Guido de Marco was undoubtedly a statesman; a politician of persuasion and above all a high calibre person who has left his mark imprinted in Maltese history. Following his death, tributes flowed in from people from all walks of life irrespective of their political beliefs. The tributes were consistent in their message and reflected the true and sincere sentiments felt towards this great politician.
Besides his political and professional accomplishments during his illustrious career, I wish to pay tribute to Prof. de Marco’s support for the NGO sector both during his term of office as President of the Republic and afterwards.
I still recall when the Maltese Diabetes Association asked him to attend a Blood Glucose Monitoring initiative on the occasion of World Diabetes Day.
Notwithstanding his busy schedule as Head of State, he accepted our invitation with immense pleasure and spent time informing himself on diabetes and mingling with the public present for this awareness event.
He always welcomed the public with his charismatic smile and greeted everybody with a strong hand shake. He would stop to chat with anybody and would make you feel very welcome. He was a President so close to the Maltese. This was one of his unique characteristics.
On another occasion, in November 2007, I asked him to address a World Diabetes Day press conference which focused on a United Nations Declaration in favour of diabetes obtained earlier that year by the International Diabetes Federation. I made the request in view of the fact that he was a former President of the United Nations General Assembly.
I was confident he could utilise his experience in this important international institution to highlight the relevance and importance of obtaining a UN Resolution for a non-communicable disease like diabetes.
He accepted our invitation and delivered a wonderful message – he had no written notes or pre-prepared speech.
His words flowed and he spoke with passion and his usual charisma. He was a great orator. It was very obvious that he was very well prepared and informed about this declaration and the diabetes condition in Malta. He spoke openly about his own experiences as president of the UN General Assembly in the early 1990s and managed to relay an important message to the diabetes community.
I also recall him speaking openly about his own personal experiences dealing with a condition that required constant attention and urging everybody to persevere and look at life from a positive perspective. He was an inspiration to the public to the last hours before his death.
He has left us a huge legacy – he was one of Malta’s leading politicians whose words, actions and deeds will be remembered with immense gratitude.
Mr Delicata is president, International Diabetes Federation, European Region.