive committee that the party lacks the backbone it needs to stand up and mobilise itself to celebrate such an important historical event.
I personally wonder whether there is enough spirit within the party to sustain the momentum to face another election. The party has lost its voluntary and intelligent members who used to sustain the momentum for it to go forwards.
This is another indication that the party is lacking the means to sustain itself and wake up to face another day.
So please, can the last one leaving turn off the lights?