Next Wednesday, Republic Day, the two major political parties hit the trail. The end of year marathons will get underway and by the end of the evening hopefully each party will be better financed to meet their ever growing financial commitments.

I suppose that once again throngs of supporters will turn up at Pietà and have a look at the construction phase of the second part of the Nationalist Party Headquarters and donate funds. If they do not make the trip they will still make their donation using the telephone. The edifice in itself is substantial in size but in reality there is a very important message to send in all this. The rebuilding of the said property is intended to modernise the infrastructure of a building which serves not only as the place of employment of all those connected one way or another with the Nationalist Party but also as the hub from where party politics are thought up, discussed, analysed, and developed into policies.

In a country where we strongly believe in democratic principles, the Nationalist Party has been the backbone to assure that the Rule of Law reigns and that the fundamental rights of each and every citizen are respected and not coerced.

The people at Herbert Ganado Street, Pietà have to ensure that the atrocities that were inflicted upon so many during the seventies and eighties under the various Labour administrations do not occur again. We have a very important mission to perform. One tends to repeat what happened lest we forget, however it is more important to look back at what we have achieved in order to have people understand that there is no other Party worthy of their vote come next election.

Back in 1987 the PN, when voted into Government, opted for a radical change from what was an egocentric administration totally devoid of ideas to a government advocating an open market administration. The private sector was relieved to see the restrictions imposed on the various importers and private entrepreneurs no longer held ground. The days of employing people under military style conditions were out and eventually we arrived at a situation in which the economy performed well enough as to make it possible for the private sector to practically employ all those who were really willing to work.

The question of downtrodden fundamental human rights was addressed. The Constitutional Court was re-constituted. Unions really once again started representing and clamouring for the rights of employees and not act as the governing party’s lap dog. Violent incidents, which had become common practice against Nationalist supporters during political meetings in the eighties, as well as the beating up of individuals who were called in to the Police Depot (not to mention the death of Leonard Debono at the hands of police officials), became a thing of the past, a shameful dark page in the country’s history. And by the way, we regained the right of association and freedom of speech and expression. The police were no longer going out of their way to frame-up people, like Peter Paul Busuttil, for a criminal office they did not commit.

With the change in government, choice of food became a reality. We could even start legally eating “Mars” and “Cadbury Chocolate” and after that have “Colgate” toothpaste to brush our teeth with. Fruit became abundant and the Bulk Buying importation by the friends of friends went out of style.

On the education level – tertiary students grew by the thousands in number and Church school operators were no longer under threat of closure. University, MCAST, and other tertiary education colleges have emerged. In the primary and secondary education sectors various foundations have established the right for private education to be another of those privileges now taken for granted.

On top of all this, the dire needs of our infrastructure were addressed; be it our telephone system, a new airport, water desalination plants, a new power station and the construction of a new roads network. Of course one must not forget Labour’s total opposition to all these. “We do not need them,”they said. At one moment during the debate for the construction of the new power station the Opposition members resorted to noisy demonstrations in Parliament and the damaging of some of the benches there.

Then we applied to become members of the European Union. We worked hard and got the desired results. Labour objected. Their policy of isolation included calling various top EU officials Taliban, not to mention that biting off of their tongues topped the MLP agenda. In March 2003, we had a referendum which was won by 54 per cent against 46 per cent and yet the Labour Party claimed victory only to lose a general election some five weeks later.

Not withstanding all this, the Labour leaders wish to return to the good old days of the seventies and eighties. I can hardly remember what was good then on a national and political level!

We, the Nationalist party in Government have achieved a lot. We have worked hard. We have made mistakes too – but then who does not? But we have made giant strides in so many aspects of our country’s life:

• addressing the financial deficit;

• ensuring the economic growth of the country;

• tackling the environment problems;

• sustaining the ever growing needs in the Health and Care of the elderly sector;

• seeing to the social needs of those who are really in need;

• and backing up the evermore important education and employment effort.

All this starts off with an idea in Pietà.

Party Headquarters, where we have had many hours of meetings that at times were held in not so comfortable surroundings, had become too small. This is why we needed to upgrade. As the challenges grow bigger, we need more space and modern surroundings to assure the right environment for us to work in, for the better of the nation and for the true benefit of our citizens and children.

Tony Abela is Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister