A couple of weeks ago the Nationalist Party suffered a loss, which to the public’s perception may be one of the worst losses. This being mainly because this round of local council elections has been almost always a PN majority. In fact the low turnout left a disastrous result on those local councils previously with a PN majority.
This may be the right time to do some soul searching. And the Nationalist Party needs to take stock of what is happening as in just over two years the PN will be facing not a local election but a general election.
There are a number of issues why people did not turn out to vote. Some may have felt indifferent or were not interested, but others were negatively hit by personal issues or issues of a national level.
A lot has been said and written but one thing remains certain, the party must learn from the past in order to look to the future. It has been said several times by many that it is necessary to listen to what the grassroots are saying as they are the ones that elect the party into power.
However, that is what the Prime Minister has been doing for the past months. The Office of the Prime Minister has organised a series of dialogues related to the e805 million that Malta will be getting from the EU. Besides this, each ministry has a customer care department to listen to what the general public has to say.
Therefore, it is only natural that a number of questions come to mind. Why is the message not getting across? Why is it that it is not reaching Joe Public? The PN needs to evaluate its methods of communication. The PN has all the modern means of communication but facts are showing that maybe these are not being used effectively.
The MLP propaganda machine keeps sending out negative messages that seem to leave their mark. As a party in opposition, they have everything to win and little to lose. It is very easy for the MLP to criticise although they never come up with concrete proposals.
The Prime Minister on several occasions said that in the past months tough decisions had to be taken, the results of which will be felt in the long term.
In the meantime there is no easy way of giving a negative reply but the human approach must always be adopted. The worst thing that can happen in customer care is that a customer remains without a reply. A customer must always feel that s/he has been listened to and his/her problem is being addressed, even if not with the result expected.
As party ambassadors, PN activists must have the courage to explain negative replies and not run away from them. Unfortunately those hit by national issues are somewhat different. Everybody received the water and electricity bills with the surcharge but not everyone is reaping the fruit of the investment that the PN government is bringing to the country.
By nature, we are an impatient people who want to see tangible results immediately. A concrete example is EU funding and projects through which the government is carrying out a variety of projects, from infrastructural to educational. During a recent conference organized by the MEPs representing the PN, a number of speakers highlighted initiatives that are being taken by government organisations, NGOs and the private industry all thanks to Malta’s membership into the EU. But it seems that if the people do not feel that there is any personal gain they do not appreciate what is being achieved.
On the other hand ministers need to evaluate complaints. Although not every complainant has a reason to complain, constructive criticism must always be evaluated. We must never let bureaucracy strangle us.
Bureaucracy should be a tool for government to ensure that policies are executed and it should not end up as an obstacle in the hands of people whose agenda is to stop the government from succeeding. It is important for ministers and parliamentary secretaries to ensure that those trusted with the responsibility to carry out government policy do this without any conflict of interest. At times it is very difficult to strike a balance. Some members of the public still expect our politicians to dictate rather than direct and think that a minister can overrule every decision taken by a public servant.
Although this is not the case, since we are living in a truly democratic society, it is still the government’s responsibility to show the public that it is the one running the country as their elected representative and not a few who don’t represent anybody but themselves.
Michelle Mallia is president of the Nationalist Party Women’s Movement