I will always refer to PN as “we,” not because I am currently active in the party, but because I see it as part of my extended family. I was brought up in the party, campaigning for the European Union, helping out during elections, running as a candidate myself, and spending a large part of my life at Dar Centrali. It is no small feat, and for that reason, I will always consider PN my family. Today however, it’s time for a total regeneration.
With that being said, we are at a crossroads. Although changing the leader halfway through a legislature isn’t ideal, that is where we find ourselves once again. Replacing the leader alone will not solve the deep-rooted issues PN is facing today. If we simply change the leader without renewing ourselves, we will only waste more precious time, time that this country cannot afford to lose any longer.
PN needs to go through a process of regenerating itself from the roots up, not from the leader down. Regeneration should be PN’s number one priority. History is always the best teacher, and if we look at what the great Dr. Fenech Adami did when he took over the party, we will see that his first important task was to bring everyone together. Thanks to the late Fr. Peter Serracino Inglott, they came up with a master plan for what the party stands for. Fehmiet Bazici, which I prefer to translate into English as Core Principles rather than Basic Principles, was Dr. Fenech Adami’s guide to what PN represents and where he wanted to take it.
It is time for a similar regeneration process to take place once again. We need to identify where the party stands today, what remains relevant from the core principles agreed upon back then, where our country is now, what the people want, and most importantly, what kind of Malta we want to live in over the next 25 years.
Once we know where we want to go, we can start planning for it. We must identify what is holding the party back and what needs to be done to begin moving forward. We should set actionable goals using a strategy that covers short, medium, and long-term objectives. We also need to look at the assets the party has, how to make them work better for us, how to generate more income from them, and how we can use these assets to start reducing the mountain of debt. Nothing should be off the table. We must discuss ideas with an open mind, without letting nostalgia cloud our judgment. No idea should be discarded before it is properly evaluated.
We need to invest heavily in human resources, but in a smarter way. People are what win elections, and the first step should be to reach out to everyone who, over the past two decades, has moved on from the party. We must address the reasons why they left, consider whether their values still align with where we want the party to go, and identify a niche where they can contribute. Keep everyone engaged, give them tasks to focus on, and make sure they feel valued. No job is too small. Everyone needs to feel that they are working toward the bigger picture.
Once we have people on board, we need to move to the next level: AI. Yes, Artificial Intelligence is not just the future; it is also the present. With the data that political parties have at their disposal, we can do great things with it. We should present papers on how AI can be used at a governmental level to improve people’s lives. We can also use AI to reach out to people in the way that suits them best. We need to be present where people can see us. Make use of the range of social media platforms available. Each platform appeals to a different generation, yet every generation is equally important, because in the end, we are in a numbers game and every person’s vote carries the same weight. With that in mind, we need to go where people are instead of expecting them to come to us.
This might not be trendy enough to be popular, but it needs to be done. Unfortunately, over the last two decades, we have alienated the business community. The perception out there is that business owners are just a handful of mega-rich, greedy people who will run roughshod over anything and anyone to enrich themselves. Yes, there may be a few like that, and I would not want them to dictate the party’s narrative. However, they are not the majority.
The reality is that most business owners in Malta run companies employing 20 or fewer people. These are individuals who work day and night, often around the clock, just to make ends meet. They strive to ensure they have enough cash flow to pay suppliers, while chasing payments from other business owners who may owe them hundreds of thousands of euros, so they can pay all their employees at the end of the month.
Approximately 60% of all employees in Malta work for SMEs. The remaining 40% are employed by larger entities or in the public sector. This means that if PN starts to understand, support, and improve life for SME owners, this will automatically have a positive impact on around 60% of the electorate.
These business people are essential to the very fabric of our island. They literally keep the country moving. We cannot lump all businesses into the same corner and blame them for every problem. Instead, we need to work hand in hand with them. We must understand what challenges they face and explore what we can do together to ensure they have more cash flow available. This will ultimately make their lives easier, with the goal that these improvements will also benefit every employee’s take-home pay. When the SME owner succeeds, their employees succeed. And when employees succeed, PN has the chance to win again.
There are many other areas where I believe PN can improve, but for the time being, if we focus on a few key priorities, we will already be taking important steps forward. We need to identify what the party stands for and where we see this country and this party over the next 25 years. We must make better use of the party’s current assets to start tackling the debt. We should go on a recruitment drive to bring everyone back on board. We need to focus heavily on AI to make the party’s data work more effectively, helping us communicate our message more clearly and directly to voters. And we should embrace the needs of small business owners to make their lives easier so that they, in turn, can better support their employees. If we do these things, then yes, this party will stand a real chance of finally regenerating itself.
It might sound impossible, but it is not. It is definitely not easy, but with the right mindset and the right strategy, I wholeheartedly believe it can be done. If this can be achieved, then the party will win, the country will win, and in the end, you, me, and all of us will win.