PM chats with children at Independence activities

Children learned today that the prime minister celebrates his wedding anniversary over a plate of snails, he does not have pets, but cats are his favourite animals.

Dr Gonzi sat down with children as part of Independence activities being held by the Nationalist Party on the granaries.

He told them that the toughest time of his premiership was the Libyan crisis, particularly when Libyan jets defected to Malta and Col Gaddafi wanted them back.

On how he solves disagreements within the Cabinet, he said he lets everyone speak his mind, before taking decisions.

When a child asked him how he had met Mrs Gonzi, Kate Gonzi intervened to say they met during the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of independence and they also got married close to independence, on September 18. They usually celebrate their anniversary over a plate of snails and enjoy it especially since they do not think anyone does the same thing. 

However Dr Gonzi said his favourite dish is Maltese lamb.

The children thanked Dr Gonzi for the water park and the adventure park, among other facilities, and asked about the aquarium. Dr Gonzi said work was well in hand and he looked forward to its inauguration.

In reply to other questions, he underlined the importance of education. He said that he had never planned to be prime minister, and were he to live his life all over again, he would like to be involved in IT - his hobby, he said, is dismantling and rebuilding computers.

Asked whether some political pictures annoyed him, Dr Gonzi laughed and said that when billboards with giant pictures of him were put up recently, one of his grandsons asked his parents why nanna did not appear in the pictures as well. 

Before the activity the Prime Minister was handed a letter from a group of lotto receivers who turned up unexpectedly on the granaries and asked to speak to him. Thy said they were protesting against the heavy handed attitude of lotteries operator Maltco, which has imposed tough financial guarantees on some of them.