Simon Busuttil is such a nice person. There is steel in him but it is cloaked in velvet, in good manners, in soft words, and in words that are never spoken in anger or anxiety but always pondered before they are uttered.

Also, having said No once, he was too polite to say No a second time. When there was pressure, some years back, to appoint him the PN’s Secretary General, Simon Busuttil replied No thank you. He preferred his work in Brussels where he was, and still is, doing very well in the European Parliament.

That polite refusal left a vacuum inside the PN, which Paul Borg Olivier was quick to exploit and get himself elected as Secretary General. Charlo’ Bonnici left it too late and was pipped at the post.

Now that the odds are stacked against the PN, Simon has again received the call and this time he could not say No.

What he has found must make him regret he said No the first time. Or else he must be kicking himself for not saying No the second time.

The party is in absolute shambles and it has to rebuild its structures practically from scratch. I will come to the government machine in a second, but just as the government machine is full of mediocrities, the party machine is even worse.

The party, and by extension the government, seem to mistake party loyalty for professional preparation and it shows in everything they do.

Last week’s local council elections saw, in Dr Busuttil’s own words, a party in ‘electoral meltdown’. There was simply no campaign by the party. The uncertainty regarding Franco Debono paralysed the party in the preceding weeks. The party had no slogan, no campaign logo, no strategy. Candidates and localities were left to their own devices and only Mosta rose to the occasion, and even here it did not quite make it.

In Sliema, party supporters were caught up in the feuds between candidates belonging to different MPs and a council that ended up with multiple scandals. In St Julian’s, surprisingly in Żebbuġ, in Dr Debono’s own Żurrieq, and especially in St Paul’s Bay, thousands of PN supporters just did not vote.

Some blamed the atrocious weather but others said they wanted to deliver a stern warning to the party.

Two days before the election, Prime Minister Gonzi, emulating his grand-uncle who used to gad about in a huge car with a flag (the Pope’s) flying in front, went in grand style with (Maltese) flag flying and police outriders to open the new council offices in St Paul’s Bay – only for the mayor to be kicked out of her new office after just two days.

Now Dr Busuttil has been brought here (it is uncertain whether he can still hold on to his post as MEP) and miracles are expected to happen. He was right to warn miracles are not his forte.

Being an intelligent guy, he can also realise that the people who called him back to clear the mess are the ones who caused the mess in the first place. And by staying at their post, they have made it even more impossible to clear the mess. The Prime Minister himself, by concocting the charade of a leadership contest in which he was the sole candidate, has made things even worse for himself and also for the party which is now locked in the 96 per cent support it gave him thus eliminating any possibility of real change this side of the election. That massive vote has only ensured that those who want change in the party and in the government can forget it. The only change they will probably get is a change of government. Things are far too gone to be turned around now.

Even before the government collapses, the knives are out. Franco Debono has it in for Richard Cachia Caruana, just as he previously had it in for Edgar Galea Curmi, just as even before that he had it in for Carm Mifsud Bonnici. Other critics have other targets. Polls are already being drawn on who Gonzi’s successor can be, that is, assuming Gonzi loses the election.

Now the powers that have brought Simon Busuttil back seem to be trying to get the government to last as far as it will stretch, that is, pace Franco Debono, till next March.

That would indicate that they hope to meet the people who did not go and vote, those who are reported to be sceptical or critical about the party and see what their complaints are and meet their demands in the intervening months. This was the bazaar atmosphere that prevailed in 2008.

But let Dr Busuttil know this: most of those people who were called to meet Dr Gonzi in 2008 have not been contacted since then. Most of their complaints are still there. Maybe their demands could not be met, but nobody seems to have had the guts to tell them. How can anybody now expect them to become lambs again just because they get to meet humble and meek Dr Busuttil?

But an even more important issue goes beyond this micro-managing. The country wants change, needs change. By confirming Dr Gonzi with a massive vote of confidence the party, not for the first time (it did so on the divorce issue) read the signals wrong and reacted in a very predictable but not very wise way. Himself confirmed, Dr Gonzi has, so far, not shown any inclination to change the composition of his team. The little tinkering of the past months have shown that the party and government machine is not delivering well and the main culprits who have brought the government into disrepute are still all there. They have mainly kept their power bases – their ministries, the agencies, authorities and corporations. Not only was the head of government not changed when he has patently run his course, but even ministers have become irremovable. What can the PN offer its voters as an incentive to go out and vote?

Dr Busuttil is no fool but he can find himself sidelined in firefighting, in solving the problems of individuals or small groups. He has been thrust in front while behind him all the power bosses will keep their fingers in the pie and behind them all the mediocrities in the structure keep their well-earned posts beyond their level of (in-)competence and he is expected to turn this thing around.

The only glimmer of hope I can find for the PN is that for all its 56 per cent and upwards share, the Labour vote does not seem to have included switch-overs. The Labour local council thrashing was obtained by PN abstentions, not defections. Labour is still appealing to its traditional tribal support.

Dr Busuttil must search for the lever, and this lever cannot be the recounting of past achievements (some of dubious credibility) nor of the ‘success’ during the recession, but proposals that affect what is felt to be going wrong by the normal man (and woman) in the street. The day after the 2008 election, Dr Gonzi was cynically cruel by doing away with the people he felt let his government down in the previous legislature. But then, the people he retained have not been much of an improvement. He has now tied them to him in a death’s embrace. If Dr Busuttil is in any way to save the party he must not join in this death’s embrace. He must present the alternative.

[email protected]