Francis Zammit Dimech | Renewal through experience and communication

Speaking to weekly newspaper Illum, Nationalist Party leadership contender and long-time party stalwart Francis Zammit Dimech says that the PN is in need of his extensive experience not only as someone who has risen gradually through the party's ranks and served at ministerial level for many years, but also as an able communicator and a unifying factor.

Explaining that he was pushed to contest out of a sense of duty towards the party in its time of need, Zammit Dimech tells Illum that he puts much stock by teambuilding, and says that he has excellent credentials in that regard.

He also dismisses the notion that his age puts him at a disadvantage when compared to his younger adversaries which include former minister Mario de Marco and deputy PN leader Simon Busuttil.

"I hope that my age is the only problem people see in me," he said lightly, while pointing out that a leadership team is not composed of one person alone.

"Ultimately I also look towards the fact that the party needs a leadership team, and it still remains to be seen how it will be formed. I have no doubt that this team needs to bring together experience and energy. Incidentally a person's age shouldn't be seen by itself, and what counts ultimately is what a person has to offer."

Zammit Dimech also notes that the choice that will be before the PN's 900-strong body of councillors "is a difficult one" but suggests that what the councillors might have in mind are not the same considerations that the rest of the population are looking towards.

"I did not go into this with an analysis of my prospects in mind, but out of a sense of duty which told me that I had an obligation to be of service to the party. In light of this, I leave the decision to the councillors, whatever it may be."

Regarding the party's way forward, Zammit Dimech insists that the party must return to its roots and give greater weight to its internal structures and members, such as its activists, committees, and its councillors.

"These people are like the fingers on the hands of the party," Zammit Dimech says, adding that it is during troubled times that the party has to feel its way through these fingers. "If those fingers are not given value, it means that the messages they are sending up are not being appreciated as much as they should be.

Read the full interview in today's issue of Illum