‘Mangia santi, cacca diavoli’

Robert Aquilina is the perfect example of the Italian saying, “mangia santi, cacca diavoli”. Just last week, MaltaToday broke the story that Aquilina was being interrogated by the police after his wife filed a domestic violence report. Here was a person who appeared every week like a moral crusader, calling for everyone’s head on a plate. More often than not he was accompanied by yet another hypocrite, Jason Azzopardi. 

Aquilina forms part of a self-entitled posse of hypocrites that include individuals like Jason Azzopardi and Mark Camilleri, who have the hobby of casting truckloads of horse dung on everyone they consider to be the enemy.   

We expect Aquilina to be eventually accused of domestic violence by the police but unlike others who have been in a similar predicament, on the day of the report he was not arrested. Instead, the magistrate on duty, Kevan Azzopardi, chose to ignore the legal protocol and not order an arrest. In my view the magistrate was simply too scared to take on Robert Aquilina. I can understand his concern, since these holier than thou characters have regularly approached personal adversity by firebombing those they perceive as enemies. 

Aquilina’s transgressions will undoubtedly impact the work done by NGO Repubblika of which he had served as president and was until last week its honorary president. 

In the eyes of many Repubblika is toast and the real winners in this case should be the Nationalist Party. Repubblika and Jason Azzopardi have been pulling the PN down with their theatrics. This could have been one problem solved for the PN were it not for the fact that it is led by Bernard Grech. 

Today’s survey confirms this predicament. The PN is trailing the PL by 39,000 votes and Grech is nowhere to be seen in the polls. There is no chance in hell that he will get the PN anywhere, let alone elected to government. 

Grech has a fundamental problem; he does not have it to lead or to inspire. Added to this, he simply cannot take decisions. He does not have the political acumen to take the party to any hights. 

The PN he leads has an existential problem. It does not know what it stands for. Two weeks ago, no matter what they said in public, PN diehards were pushing for Adrian Delia to replace Bernard Grech as interim leader with the hope that Robert Metsola would eventually take over.  The truth is that an interim leader needs to be a neutral figure not a divisive one. It is like an ill-thought coup d’etat. 

The truth is that the PN needs to get real, have a vision and find a new leader. If the PN wants to wait for Metsola to make up her mind, then it might as well open the gas and light a fire. 

On the other hand, if Metsola thinks that politics is like a menu a la carte, she is wrong. If she misses the bus now, she might as well forget coming back.   

The other solution is to find someone from within—a Darren Carabott, a Mark Anthony Sammut or an Alex Borg.    

I have the feeling that no one in the PN wants to be in politics or sacrifice their life to politics. Claudio Grech, one of the brighter minds the PN could have had as leader, simply disappeared unwilling to make the sacrifice. Others are simply too in with their money to care if there is an Opposition at all. 

The PN must get real and understand that in politics you cannot not have positions. Are you in favour or against hunting? Are you for the Manoel Island project or against it? Are you in favour or against euthanasia? Do you agree with more planning restrictions or not? Do you support the golden passport scheme or do you reject it?  Do you stand for something?  

The PN is always lagging, wondering whether it can find some reasoned riposte to a complex issue. In politics, the answers are usually black or white, yes or no, in favour or against. 

Then there is the other element in politics, with regards to issues and priorities.  The PN describes Malta as a country falling apart.   

The truth is that Malta is buzzing and there is so much money in people’s pockets that its simply overwhelming. The PN talks of over population, but most people know that without foreigners they would not be able to function. Restaurants would have no staff, hotels would be paralysed, hospitals and care homes unable to operate, buses incapable of running, construction sites unable to meet deadlines and the list goes on. 

The PN was always acting  as second fiddle to Repubblika, allowing the group to set the agenda.  The PN talks of poverty, and although there are deprived segments in our society, poverty is not what this country suffers from. The country in fact suffers from a materialistic culture that knows no bounds. 

Worst of all, the PN has no idea of how to respond to the economic boom that the country is experiencing. To avoid mentioning the obvious, the PN hangs on to the mantra of a corrupt country, and every so often calls for heads to roll and for people to resign.  

But the survey that is published today also talks of a sizeable angry party of non-voters. They almost certainly include people who want a better environment, a stop to big business dictating the rules, and yearn for political leaders who give them hope. 

The PN could do that if they understood what the game is all about. They could do that if they understand that they are not the party of ageing women at coffee mornings who cannot quite appreciate that this country has changed and needs change.   

When it comes to the Labour Party; it is a party that senses change and responds to it.  The U-turn on Manoel Island is a case in point. 

When the public lament and talk, the Labour government responds. And that is what saves it every time it starts to slip. 

Will it be exciting times ahead or a long hot summer? I suppose we have to wait and see.