At last, I have read an “honest” statement by Simon Busuttil. He was quoted saying: “There was absolutely nothing more that I could have done.”
When he took over, he found the party’s financial situation in a total mess, facing a reported €22 million debt. He soon found a way to bankroll the salaries of party officials by going to big business people. He continued this scheme even when the party financing law became operative, thus breaching that law.
Another scheme to fund the party was the Ċedoli PN, which circumvented the party financing law the PN had voted for.
Busuttil did indeed do everything possible on the political front to possibly bridge the wide gap between the PL and the PN. But what he did was possibly one of the main reasons why the PN suffered a more telling defeat.
His acceptance of Marlene Farrugia, Salvu Mallia and Josie Muscat must have convinced many that Busuttil had created a “recipe for economic disaster”.
I was greatly surprised when I heard Busuttil also saying he was proud to have left the PN in a better position and that he was proud of the “good campaign” he and the PN had conducted. It was the most divisive and confrontational campaign I can ever remember. It culminated in the vilest accusation he levelled at the Prime Minister and his wife, wholly based on a story posted by infamous blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia who, in turn, had quoted what she was told by a Russian woman facing court action on fraud, theft and false reports about police officers.
I hope the new PN leadership cuts all ties with this blogger and also dismantle the “coalition of confusion” with Marlene Farrugia who, with her election in the 10th district in place of PN stalwarts , brought the “coalition of confusion” to the opposition. The “flame” Busuttil has boasted to have lit, will be engulfing the PN opposition for the next five years, unless the new leader of the Opposition distances the PN from Farrugia’s hysterical theatrics. Failure to do this can easily lead the PN to suffer an even bigger defeat in 2022.