Interview Mauritius Times 26.04.2024

“The opposition in our country is still relatively strong, but the opposition parties are weak”

Interview: Chetan Ramchurn

* ‘Barely a couple of months back MSM supporters thought that it would be a walkover win for them. This is no longer the case’

* ‘Rejection of the MSM does not automatically translate into votes for the Opposition parties. They will have to work harder…’

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As Mauritius gears up for potential general elections, all eyes are on the upcoming Labour Day rallies, which will reveal the current political dynamics. Chetan Ramchurn, a seasoned observer of Mauritian politics, sheds light on the implications of the PMSD’s departure from the opposition alliance and discusses the strategies and obstacles faced by both the ruling and opposition parties. From addressing electoral fatigue to the need for new leadership, Chetan Ramchurn dissects the intricacies of Mauritius’ political landscape. As the nation approaches a pivotal moment, the interview also explores the factors that will influence the outcome of the elections.

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Mauritius Times: This 1st of May holds particular significance as it appears that the Prime Minister may announce general elections sometime this year. The crowds at the Labour Day rallies will provide insight into the “rapport de forces” on the ground, but the assistance of activists and party sympathizers at the “reunions de mobilisation” of both alliances indicates substantial support for each. It’s shaping up to be a tough battle, isn’t it?

Chetan Ramchurn: Indeed, there seems to be significant hype around the Labour Day rallies. The general elections are on the horizon and while the remote control for the short timetable of events rests with the sitting PM. I say short for the present mandate will soon come to an end, and the obligation to organise by-elections within 240 days hovers above the MSM’s head. A defeat at the No.10 by-elections would verily disrupt their plans. Jugnauth will in all probability go for general elections sooner rather later.

This last first of May rally prior to the general elections also comes against the backdrop of a simmering political cauldron. The PMSD has left the opposition alliance, ending long months of tumultuous bed fellowship more with the MMM than the Mauritius Labour Party (MLP). This paves the way to serve the electorate an amended version of the 2014 remake; the MLP and the MMM join whatever is left of their forces once again with the trio of dissenters from the PMSD and in all likelihood a veneer of ‘difference’ or ‘leftism’ from fringe parties and their members.

Disappointingly, non-mainstream parties seem eager to auction their ideals even at the expense of losing their bearings in the finalisation of this pact. If they merely ape the thoughts of the main parties, where lies the difference? They have yet to get the narrative right. As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry would say: « Si tu diffères de moi, mon frère, loin de me léser, tu m’enrichis. »

The MSM watches. In the last decade, it has ‘transformed’ institutions into weapons that presently wait to strike its opponents should the need arise. It has campaigned consistently since it was elected in 2019. How could it not? 62% of the electorate voted against the governing alliance in the last elections which should remind us of the following: despite the billions spent distributing money to key segments, despite the many lackeys hyping it, more than 6 out of 10 of Mauritians did not deem the winning alliance as trustworthy. This should remind us of the following: the opposition in our country is still relatively strong, but the opposition parties are weak.

There are some days left before Labour day and we have to hope that they use this event to bolster what Prashant Kishor terms the 4 Ms: the Message, Messenger, Machine (referring to the party or parties involved), and Mechanics (the process of connecting the leader with the masses).

* The departure of the PMSD from the LP-MMM-PMSD alliance, for reasons not entirely clear to this day, may have weakened the “force de frappe” of that alliance. Winning could now be more challenging for Ramgoolam and Bérenger. Do you share this perspective?

The timing of the separation certainly raises questions on the intent of the PMSD. Bhadain claims that the 35-25 breakdown of tickets has been known for long. That the finer details of the deal were apparently not known to the PMSD surprises many. As leader of the opposition, Duval personified the rejection of the MSM and its many scandals and, overnight, he is mum about the billions allocated to drains and the clear project management issues.

To be honest, winning would have been challenging even with PMSD staying alongside the MLP and MMM. Their contribution to votes in the rural region is scant. What seemed clear to me since 2014 was that the MLP needed to introspect, reconnect with its base and grow organically. In business terms, it has pursued a merger and acquisition (M&M) strategy, once again embracing the 40+40 mantra. The electorate’s high rejection of the MSM does not imply automatic allegiance to the mainstream opposition parties. The latter will have to work harder.

There seems to be renewed energy within opposition ranks since the PMSD’s departure. Now no longer in an alliance with the MLP and the MMM, the PMSD will have no qualms in spreading the narrative that Ramgoolam is being manipulated by Berenger. The MLP and the MMM must counteract this perception.

