PN appeals to ‘lost sheep’ in Birzebbugia

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi took the PN's campaign directly to the most hotly contested electoral battleground yesterday: addressing a reasonable turnout (considering the weather) under the traditional tent in his home town of Birzebbugia.

Candidates Jason Azzopardi, David Casa, Manuel Mallia, Mark Anthony Sammut, Tony Bezzina and Mark Rizzo Naudi all took turns addressing the assembly before him, and most prefaced their contributions by thanking (to considerable applause) past Nationalist stalwarts of the fifth district: including  Louis Galea and Helen Damato, noth of whom received multiple mentions.

Surely it would not have escaped constituents' notice that both these veterans had been ousted on their district by Franco Debono - who, for obvious reasons, went unmentioned in the accolades. But even if unintentional, this curious evocation of the wayward former Nationalist MP seemed to linger throughout proceedings: underscoring the immense strategic importance for the PN of this pivotal district, in the heart (as it were) of 'enemy territory'.

The Prime Minister himself seemed conscious of this: throughout his intervention he repeatedly stressed the extreme urgency of the last few days of the campaign.

Perhaps taking his cue from Bezzina - who had earlier listed out a whole series of embellishment projects in the south over the past few years - Gonzi placed much emphasis on the local environment: reminding his listeners how his administration had decided, on the grounds of public safety, to remove the gas bottling plant of Qajjenza to a new location at a safe distance from human habitation.

This, he said, marked the difference between the two parties. With its energy proposals, Labour was planning to do the precise opposite, and site two gas tanks (each the size of Mosta Dome) bang in the middle of a residential zone.

He urged Birzebbugia residents to use their vote to send a clear message to Joseph Muscat: "We don't need your energy proposal. We don't want it."

Turning his attention speficially to first-time voters, Gonzi stressed that the PN was the safest choice for those who were concerned with jobs. Alluding to the European Commission's recent assessment - which places Malta sixth out of the EU for economic growth prospects, and fourth for job creation among youths - he  insisted that "with the PN, you know where you stand."

On the contrary, the PL was still stuck in its old ways. Gonzi reminded his listeners how Muscat had criticised every reform his government had undertaken - singling out the dockyard and Sea Malta provatisations as examples - and even took his followers to the streets in protest. But his government was of the view that such entites should be privatised to relive government of a burden and allow for investment in such sectors as education... and everyone could see that the countrry was in a better state as a result.

Similar themes had dominated earlier interventions. Transport Authority official Manuel Delia gave a broad outline of the government's technological innovations - recalling how Labour had scoffed at them for introducing computers to schools in 1995. Many of the children who benefited from those computers were now employed in the IT sector and elsewhere, he added. The same PN had also safeguarded the liberty of Maltese citizens. This is why, Delia stressed, the PN was the party of liberty; the party of trechnology; and the party of the future.

On his part, MEP David Casa recounted an anecdote concerning a young woman from a local Nationalist family who told him she was going to vote Labour because they were 'cool'.

That woman was present here tonight, he announced to a burst of applause - adding that the reason she had changed her mind was the fracas at MCAST last week.

Referring to this woman as one of several "lost sheep", Casa expressed his hope that more lost sheep would similarly return to the fold as they invetibaly  realised that the PN was the more serious choice.

Whether he himself realised he was echoing former Labour Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici before the 1987 election is, however, another matter.