It is true that when the Partit Nazzjonalista lost the 2013 election there was a discomfort amongst the ordinary person that their interests had been set aside and dismissed as puerile and could not be taken seriously in view of the opportunity, growth and wealth that had been generated under them.  

If the electorate could not appreciate the greater good and the safe hands they were in, then they could risk it all again and throw away their well-being in favour of a new Labour that was nothing more than the old Labour in a born-again church.

Once a family has their basic needs and quality of life on a secure footing, then they start to look for something more.   More for their children, more for themselves.  And the electricity bills that slapped them right in the middle of their young ambitions, were a confirmation of the attitude that had come to define the PN. 

Labour saw what the PN had done in delivering new horizons to the public and knew that they would have to do better than them, promise more and seize on the capital that had been created to deliver change, whilst not making the worker pay for anything and taking all responsibility away from the citizens and concentrating it in the hands of specially selected entrepreneurs and front-men like Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi, under the stewardship of Joseph Muscat.

It was as though someone had come in their residence and said give me your bills, I will pay them for you but don’t complain about anything ever and leave it to Joseph.  Then a little tinkering here and there and it was easy enough to identity what “paying the bills” meant to different groups.  After the electricity sham came the hunters and construction.  Till today they are still raking it in. 

Defeat swooped into the doors of Dar Centrali and the PN scrambled to find a hole in which they could find refuge.  First they turned away anyone who had been connected to the past success and went on a blame crusade, including their own achievements and then they stripped themselves of their mind and joined the masses in saying that they need to reconnect with the people and listen to them. 

Out came the discussion groups, the forum groups, the clusters, the youth groups, the electoral manifests that disconnected more than re-connected with the public opinion and finally, capitulation in full with the election of a new “anything but the past” leader in the form of Adrian Delia.

Come 2017 and new focus groups and the on/off affair with Simon Busuttil and the “born-again Labour” once more sang the Kumbaya to the impatient populace and their still alive hopes, riding the gravy train to unimagined territory and new frontiers.

And here we are again.  A small shift in thinking has taken place in as much as it has been seen that the eradication of history and honour of the PN, taking it down a slope never imagined before was not working at all.  You cannot stop the truth from surfacing.  At the eleventh hour, the members found their mind and did some revision of the past and properly elected Bernard Grech to be the new leader of the party.

Once again, the cluster groups are brought out and the mantra to become close to the people, to unite and listen and make space for everyone.  Might as well bring out the lycra leggings and the shopping trolley.

The question arises, how does this differ from what Labour do?  Why bother removing Delia if all we get is a new face? 

If anyone gets close to the people it’s Labour.  They call you, they know what you are cooking for lunch, what side of the bed you sleep on, they know how far they can depend on you to vote them in again and they are able to unite under a now defunct corrupt leader and his puppet and what to tell you come election time so that turning away from them is like turning from your mother’s breast.  If its blood pressure pills you need, they will be delivered to your door along with a roly-poly.

The PN is not ever going to convince by presenting itself as an “alternative government” to a government that is not a government in the actual meaning of the word but is a gang of non-governmental interests.  The NGO of the NGOs.  This super NGO decides on construction, on immigration, on the environment, on education, on health, on social care, on civil rights and on the Marigold Foundation.  Its emblem is more properly that of the FKNK than it is of the torch. 

Why on earth would the PN want to take part in this cluster-wreck?

Get the hell out would be the wisest thing to do at this time. 

By that, we mean, enough with the people posts and look instead at building a new civil society.  That will take into account areas where mistakes were made but it will go back to our roots as a country and everything that we once held to be important and take it to a new level of engagement and discernment.  Where Delia was unable to participate in a new civil society due to his compromised position, Bernard Grech is able to go confidently forward and should make sure to have his voice heard amongst the others.  Go to the streets.  Delia never called a mass meeting and could not even get Independence Day to happen.  Let Labour start counting not just the numbers in the crowd but the days.

Listen to truth and justice, listen to experience and to hard-working and loyal Maltese who want their country back.  Boris Johnson won Brexit with Take Back Control.  Actually, we need something like that right now.  Last week Abela may have come close to selling out the last bit of Malta and signing a SOFA deal, in order to save Muscat from investigation or to turn public opinion against the US.  Backs rose.  President emeritus, former minister and Labour Party district heavyweight, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca drew the line and called on the PM to desist.  We, all of us, starting from the PN must see that we have a duty to stop legitimizing the false governance.

People are starting to look again at what was done on the Borg Olivier and the Eddie Fenech Adami years.  It is not about turning the clock back and reverting to a conservatism that denies people their honest choices and freedom.  But it is about restoring faith in ourselves and caring about a society which includes everyone and not just the top dogs. 

Bernard Grech has an opportunity to turn things around.  Not just to lose the election by a lesser landslide but to actually win it.  PN is Back would be more convincing than any cluster groups or forums and discussions.  Bring back the direction and take up the challenge of public speaking, of working together and give the country fresh courage and strong positions against corruption. This is not the time for small thinking.  Les jeux sont fait.  If the members chose Grech over Delia it means that they don’t want more of the same, even though his gloves are whiter.  Ditch maintaining the irrigation system and go for getting the land back first and foremost.

Bring back Malta.  We need our country back.  We need our towns and villages, our jobs and our sun-lit houses back.  We want our coast, our sea, our green areas, our peace and our dignity back.  We want our elderly back.  We want our families back. 

We want Labour gone.  Muscat, Schembri and Mizzi included. We want murderers to pay.  We want villains and crooks off our shore.