* Apart from what is widely suspected to be the ruling alliance’s access to a significant war chest, the MSM has also shown a willingness to employ any means necessary to achieve its objectives. Do you believe the tide is turning against them this time?

Nothing will be off limits once again. Nearly a decade of power marked by glaring mismanagement and widespread corruption will certainly impact the MSM’s electoral prospects. But rejection of the MSM however does not automatically translate into votes for the mainstream opposition parties. They will have to work harder and not succumb to hubris like in 2014.

* Just like in 2014, the need for regime change has once again brought the Labour Party and the MMM together. However, to win the electorate’s confidence, they must also demonstrate that their partnership is going to be workable should they win the next elections. Do you believe there are valid concerns about this?

The situation in 2014 was different.

The ill-fated second republic… that constitutional imbroglio caused a backlash as well as the equal repartition of tickets. In 2024, nothing of the sort is on the agenda. Still, creating an alliance to overthrow the present regime means nothing if we do not know, to paraphrase Slavoj Zizek, what happens the morning after.

Let us hope that those advocating for change are aware of this. If not, we might be facing another Illovo or smart city scheme in the coming years.

* In addition to agreeing on key posts and electoral tickets, is it crucial for there to be consensus within the Opposition alliance on major economic policies? This question arises considering the minimal ideological differences between the parties today. What do you think?

The mainstream opposition hosts some of the architects of the first Illovo deal and the Integrated Resort Scheme as well as proponents of the flat tax regime (that enduringly crippling measure) and the Real Estate Scheme. The uninterrupted pandering to the oligarchy has to be stopped.

In 2023, the Fabian society gave its list of priorities for a Labour government. These included measures to protect against inequality in the early years, affordable housing and raising living standards amongst others. A common ground on economic direction would be the first step.

* When considering a common minimum programme for the LP-MMM alliance, governance of the country emerges as a key concern. What specific proposals do you have in mind that could signify a departure from what we have been subjected to over the last couple of years?

Greater opportunities for those at the lower rungs of the economic ladder have to be created. Assistance to entrepreneurs through a monthly stipend in the first 18 months would help them navigate through the turpitudes of the business world as would free training to them.

A special attention to the ageing population would be most welcome. Merely giving senior citizens money neither alleviates their loneliness nor ensures their safety. A more caring approach to them would include better access to medical facilities and a rethinking of our infrastructure.

Bolstering democracy through recall elections is a priority. So many sitting MPs have been found inept. Ensuring that these no longer remain in office would instill greater faith in our system.

Manoeuvring against discontent (Le Mauricien 06.06.2023)

Chetan Ramchurn

The billions spent on gargantuan infrastructural projects, the strong arm tactics against adversaries, the prime ministerial-like image of Jugnauth crafted by marketers and the carrots fed to the population notwithstanding, those in power only managed to sway 37.7% of votes in their favour in 2019. Despite an often-clueless opposition, there is concern among those with strong interest and sizeable gains in perpetuating the present regime that the ground might be slipping from their feet as a result of the accumulation of the many scandals and the monster that inflation is. The latter might lead their grip on their vote banks to wane. With an economic system that thrives on a weak rupee, price rises cannot be tamed for very long as the population shall discover soon enough. The attempt of the government to generate a feel-good mood through money distribution may never quite materialise.

Carter as lodestar

That the MSM’s Minister of Finance chose a Jimmy Carter quote as epigraph for the budget should come as no surprise. The parallels are glaring. Burton I. Kaufman and Scott Kaufman, authors of a seminal work on Carter, write of his presidency;

“he was a president who never adequately defined a mission for his government, a purpose for the country, and a way to get there.”

There is not much of a roadmap for the country these days; where do we go from here? Where are the new sectors? Where do the new jobs come from? How do we correct inequality? How do we stop the rampant corruption? Incidentally, the parallels might not stop there. Carter had a rabid hate for his predecessor, Gerald Ford, and would ask his advisers the same question every single day:

“Don’t you think I should put Gerald in jail? […] I can do that, right? Send someone who lost the election and no longer has any official political power to prison, just because I feel like it?”

