The PN crystal ball

The Lawrence Gonzi era started when Eddie Fenech Adami stepped down as leader of the Nationalist Party and Prime Minister, handing Dr Gonzi the leadership of both the government and the PN.

What was really handed over to Dr Gonzi was a time bomb ready to explode. Indeed, it did explode and with a big bang too: Two local council election defeats and another defeat in the Euro MPs election. Then the resignation of John Dalli from Minister of Foreign Affairs, following allegations regarding certain irregularities. There were also socio-economic problems such as the high rate of unemployment and the unsatisfactory situation of the nation's economy. This could also be the result of the time the island is going through after its entry into the European Union.

One hears talk of people with certain influence within the PN making pressure on Mr Dalli to also resign his seat in Parliament. Mr Dalli has however declared he wants to remain in Parliament. Indeed, he said publicly he intends to keep on working for both the country and the PN. This point was stressed by Mr Dalli in an interview on television.

Mr Dalli insisted on the fact that he still has the energy to give the best of his abilities. This is patriotic and, being a PN veteran, he is still loyal to the party as well.

What Mr Dalli is evidently not ready to accept is the fact that a number of Nationalists (those within the inner circles) do not seem to be interested in what he intends to do. In fact, Mr Dalli had declared, also in television, he does not exclude the possibility that people inside the party had a say in what he went through. And this not only with regard to who should carry the can for the 1996 election defeat but also with regard to accusations of irregularities that allegedly occurred at the time he served as Finance Minister.

Rumour has it that if Mr Dalli does give up his parliamentary seat, at least another two senior government officials (no names have been mentioned so far) would also have to go because of "conduct unbecoming", details of which have escaped public attention. Why is this so? Is it perhaps because Mr Dalli was the main contender in the PN leadership race?

Dr Gonzi is now racing against time. Harsh criticism levelled at the government and at the way the PN is being run can often be read in the articles Mr Dalli writes periodically.

The Prime Minister needs to reshuffle the Cabinet.

Some quarters argued that the manner in which the Parliamentary Secretary in the Finance Ministry, Tonio Fenech, looks at the country's financial operations is different to that of economists and financial consultants. This leads one to think that Mr Dalli's services to both the government and the party are needed and so it would not be amiss for Mr Dalli to be asked to act as consultant to the Finance Ministry prior to the introduction of the euro and to help address the economic problems the island is presently facing.

This notwithstanding the fact that the PN allowed a situation whereby Mr Dalli was criticised for certain economic measures taken by the government, which measures later resulted to have been inevitable.

The subject of a Cabinet reshuffle leads to another scenario. The party cannot ignore those who used to be the party's young workhorses. People like Clyde Puli and David Agius - members of Parliament and PN activists since their teenage years - are undoubtedly waiting impatiently to be included in the Cabinet. Government Whip Mario Galea cannot be overlooked either.

In addition, it would be good to find out what is really going on within the walls of the PN's headquarters. Some PN activists have been very critical of the way in which party general secretary Joe Saliba - flanked by Angelito Sciberras - is managing the party. A number of people have been taken on to help but the critical PN activists argue that the end result is an army of omniscient administrators with everyone in command, all thinking they have all the answers to every question as if pulling rabbits out of their top hats!

This attitude, in turn, has led long time party activists to feel as if they have been put aside and are not considered as being loyal as they used to be in the late 1970s and 1980s. As a result, the "team of volunteers" that was so popular in the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s no longer exists, certainly not in the form it used to. In this regard, an accusing finger is pointed at Mr Saliba too.

In the circumstances, no wonder PN activists attribute the decision for the PN not to contest the Zejtun and Marsa local elections last March to Mr Saliba. In that case, the party leader was left with no choice but to cover up this blunder by shouldering all the responsibility for this debacle himself.

The PN will face another general election in three years' time - it is up to Dr Gonzi and the PN to choose whether the year 2008 will be the end of PN era or not.