This week has been one of endless mirth and entertainment. Ever since Bernard Grech announced the appointment of Chris Peregin to drive the Nationalist Party’s election campaign all sorts of wannabes have been making their voices heard, usually in disappointment.

There were others, even from people who harboured secret ambitions who came out of the woodwork, but the pride of place must go to Saviour Balzan who dedicated not one but two articles of bile, to use the term he used to dedicate to Daphne Caruana Galizia.

But of course Saviour had been there, done that. When he hosted a select group of journalists to the upper dining hall at The Hilton to introduce John Dalli to us in the week before the party was to choose between Dalli and Lawrence Gonzi, Saviour was claiming to become Gonzi’s RCC.

Richard Cachia Caruana was the template to which many of his critics aspired to become.

Some, like Saviour, hitched up to an already affirmed candidate. Others, like Pierre Portelli, chose a non-candidate like Adrian Delia, and turned him into one, and a strong one at that.

Even before that Simon Busuttil had chosen Caroline Muscat for this position. She has not come out, to my knowledge, to tell us what kind of internal support or opposition she found but we know by now that key figures in the party structure were preparing to build up the successor.

Saviour was quite right in his criticism of Peregin’s appointment. Not only because of his well-known championing of liberal causes that would fit rather awkwardly on the PN's core, his campaign against party stations (he is right) but also because of his habit of sudden friendships with those he had been criticising, like Ian Borg. Like Balzan himself.

Peregin then penned an article straight out of PN Central Casting which confirmed all the reservations people were having. Here was the man who had made his name for criticising the party suddenly become the party’s prime evangelist.

The first rule for every budding politician is consistency. You break this rule at your peril.

Another aspect highlighted by Saviour and others was the series of sudden changes in his youthful experience – from Air Malta’s publicist to the founder of Lovin Malta. He is a man who is not afraid to take risks and has come out, at least in the latter part, a winner.

But it’s quite a different task to do that with a party, one with mass appeal, with a long history and tradition, and one suffering from high internal strife and a long series of defeats.

I still feel, however, that Grech and Peregin are barking up the wrong tree. Their sole aim and intention is to get the PN back to power the soonest possible.

I believe that the PN in its present format is simply unelectable. Take the grey-listing issue – the party is still held back by many officials who in their daytime job still sell passports and offer brass-plate services to foreign investors.

Bernard Grech surely knows the names of the miscreants but is unwilling or unable to remove them. Once in office he will find himself prevented from taking the steps his electorate is being promised just as Eddie found his subordinates doing deals that bound up the new administration for the years to come.

The challenges that Malta is facing are so huge as to be beyond the efforts of any one party, however well-intentioned it may be.

The present charade of party politics on the edge of the volcano cannot go on.

The grey-listing issue is by far the most serious and reverting it will be hard-going. Do not believe the placatory smooth promises being made, especially by the prime minister who’s promising to solve the matter by the time the election is over.

The long list of names mentioned by Repubblika in their event outside the Police Headquarters this week is not a list of convicted criminals but a list of names the police may be interested to speak to.

But this can’t be done as long as they enjoy some sort of protection.

The Covid pandemic is the second huge challenge the country is facing. We have had enough examples of wrong decisions being taken. Does Bernard Grech offer any guarantee he will do better for he seems as eager as his counterpart to listen and maybe give in to the voices of business?

The only serious solution the country has is for all sides to climb down from their hobby-horses, learn some humility, forego spin, learn to work together, and forget personal ambitions.

Neither party shows any intention to open up to the non-party non-core voices that can be heard around the country thanks to the social media.

That is one area that Peregin should be conversant with but his party’s media is the one that resists outsiders most.

One last thing: in the midst of all this the country’s finances have greatly deteriorated. The huge loss of revenue is not being stemmed and people are still being recruited by a no-problem government. Other, more careful, governments are doing far more.

Somehow I feel Peregin is more tuned in to spinning in the civil liberties area (as if we need more) than to look to save a penny.

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