It wasn’t easy convincing my mother that I should submit my nomination to become the next leader of the Nationalist Party. She knows very well what’s at stake for me and my family, and at the age of 67 and having raised 13 children, she would have preferred me to have taken a back seat and enjoyed my family in peace.
Yet, she knows – almost more than anyone else – how it is not in my nature to leave the difficult tasks for others. Just as I did after the 2013 electoral defeat, when I rolled up my sleeves for a two-year term as secretary general to stop the party’s financial haemorrhage and run a successful, grassroots-based local council campaign, I’m now ready to give it my all to turn the Nationalist Party into the united, inclusive and dynamic party it once was.
Having spent a lifetime climbing through the party structures, I know the party very well. And it’s because I know it well enough to see where its weak points lie, that I believe that the arduous challenge ahead can be won.
It can be won if we truly open wide our doors to all those who wish to contribute and chase those whose motivation is not yet completely there. We can make it if we are true to ourselves and our mission as the people’s party… if we turn our party into a 21st century political lab, where ideas are fostered and debates encouraged. If we are brave enough to leave our comfort zone and embark on new journeys, building bridges that have crumbled or that we ourselves pulled down, while setting an ambitious and exciting agenda that will see our country move forward.
I want to lead a party that is constantly challenging what we have got used to, a party that stops replicating what might have worked in the past but instead uses those models as trajectories to something entirely new. I would run the Nationalist Party as if it was a start-up, with the focus on building communities, stimulating team spirit, thinking out of the box, harvesting technology, investing in people and ensuring that we are constantly where we need to be – at the very heart of Maltese society.
Under my leadership there will be room for all those willing to work hard for the party to reconnect with the electorate and to start regaining the people’s trust
Nothing prepared me more for a life in politics than my family. Being the eldest of 13 in a relatively small and modest house meant that I had to quickly master the art of meeting people half-way, compromising and negotiating, and constantly bringing out the best in others. It meant I had to learn, as a child, that a family brings together people who might not, constantly, agree on everything. But what they agree upon – the values they share, the objectives they strive for – are much bigger than what at times could somehow pull them apart.
Family taught me that whatever I had was not mine to keep but only to pass on, when the time comes, to those coming after me. Above all, as a child, I learnt the biggest lesson – that nothing in life comes for free, that no one owes you anything, and that you have to work hard to reach your objectives.
Since I announced my candidacy for the PN leadership last Wednesday I have been inundated with messages from people who are willing to step in and join me on the road ahead. We need all hands on deck. Under my leadership there will be room for all those willing to work hard for the party to reconnect with the electorate and to start regaining the people’s trust.
The road is long but as a leader I would take my first step in the full conviction that we can and we will get there. Yes, there will be a lot at stake for me and my family. I have no businesses to fall back on and no safety nets. But I never had any of those. And that’s another lesson I’ve learnt – that wherever you go, you have to go with all your heart.
That’s the spirit with which I took the oath of office as parliamentary secretary and as minister, reforming local government, setting up the Malta Consumer and Competition Affairs Authority, and seeing through Parliament important legislation, such as the Freedom of Information Act.
That’s the spirit with which, in nearly 10 years as mayor, I turned Nadur around with an unprecedented wave of infrastructural, environmental, social and cultural projects.
That’s also the spirit with which I led the Gozo Football Association for eight years, seeing Gozo FC move from the third division to the Premier League, while opening the Gozo Stadium and new facilities for young sport enthusiasts in Gozo.
That’s the same spirit with which I would lead the Nationalist Party. It’s not in my nature to leave things as they are. My mother knows this well, and her cautious nod before I announced my candidacy last week will remain in my memory as we – together – move the party forward.
Dr Chris Said will be contesting the election to become the next leader of the Nationalist Party.