In his first public address after being elected leader of the Nationalist Party, Dr Lawrence Gonzi has highlighted taking decisions close to the people as the envisaged hallmark of the political work in his new role. I shall always remember last Wednesday evening with pride as a new era dawned on the party.
After voting for the new leader, party councillors and others gathered in their hundreds to listen to the last address of Dr Eddie Fenech Adami as party leader as well as the first address of Dr Lawrence Gonzi in the same post. For all of us who have been active within the various party ranks for the past years, it was a moment charged with considerable emotion.
I could notice that Eddie, who is a master at not being expressive about his inner feelings, was himself visibly moved. For 27 years he has served the party as its leader. For 27 years he has given an example that to lead is all about being of service to others.
The new leader captured the mood of all activists present when he profusely thanked his predecessor for restoring democracy in our country, for giving us vision, for seeing to laying the foundations of Malta as we know it today, for ensuring that Malta becomes a member of the European Union and above all for remaining loyal to the values and principles that give the Nationalist Party its own identity.
It is a legacy that has left its indelible mark of character on the party. In an age dominated by spin and hype, it could become tempting for a political party to take up a pragmatist approach. That would mean simply testing from time to time what the national mood may suggest and act accordingly without offering vision or leadership. The legacy left behind by Eddie is of a man who was never afraid of change, of taking decisions, no matter how hard, and of often moving against the obvious tide but only to be proved invariably correct later on.
I am confident that Eddie can still offer our country the benefit of his guidance and wisdom. He is the Founding Father of European Malta and I think that this is the right time for the country to acknowledge the fact.
As Malta enters a new era, the Nationalist Party has began one of its own last Wednesday.
As I have already had occasion to point out publicly, even for a person who has been active within party ranks for 30 years, I have found the experience gained over the past three weeks enriching. The manner in which the leadership race was carried out right up to the actual election that was scrutinised in all its details by agents representing the three candidates as well as carried live over Net TV into people's homes provides a useful lesson to other political forces and to the country as a whole.
The manner in which a political party carries on its business speaks as much volumes about that party's democratic credentials as and even more than its manifestos and declarations.
When on Friday evening, Lawrence addressed the first meeting of the Parliamentary Group since becoming leader, he said that the final "gift" that Eddie has given to the party has been precisely the serious and open manner in which the election for the new party leader has been carried out. It was a process that did us all proud and made participation in it an honourable and enriching experience not only for the three contenders themselves but also for the party activists who had an opportunity to discuss openly various issues of relevance to them.
The party will now carry on with an election for a deputy leader. It will again be an open and democratic process. Last Thursday, the party's secretary general appealed on Radio 101 to all councillors to meet the various contenders, listen to them, evaluate their message and then make a choice.
Two days earlier, the new party leader was making very much the same point on the programme Bondì+ when he said that this is a decision that pertains to the councillors.
On Friday, I informed Lawrence of my decision to put in my nomination for the post of deputy leader. I thank him for his encouragement and good wishes, which he is undoubtedly extending equally to all contenders for the same post. The party will again be ensuring equal and fair treatment between all candidates who will meet councillors in party offices as they will have equal access to the party media and any other structures.
The party will again demonstrate its capability and maturity in doing it right and the one apology that I would like to make in advance to all councillors is that they will again be 'bombarded' by multiple meetings, phone messages, and other communication tools in an intense campaign that will be conducted over a period of less than two weeks since on Friday, March 19, councillors will vote in the first round to determine the party's new deputy leader.
On my own part, much as I have thought that at this juncture of my life it would not have been prudent of me to participate in the leadership race, I have after reflecting on the matter decided that is my duty to put in my own nomination for the post of deputy leader and offer another choice - as will be done by all colleagues contesting this race - to the party councillors.
I offer, with all due humility, to work in collaboration with Lawrence to whom I have pledged and reiterate my unreserved loyalty. When the Nationalist Party went into Opposition for a period of 22 months in September 1996, both of us were considering how to be of service to the party at that difficult hour. It did not take us long to reach an agreement leading to his becoming secretary general and my becoming president of the party's Administrative Council.
We worked closely together as members of one team. I again welcome every opportunity to work together with Lawrence and other members of the party as well as in Government as part of one united team. I strongly welcome Lawrence's commitment to make taking decisions close to the people as the hallmark of his leadership. I have made it my own mission to remain as close to the people as possible, to keep in touch with them, to remain at their service, to communicate with them, to remain available and to avoid any form of aloofness.
I am grateful to my electorate that has elected me to Parliament since 1987 and in the last three general elections (1996, 1998, and 2003) even honoured me by having me returned to Parliament from two electoral districts - the ninth and the tenth.
After working within the party over a span of 30 years, occupying such posts as president of the party's Youth Movement, deputy chairman of the organisation that groups together all Christian Democrat and Conservative Youth movements in Europe, editor of Il-Poplu and president of the party's Administrative Council, a post also carrying with it responsibility for the party media, it is now my duty to offer to be of service by putting in my own nomination for the post of deputy leader.
There is one fundamental promise that I make at the outset of this campaign. It will be a positive one. It will not only be positive by seeking to share with councillors my own experiences and reasons why I am proceeding with my nomination.
It will also be positive with regard to all colleagues entering the same race. Destiny has it three close friends within the party (Tonio, Censu and myself), as well as another close friend of ours, Louis, who have also each occupied the post of president of the party's youth movement have now been indicated as possibly engaged in the same race.
Once again, there will be no winners or losers. We shall throughout the campaign and even more so afterwards be working together to strengthen and enrich the party as it proceeds with its renewal. An entire youth generation has come of age together and we are only too glad to keep working together with the same zest and enthusiasm.
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