The fake good factor

As expected, a cunning budget was presented to quell the growing restlessness of voters. I say ‘cunning’ for it is not built on profound intelligence, i.e neither one that understands never mind corrects the many nagging woes of our society nor does it hold up to the ‘progressive’ cachet that has been ascribed to it by ‘experts’. There are, as in all budgets, some inspired measures like the one advocating an inheritance for all but even that is shabbily dressed with little explanation on the philosophy behind it (“It is our contribution for them to start a new chapter of their life.”) In 2015, I penned an article based on Anthony Atkinson’s book on Inequality. One of the bold ideas propounded in his work is that of an inheritance for all.

“Atkinson reminds us that inheritance allows the wealthy to conserve their position at the top of distribution. To counter this, he recommends that a capital endowment (minimum inheritance) should be paid at adulthood. An idea dating back to Thomas Paine who advised the creation of a national fund from which every person reaching the age of 21 was offered a compensation for the loss as the result of landed property. In modern times, this ‘inheritance’ could take the form of a start-up grant for young people as recommended by Le Grand and Reich.” 

What this government does instead of elevating this measure to a stepping stone for young people is reduce it is to a mere gift. Could it not have been linked to the creation of an enterprise, or vocational and academic uplifting for those individuals? Most certainly but this Government has transformed it into yet another electoral carrot.

Socialism à la Padayachy

In the present exercise, Padayachy dutifully follows the capitalists’ demands and paves way for the easier recruitment of foreign workers thereby further exposing Mauritian workers to lower wages and layoffs. This is the MSM’s way of caring for them apparently. The much hyped progressive tax is very much a misnomer. Without the solidarity tax, high income earners (above Rs 3M) will now be paying 20% instead of 40% under the previous regime. How can this be termed ‘progressive’? 

The deterioration of public education (laid bare in the Parliament with results of the extended programme and its 2% pass rate) and health (where a lack of leadership seems evident) have not been addressed. This will further be accelerated with the decision to resort to private services instead of bolstering public hospitals for eye surgeries.  

This socialism à la Padayachy is no socialism at all. Shunning direct taxes in favour of consumption taxes which will impact poor families most is not progressive. The writing is on the wall, while the most well off will be paying less taxes, the bulk of the burden will be shouldered by the middle and lower classes.

Window dressing and several flyovers

The more astute observers highlight that the deficit of 3.9% of GDP does not include expenditure incurred by Special Funds standing at Rs 6.2B. For 2023-24 the budget deficit estimate is 4.9% of GDP but excludes spending to the tune of Rs 18.7B made from special funds. Greater transparency on the state of our finances from those pretending to guide us is mandatory.

Developing the tramway network across the country seems to be an obsession of the present regime, sometimes against logic with La Vigie earmarked to be connected next. But even that pales in comparison with the speed with which flyovers are being constructed. 4 new ones will be built and delivered by August 2024. With the country living above its means, were these projects required in a most urgent manner.

Former economist of a section of the private sector, Padayachy’s doctoral dissertation dealt with an analysis of poverty in Mauritius. His penultimate budget leaves little doubt on where his allegiances lie. 

References:

Tilted Scales by Chetan Ramchurn (Le Mauricien 2nd September 2015)

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/14/carterism

https://www.lemauricien.com/actualites/societe/cancers-a-maurice-en-2021-mortalite-en-hausse-de-10-et-leger-recul-de-06-des-cas-detectes/540678/

https://www.lemauricien.com/le-mauricien/parlement-lechec-de-lextended-programme-fait-monter-la-tension/556486/

Interview Mauritius Times 17.03.2023

Neutering Populism (16.01.2023 in Le Mauricien)

Go Bold or Go Home (Le Mauricien 06.09.22)

Us

by Chetan Ramchurn

 « C’est une expérience éternelle que tout homme qui a du pouvoir est porté à en abuser. »¹

Political reigns since December 2014 have been soaked in chaos so much so that the better part of the mandates had an end of reign feel to them. The abrupt dismantling of the BAI has created ripples felt to this day, the mishandling of the Betamax agreement with taxpayers having to the foot the bill, the soiling of our institutions with nondescript political nominees and their subsequent gross mismanagement, the consolidation of the historic bourgeoisie with the smart city scheme and the MIC, incompetent ministers, vendetta attempts against opponents, futile spending sprees, the devaluation of the rupee, the terrible mess in law enforcement amidst corruption scandals have weakened the country.

