[WATCH] Delia’s advisors chose personal grudges over party, former executive president claims

The former president of the PN’s executive committee said a number of bad decisions have led to many in the party’s lack of faith in its leader

Mark Anthony Sammut claimed that a number of successive bad decisions have led to a lack of faith in the party leader
Mark Anthony Sammut claimed that a number of successive bad decisions have led to a lack of faith in the party leader

The former president of the Nationalist Party’s executive committee Mark Anthony Sammut has claimed that some of those advising party leader Adrian Delia have put their own interests ahead of the party’s and have been a main contributor to the current state of affairs.

Speaking during an interview on Dissett this evening, Sammut said while there were those who had not accepted Delia from the start, others had lost faith in him as a result of a number of bad decisions he was advised to take.

“Some of those advising the leader were more interested in what suited them, and maybe the grudges they had, than in what was most beneficial to the leader and the party,” Sammut said, stopping short of referring to any one person specifically. “The lack of faith there is in the leader isn’t only coming from those who didn't not accept him from the start, but the result of successive bad decisions.”

Sammut resigned from his post as president of the party last Saturday, by way of assuming responsibility for the PN’s historic electoral defeat in the local council and European Parliament elections. He appealed to those with “more responsibilities” to do the same

“Starting with the leader, to the secretary general and the rest of them,” he said, when asked specifically who he believed needed to shoulder responsibility.

READ MORE: PN executive president Mark Anthony Sammut resigns: ‘Result is disastrous and others should do the same’

Sammut again insisted that it was unacceptable for some to blame voters for the result, adding that those trying to make the argument that the PN had “consolidated its base” or had reduced the gap with the Labour Party were simply taking people for a ride.

When it was pointed out that, to be fair to Delia and his administration, the result was to some degree expected, and that a new leadership couldn’t be expected to win an election immediately, Sammut agreed, but said he would have at least expected was for the situation not to get worse.

“When you remember that the government has been in power for six years and has made one mistake after another, when you consider that [the PN] has a leader who is new and who is supposed to have no baggage and who is fresh and in his prime,” Sammut said.

“The fact that, not only did we not remain in the same situation, but instead went six steps backwards means responsibility should be shouldered.”

Ultimately, he said that the present leadership needed to say be humble enough to admit that, despite doing its best, it had not succeeded in turning things around, and should wake may for someone who could.

He also highlighted that the present environment within the party was such that it was not conducive to people speaking up about different issues, out of fear of being labelled a traitor.

On the controversy surrounding last Saturday’s executive committee vote, where it later transpired that two members who voted were in fact not eligible to do so, Sammut insisted that it wasn’t the president’s role to prepare the list of voters.

“I always had faith in the secretariat, in the secretary general and the political coordinator that always prepared these lists. I simply ensuring that the vote proceeded according to the list,” he said.

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