There come moments in life that hit hard even though they would somewhat be expected, one day or another. These moments leave us speechless, and incapable of expressing ourselves about our emotions and the avalanche of thoughts rushing through our heads. Guido de Marco’s passing away had exactly that effect on me last week. He is the reason for me being in politics in the first place, and I have to admit that the news of his death shook me greatly.
Since my childhood, my mother and her family who hailed from Hamrun, often used to speak of Guido in very high esteem and admiration. Like several others, as I was growing up and approaching the Law course, I looked forward to having him as my lecturer in Criminal Law. Till this day I have very fond memories of his lectures: his immensely detailed analysis of every word that constitutes the law, his impeccable skill of constructing a logical argument, his superior command of the art of oratory, and his love for study and all academic. I owe my love for Criminal Law to him.
During the 1992 Electoral Campaign, I was a second-year Law student. As part of the campaign, Guido was accompanying Eddie for a walkabout in the shops of the Paola square. I still remember the shock of him introducing me, in the most categorical voice to Eddie as an upcoming and promising candidate for the fourth district. I was stunned. I had never expressed my self about the matter with him, nor him with me. Though I was a member of the PN Paola Sectional Committee, it had never crossed my mind to contest the elections as a candidate. He kept encouraging me, to the point that he asked me to address a gathering organised on his birthday. In 1996 I contested the elections on the Fourth District for the first time.
Guido convinced me to be a candidate and to start involving myself within the bodies of the party, when he told me what Nerik Mizzi had told him prior to his death: “If becoming a priest is a vocation, and becoming a lawyer is a profession, then entering politics is a mission”. Guido always saw politics as a mission. This is the reason why he worked hard and he loved greatly. That is why he was greatly loved in return. He did not have any political enemies, but political adversaries. He translated Nerik’s maxim, into a quest for consensus and not confrontation. He translated this mission, into a love for Malta, helping in the creation of the Maltese Independent State, and he laboured hard, even in adverse conditions, for this State to become a member of the European Union.
Guido, who came from a family of little means, always hammered the importance of the PN to be “a party at the centre that looks onto the left”. And I treasure this immensely. The PN should never forget its Social Conscience, its Christian Democrat moral fibre, striving for a caring society, governed by the rule of law.
I stayed close to him and his party. My wife and I were deeply honoured when he accepted in a heartbeat to be my witness at our wedding. That was merely five days into his Presidency of the Republic, and yet another occasion to show me what respect and one’s word of honour really meant to him. At the same time of our wedding, he had his first official engagement as President – Airmalta’s 20th anniversary. Obviously we had asked him to be my witness months before, so we were naturally worried. Typically Guido, he reassured us all would be fine, and not to worry. After the wedding Mass, he changed his clothes, and not without a graceful delay, he went for the Airmalta occasion, only to change back and return to the reception, and do the honours and mingle with our guests.
No matter how many appointments of high stature he held, both locally and internationally, he never missed the occasion to be with and amongst the people, both in joyful and in sad occasions. He used to care about everyone. That is why his memory will remain edged in the heart of this nation.
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