In Mauritius, the mantra for electoral success is composed of divisions along communal and casteist lines, money politics, promises without regard for their economic consequences, a servile posture towards the ruling class, and the pimping of religious events into public meetings. Mauritians have fallen prey to this time and time again. In 2022, one of the most worrying features remains the sway of populism over Mauritians. While members of the governing alliance have indulged into it wholeheartedly, former MPs and Ministers with tarnished records and with past association with those in office have also engaged in attention mongering through threats of hunger strikers and revelations on the current regime. This noise which conveys a lack of clarity dims any chance of change. An indiscernible political proposal with rejects that have done the country harm remains unsurprisingly unpalatable.

We seem to be stuck in a loop with déjà vu all over the political landscape: dynasties perpetuated at our expense, sycophants working for the oligarchy or the better interests of the family or in laws while pretending to be protectors of public weal and having recourse to the ethnic card whenever there is a dip in popularity. The non mainstream opposition is certainly more vocal and despite the dearth of proposals and a maniacal hunger for attention that clouds most of its initiatives, it has ruffled the Government by disclosing cases of police brutality. Calls for the bolstering of purchasing power have been answered by paltry remedies in the latest budget. All of this does not constitute a sustainable remedy to the enduring purchasing power decline.

« Il va jusqu’à ce qu’il trouve des limites. Qui le dirait ? La vertu même a besoin de limites. »²

How did we land into this sorry mess? How did we transform individuals bereft of any of the Roman virtues into all powerful beings that have bent the system to their advantage. We have satisfied ourselves with one voting expedition every 5 years for too long. Elected ones are left without surveillance and have grown rogue. We have been sitting ducks. No one can save us but ourselves.

Salvation cannot come from seasoned actors busy rehashing their shtick on public platforms. A bogus winning formula around the bonding of opposition parties remains impotent. As Prashant Kishor puts it “United opposition is not necessarily a strong opposition.” As Kishor elaborates, without the narrative, and ground dynamics, not much is likely to happen.

We do not need entertainers to represent us; those who will indulge in imitating their lame opponents, those that will indulge in lives on social platforms to say absolutely nothing, the individuals that have been associated with drug lords and have morphed into pro bono saviours overnight or those that will indulge in self glorification using movie titles. We have to save ourselves.

« Pour qu’on ne puisse abuser du pouvoir, il faut que, par la disposition des choses, le pouvoir règle le pouvoir. »³

With no restrictions imposed upon MPs and Ministers, we face havoc. Exuberance in the spending on capital projects will further ruin our country. The middle class is likely to be further squeezed whilst the capitalists have their whims and wishes granted. Unless, we roll up our sleeves, we will see this country run for the better interests of the haves and their stooges. To fight against the shenanigans of those meant to represent us, citizens need an arsenal of weapons to control their representatives.

Referendums

Consulting and abiding by the population’s choice at regular intervals would make sense. Participative democracy would give people a greater say over major decisions. Would the loss-making tramway project have been approved by the people of the country? Would they give the green light to the nonsensical extension of its network to Côte d’Or? Would they approve the Smart City Scheme or the flat tax? Would they not abolish the Vice Presidency? Would they condone hefty hotel refurbishment schemes? Would they put a halt to exporting monkeys to research labs abroad? Would you agree with your country not being autonomous on the energy front? Decisions with ruinous consequences cannot be made by people that receive financing for their own election and commissions through private entities.

The Charles F. Sexton Chair in American Enterprise, Professor of Finance and Business Economics, & Executive Director of Initiative and Referendum Institute of the University of Southern California, John Matsusaka identifies 6 direct democracy-related reforms for the United States that could be tweaked to fit within the Mauritian context. In his latest work, the researcher proposes 6 types of reforms:

Advisory referendums called by Congress: debates and issues are submitted in this model to voters. The outcome would not be binding upon  Congress.

Advisory referendums called by petition: If any change is to come, it has to be the people’s doing. This would allow citizens to bring to the forefront debates that they would like to bring to the limelight. In recent times, greater attention to the end of life of senior citizens has become an important issue. This was debated last year in the House of Lords. Mauritius would do well to see how to provide assistance to people in the final stages of their lives. Over the last year, readers would have come across several cases where people die in solitude with no one knowing about it for days or weeks. This is of concern. Another issue that would require greater spotlight is sexual crimes against children. Many including the author deem that the paedophilia cases in Rodrigues were not dealt with a proper manner. Did officials ensure that these children and adolescents were properly accompanied, was psychological support offered to the victims and their families and was the proper cadre constituted for other victims to come forward with testimonials?

