PN’s foundations are honesty and truth – Busuttil

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said his leadership will be marked by a persistence to pursue the path of righteousness and honesty, in an address on Net TV during a fund-raiser by the Nationalist Party.

Reacting to a question from interviewer and former MEP candidate Norman Vella, Busuttil said the scandals making headlines should not be used for electoral purposes.

“Something that concerns me is that people view politicians and politics as ‘dirty’… I am sorry that it’s the prime minister’s way of doing politics that is tarnishing politics, in the way that he keeps certain matters under wraps and reveals them until an election is upon us. If you are a prime minister, you report these matters,” Busuttil said.

The PN is currently under pressure by allegations from a Gozitan whistleblower who carried out construction works for constituents at the behest of civil servant Anthony Debono, the husband of former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono, and for which he was paid from the ministerial budget. The matter is being investigated by the police.

“I think the public is capable of choosing between what is right and wrong. The strong foundations I want to build this party on are honesty and truth – which means clean politics. And when scandals affect my party, I have to show that I am ready to take tough decisions, to show that we are capable a new way of doing politics,” Busuttil said, without referring to his having suspended former ministers Michael Falzon and Ninu Zammit for keeping undeclared money in Swiss bank accounts.

“Hard though it may be, I am still determined to stay on this path,” Busuttil said.

Busuttil also said that the PN’s campaign for the 11 April local council elections remains entirely focussed on local councils that will be facing elections this year.

“Our campaign has been inside these localities, carrying out many door-to-door visits, in the party clubs, to go to people directly.

“We’ve had good feedback. Labour voters and Nationalist voters who switched to Labour have opened their doors to the PN. I am trying to rebuild the PN by reaching out to these voters, and ask them how we can build the bridge anew and learn from the mistakes we made,” the PN leader said.

But Busuttil also said he was realistic about the PN making remarkable inroads in an election that Joseph Muscat’s Labour could be poised to win, as the prime minister retains remarkable trust ratings since being voted in power two years ago.

“I am realistic. I know I started two years ago with 36,000 votes under. These are not votes that one wins back overnight. When you consider these elections are for councils that most already have Labour majorities, I don’t expect to reverse these results. Despite starting off on this campaign with this disadvantage, we are working with determination,” Busuttil said.

He said that the Opposition had made a difference in these two years when Labour had threatened to scuttle local council elections for 2015 by postponing them to the next round of council elections so that all 65 localities would have one major election.

“The Labour government wanted to remove this elections, but they had to be retained because we insisted on keeping them. Democracy is a principle one does not play around with. Our expectations are to show voters that we are here, that the PN is back in business,” Busuttil said.

He said one of the PN’s greatest challenges while in Opposition was that voters often turned to the party in government in times of need. “I want the Opposition to make the difference, even in people’s lives. Take the local council elections: had we not piled on the pressure, these elections would not even be taking place. Take fuel prices – it was thanks to our pressure that fuel prices were reduced, when we said that it was not possible that the price of crude oil had decreased without fuel prices being reduced. Take the scandal that saw Manuel Mallia being dismissed – it was [the PN] who revealed this case. And we made the difference because a government with a nine-seat majority sacked one of its own ministers,” Busuttil said.

The PN leader toasted his party’s success in rebuilding itself and embarking on a process to present itself as an alternative government to the Muscat administration. “The PN general conference was one of the changes the PN brought in, and its aim was to open up to new people and a part of society that we were not reaching out to. Once we opened the door, these people came through, giving us their ideas and influencing us. Several of these people who came to Idea Malta eventually decided to become candidates for these elections.”