When the festive season is over, Lawrence Gonzi would do well to call his team of ministers, parliamentary secretaries and MPs at that delightful palace of Girgenti on the outskirts of Siġġiewi so that there, in the peaceful atmosphere of the little valley, they try to map a way out of the deepening political mess his government is wallowing in today. Ironically, it has been doing well in its work on the economic front but otherwise the Nationalist Party is seen to be bungling its way through.

Sharp weaknesses in its administrative capacity began to appear in no time after winning the last election with a slim majority, a matter that, on its own, should have made the party keener to rebuild the electorate’s confidence in it. In effect, however, it made no difference to the way it has been conducting its affairs. Now, half way through its term, it has already built up a collection of mistakes, and some glaring gaffes too, that reflect lack of strong leadership, as well as of accountability and transparency at various distinct levels of the administration.

Over and above all this, growing ineptitude and arrogance are making many, including party supporters, wonder what has gone wrong with the PN. Particularly striking is the way the party is seen to be rapidly distancing itself from the grassroots of the community, as shown by the latest gaffe – the hefty pay rise to MPs and the additional arrangement under which ministers are to get both the salary and the honorarium. This is really the cherry on the cake. Few, if any, would have thought the PN could be so insensitive. The party should have the courage to apologise for this and drop the rise altogether.

Its record so far in this legislature is already blotched by a string of very serious matters, such as the issue over the Fairmount contract; the unwise manner in which the revised water and electricity rates were introduced; the VAT fraud; the way the attempted bribe in the privatisation of the super-yacht facility was handled; the suspension of the EU funds for student programmes; the way it handled the tender for the extension of the Delimara power station and the contract awarded to BWSC and the absolutely unacceptable way it tackled the transition of the utility rates billing to ARMS Ltd.

The government’s reaction to key questions all these issues raised as they unfolded exposed administrative shortcomings, weaknesses and, at times, political obstinacy too. These were particularly glaring in the issue over the contract awarded to the BWSC. Running completely contrary to its declared commitment to full transparency, the government brought up all manner of excuses to block the opposition’s request for witnesses to be called before the Public Accounts Committee to clear up any outstanding issues following the Auditor General’s report.

The government is now stepping back from its original stand and has finally decided to allow the calling of witnesses, conceding that some questions remained unanswered, even after the Auditor General was questioned by the PAC. This is the common sense the Speaker of the House of Representatives had called for when the matter was brought before him. But the government was in no mood to listen or to take notice of what the people generally were feeling about the matter. Had it done so, it would have learned it was making a big mistake. Yes, Prime Minister, take your team to Girgenti for a summit. You need it badly.