Advisory referendums required on specific issues: This type of referendum would automatically be triggered anytime a constitutional change would be on the cards. Any issue of importance would demand consultation of voters’ opinion about same.

Binding referendums required on specific issues: Like the former model, except that the outcome of the referendum would have to be abided by. Matsusaka avers that  “Mandatory referendums are common among the American states; all but one of them require a vote on constitutional amendments and many require votes on taxes, debt, relocation of the state capital, liquor prohibition, and other matters.”

Binding referendums called by petition: This would allow voters to repeal laws. This method would be akin to Italy’s abrogativo process where its use has been prevalent with 72 referendums held in the last 70 years.

Constitutional amendments proposed by petition: In its most extreme form, Matsusaka states that it would “allow citizens to propose constitutional amendments by initiative, and then approve them by referendum. Several states allow initiatives of this form and, predictably, so does Switzerland.”

Recall Elections

Another weapon that would help correct the incompetence and malpractices of our elected cohort would be the introduction of recall elections. The latter refers to the removal of elected members from office through a vote before the end of their mandates. When introduced in the US in the early 20th century, the recall was looked upon as “a means of bringing some honesty back into politics” (Bowler, 2004). When introduced in 1908 in Oregon, it was heralded as the ‘final crowning act to complete the temple of popular government’ (Barnett,1912).  As with other democracy-broadening ventures, the inherent risks of this inclusion reside in the influence of money on recall initiatives and referendum campaigns (Cronin, 1989).

Supported by Marx and Rousseau and dating back to the Roman Republic, this would be a feature that would empower citizens so that they no longer bear with representatives that have failed them. In Latvia, Slovakia and in some Swiss Cantons, dissolving the whole assembly is also a possibility. This measure would allow for continuous accountability and electors would get to remove incompetent, maligned, unresponsive or irresponsible public officials. As one author puts it, candidates sometimes lie and voters sometimes make mistakes- recall elections is an effective tool to correct their errors of appreciation.

The modus operandi of this method is succinctly described by Bowler (2004): “The initial step to recall is a petition drive demanding that there be a recall election. If the number of signatures reaches a required threshold then a recall election is held. Should the incumbent lose the ‘recall’ then an election is held for his/ her successor. Sometimes the two elections are held simultaneously (as in California), more often there is a short period between the two elections. The recalled official is typically not allowed to stand as his/her own replacement.”

Recall elections serve as a useful reminder to elected representatives that they are not trustees bur merely delegates (Bowler, 2004). They also serve as a means of punishing politicians that would otherwise be left unpunished by the parties. Opponents of recall elections believe that politicians should not be slaves of public opinion. However, we have reached the opposite extreme in Mauritius where politicians are rejecting the expressions of discontent against their actions and public gatherings are being closely monitored by authorities.

This democratisation process cannot materialise unless and until we have a party that is ready to put power where it truly belongs; in the hands of the people. Indiana Democratic congressman Louis Ludlow fought for the holding of a referendum prior to going to war and supported his stance with the following argument “common people who would serve and die in a war ought to vote on whether to enter a conflict.” Likewise, common people who bear the consequences of miscalculated decisions have a right to decide whether these decisions should be taken in the first place. We can trust no one but ourselves.

Readings & Videos:

• Recall and representation Arnold Schwarzenegger meets Edmund Burke, Bowler, S., Representation, 2004
• Can the Recall Improve Electoral Representation? By Pierre-Etienne Vandamme, Frontiers in Political Science, 2020- Accessed on 11/06/2022 https://dial.uclouvain.be/pr/boreal/object/boreal%3A242210/datastream/PDF_01/view
• Initiatives without Engagement A Realistic Appraisal of Direct Democracy’s Secondary Effects By Joshua J. Dyck, Edward L. Lascher Jr.,2019
• Six thèses pour la démocratie continue, D. Rousseau, Odile Jacob, 2022.
• Let the People Rule How Direct Democracy Can Meet the Populist Challenge, Matsusaka, John G., 2020
• OffTheCuff with Prashant Kishor, Political strategist talking with Shekhar Gupta & Neelam Pandey (Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSmSgGVJXPE)
• ¹²³De l’esprit des lois, Montesquieu (1748)

Mauritius Times Interview 29.10.2021

Mauritius Times Interview 29.12.2020

Year 1 of the New World Order

ritiustimes.com/mt/year-1-of-the-new-world-order/

Interview Mauritius Times 21.02.2020

‘If what differentiated the MMM and the Labour Party from the MSM are annihilated, they might as well cease to exist

