Over the past few weeks, I have been campaigning for ‘a new way’ in politics. To some, that may seem vague and to others it may even seem scary, but I believe it is what is needed to strengthen our beloved Party and get back on the track of saving our country from the web of corruption in which it currently finds itself.

I may not be a politician, but I am a citizen of Malta and my concerns are the same as yours. I worry about the nepotism in government jobs and tenders; I worry about vindictive political transfers. I worry about the destruction of our environment, and the lack of planning for sustainable development. I worry about rising rents and the increase in poverty and I worry that the PL won by 40,000 votes even though they had a scandal-a-week type of tenure. I am concerned about the lack of direction our country is facing and the future of our children.

The good thing about those problems is that there are solutions – at least there are if they are identified and acted upon in time. To find those solutions, however, we need to stand united – as a Party and as a country – to ensure the Malta we love does not vanish before our eyes and that those who need our help can find it.

‘A new way’ of doing politics is not an abandonment of the old morals and values of the PN. In fact, should I win the PN Leadership election come Saturday 16 September, I intend to keep the Party’s ethos of integrity and honesty because, without these, we lose our whole identity.

I also intend to focus more on what every MP and every other candidate keeps reiterating: listening to the people. Yet listening to the people doesn’t mean that we hear them out and go about things the way we want to. Politics need to be done from the bottom-up, where we understand what is lacking and tackle those issues head on.

I want people – young and old – to get involved again. I want people to care about what their Party is doing and how it is performing. I want people to feel free to talk to the Party, to point out its flaws, to suggest changes and to lend a helping hand as the Party rebuilds itself stronger, more determined and more people-oriented than ever before.

We, together, can shape the agenda of the Party and keep the government accountable for all its shortcomings and wrong-doing. Even as I write, the PL continues to become stagnant in its ways: favouritism and free-for-alls may work in the short term for the few, but we need sustainability for the many, for our children and for our country.

I may not be a politician, granted. But I could be. And, should that happen, I promise three things: zero tolerance of corruption, a clear and transparent political agenda that is determined by the many, not the few and to look towards the future with a fresh and energetic outlook.

Let’s put our beloved Party back on the right path: not the path that arrogantly believes it has a God-given right to govern, but the path on which we slowly win back the country’s trust, day by day, household by household, citizen by citizen.

This is the only way.

This is my ‘new way’.

Let’s get to work, together.

 

Dr Delia is a candidate for the Nationalist Party leadership