The amateurish and haphazard way in which the PN’s manifesto was made is continuing to come to light. A clear example of the confusion was given by PN’s main spokesperson Peter Agius. On the 24th of February he went to Gozo to proudly boast of 12 animal rights proposals which he said are in the PN’s manifesto.

But when one downloads the manifesto and searches for the word “animals”, one finds just 7 instances. Instead of the 12 proposals mentioned by Agius, one finds 3 completely different proposals that have nothing to do with the 12 mentioned by him to animal rights activists in Gozo. 

For example, according to Peter Agius, the PN manifesto contains a proposal for a neutering campaign for abandoned animals. The only neutering that one finds in the PN manifesto was this proposal as it is nowhere to be found.

Peter Agius declared that the PN manifesto contains proposals on both zoos and the importation and rearing of exotic animals. But when one looks for these proposals in the manifesto, one does not find a single word.

When one goes to look for these proposals in the manifesto, one does not find a single word.

The PN spokesperson also suggested that the Party’s manifesto contains a proposal to accelerate the cat microchipping programme. However, the word “cats” does not even feature in the PN document, let alone microchipping.

During his meeting with animal rights campaigners in Gozo, Peter Agius said that with the PN in Government a cemetery will be built for animals and that in every public area of the country there will be an animal-friendly park. None of these proposals are mentioned in the manifesto. 

The reason why these proposals were left out of the manifesto could be that someone, somewhere realised that most of them are already being done. 

The three manifesto proposals on animal rights included in the PN manifesto do not directly impact animals at all. They mention the issuing of bodycams to people working in the animal welfare department, the setting up of a section on animal welfare in the Police, and developing a strategy on animal welfare. 

The cherry on the cake is that in Gozo, Peter Agius pompously claimed that all the 12 measures he mentioned will be implemented in the first 100 days of a Nationalist Government.

It seems that at this rate it will be a miracle if these 12 measures succeed in finding themselves in the PN’s manifesto, which has now been re-uploaded on the PN’s website several times. 

This is because PN officials are repeatedly being shown big mistakes in it, which they then change in the online document.