[Watch] No answer as to why PN left out Bondì from ‘sticker album’

Chris Said on PN's 'meritocracy' hall of shame • Video: Ray Attard

PN secretary-general Chris Said has said that being a relative of Labour Party officials and others serving the Labour administration “does not mean [they] cannot take on employment with the government.”

The secretary-general was asked about the PN’s mock ‘sticker album’ of Labour Party officials, MPs, trade unionists and other family relatives in political appointments whom it said formed part of “200 examples of how Labour is spending money.”

The album, which included people like retired judge Philip Sciberras, appointed to the bench by former PN minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, does not include Lou Bondì, the former PBS broadcaster and PN executive who now occupies a salaried position on the national festivities committee.

“The album shows what a gimmick the government’s meritocracy pledge was… it is spending millions on its clique,” Said told MaltaToday when asked about the album’s personages.

But he did not reply as to why Lou Bondì, a darling of the PN establishment before the past election, had not been included in the ‘sticker album’.

“We need to keep in mind that this was a government elected under the premise of meritocracy. When it came to funding the Cabinet and upgrading the working conditions of the ‘billboard people’, it seems as if government found the money,” Said said.

The two questions remained, largely, unanswered.

Said was speaking at a televised press conference, held at the PN headquarters in Pieta’. In a last-ditch appeal to television viewers for them to vote for the Nationalist candidates at the Saturday MEP elections – a team of candidates which he described as being “clean and honest” -  Said said that the PN was intent on fulfilling its electoral slogan of making the country a ‘better Malta (Malta Ahjar).

“These candidates are convinced about the benefits of Malta being a part of the European Union,” he said. “This party wants a better Malta, a better Europe, and a better Malta within Europe.”

He said that gearing up for another election a mere fourteen months after it had lost the general election by a 36,000 majority was always going to prove difficult. “People need to keep in mind that we are going into this election with a big disadvantage.”

Describing the PN as the “voice of the people”, Said explained that in the immediate aftermath of that defeat, the party had embarked on a transitional period. “We faced administrative and financial challenges, and we underwent the necessary organic and structural changes.”

“However, this never stopped us from bringing up the issues which were dear to the Maltese,” he said. “Today, we have a good mix of experienced people and fresh ones with one thing in common – the love for this country.”

The PN secretary-general also took a swipe at government, claiming that it was “ignoring” the concerns of the people, highlighting the case of the LNG-storage unit in Marsaxlokk and the way it handled the Individual Investor Programme.

Said also laid into government for not having published the Henley & Partners contract yet. He said that government was “using every excuse” to delay its publication.