The decision by the top officials of the Nationalist Party, fronted internally by Administrative Council President Dr Karol Aquilina, to stop talented media presenters who are to contest the coming general election from continuing with their television and radio programmes, is yet another kneejerk reaction by a party which seems to be struggling to get a grip on how to topple Joseph Muscat’s movement of sorts.

From a party in total disarray just after the 2013 election, the PN’s new leader Simon Busuttil managed to instantly administer a dose of excitement to a few people who, before the 2013 election, had not even considered stepping into the Stamperija, let alone offer their services as radio and television hosts.

Among these was a Mr David Thake who, love his style or hate it, single-handedly attracted an audience to Radio 101 comprised mostly of disgruntled Nationalists and others who voted Labour but who almost immediately realised their error of judgement.

Most of these voters still couldn’t bring themselves to trust the PN at such an early juncture after the 2013 drubbing at the polls, but people like David Thake were speaking their language and they began listening in droves. 

Indeed there were moments when Thake strayed from the interests of the party and set his own agenda. But what should one expect when, according to insiders, no one ever sat down with the man to discuss direction? What he did on that show was the product of his own thoughts and efforts, placing his livelihood at risk since he is not a Member of Parliament but, instead, a manager of his own business.

So the PN has a weapon that clearly irked the guys in Castile, since Mr Thake has been the target of ridicule by the likes of Glen Bedingfield, and what do they do? They oust him from an already moribund party media in order to set a level playing field for other general election candidates. This equally applies to other media personalities who possess the gift of communicating with people over the airwaves, such as Alessia Psaila Zammit and Graziella Schembri.

What Karol Aquilina should have done was to call in all candidates and explain to them that some people are gifted with communication skills while others are great doctors, or excellent accountants or, ironically, sharp and witty lawyers - and that in the best interests of the party winning the next general election these media personalities will stay on air until the eve of the election.

Instead, the PN ousted some of its best speakers to placate those who can hardly string a sentence together when faced with a camera or a microphone.

How far will the party take this outdated policy?  In the past when John Bundy and Clyde Puli were young candidates on the PN ticket, the party fought tooth and nail with the electoral commission to keep them on the airwaves doing what they did best. So why not now?

Will, for example, PN-elected mayors be asked to refrain from holding events and/or launching new initiatives in their towns and villages in an effort to maintain this level playing field for all general election candidates? Should doctors stop seeing patients in case they rake a vote or two out of that level playing field?

And to add insult to injury, the PN seems to have encouraged the ousted media personalities to set up their own shows elsewhere. How’s that for a level playing field? So if for example a local businessman is looking to invest in a future MP, he or she will simply throw a handful of thousands at a media platform that will help the personality get elected, and expect to reap the fruits at a later stage. 

It is in moments when a party is in distress that its generals need to group every possible legionary under one roof and distribute tasks according to their skills. The PN’s obsession with procedure will only result in a devastating electoral result, again.