Interview: Chetan Ramchurn, Entrepreneur

‘Our mainstream parties offer a democratic façade but the truth is simple,

the leader is the one with all the power, no one else can wear the crown’

‘The government is trying the impossible equation of simultaneously pleasing the haves and the have-nots… A devaluation of the Mauritian rupee against the dollar is what we are staring at’

 

Chetan Ramchurn, a young entrepreneur, makes as usual a refreshing and revealing analysis of the situation in the country post November 2019. As regards the ‘rapport de forces’ on the political front, he says that although ‘the opposition parties have somehow managed to keep a cohesive front on the fairness of the last polls, at least for the time being, the MSM has a long-tested recipe for success and has the upper hand now’. Can the situation be reversed? ‘The opposing factions know that they have to get their houses in order first. The opposition has to groom its new members and win inch by inch every single seat captured by the MSM. It is a Sisyphean task that awaits them…’ He also makes interesting comments on the issue of patronage appointments, party leadership, the economic situation, etc. Read on:

Mauritius Times: 15^th February 2020 marked the first 100 days of the MSM-ML government. Nothing major has happened during that period, except for the Presidential Address outlining the Government’s programme covering the period 2020 to 2024, and the various appointments in different public institutions. What are your impressions of these first 100 days?

Chetan Ramchurn: There is an air of ‘business as usual’ that the present Government wants to instil. And indeed, not much has changed as evidenced by the level demonstrated in some maiden speeches. The Premier does not seem to have been invigorated following his win at the general elections, choosing to keep a subdued demeanour. His meagre 37% has been time and again reminded to him and the opposition parties have somehow managed to keep a cohesive front on the fairness of the last polls, at least for the time being. There should be no doubt in our minds though, the MSM has a long-tested recipe for success and has the upper hand now.

The first few months of any new mandate are usually spent distributing key positions to candidates who have lost and close collaborators. Those in power seem to be more patient this time around, taking the time to validate each and every one of them. We would hope that the independence of the Bank of Mauritius (BOM) will not be toyed with.

We have had some courageous Governors who remained unwavering in the face of various lobbies. Bheenick was one of them, unafraid to take on the ‘banksters’ and standing for a reasonably valued rupee against a Minister of Finance that advocated devaluation. That Rs 18 billion were transferred from the Special Reserves for debt repayment without any hurdle should be of concern to us. Of even greater concern for the country is the fact that those that have been touted as potential replacements at the BOM are even closer to those wielding power.

There are some successes as well. The tramway, most prominent among them, is up and running. Will it be viable financially? Will it reduce traffic jams and render employees more productive? We have yet to know. As under successive governments, the gifts to the historic bourgeoisie were quick to be announced: a new road linking La Vigie to Flic-en-Flac will boost the value of real estate ventures and keep the financers happy.

We should be particularly concerned about the outcome of the “Assises de l’environnement” which is a laudable initiative but whose success can only be gauged through the application of strong measures not only aimed at citizens, which seem to be privileged, but also against carbon emissions. As at 2018, 40.2% of electricity was generated from coal, 39% from diesel and fuel oil with the remaining 20.7% produced from renewable sources. The CEB should spearhead the movement towards renewable sources instead of waiting for existing and new IPPs to do so. Any responsible country would seek to be independent on the energy front so that it does not have to kowtow to private sector interests. This has not been the case in Mauritius.

* As regards the patronage appointments made by the current Government, to be fair all governments have to date made sure they place their trusted men in strategic posts and none have shown any demonstrable interest to change the way things are done. In any case none of these appointments have ever been challenged. What’s wrong with that?

There were some strong reservations about the new Speaker of the House from the MMM ranks and that no opposition members albeit the Leader of the Opposition participated in the swearing-in ceremony of the new President does say a lot.

The opposing factions know that they have to get their houses in order first. The need for an aggiornamento is crucial and will have to be carried out intelligently without strengthening the present government. They face an uphill battle and attacking the government on every single nomination will not be beneficial to them. You will note that the democratic participation of most citizens is limited to one voting expedition every five years. To adopt a ‘coup d’état permanent’ strategy would be counterproductive.

The opposition has to groom its new members and win inch by inch every single seat captured by the MSM. It is a Sisyphean task that awaits them. The MSM was intelligent enough to shed many of the unpalatable figures that were scandal ridden prior to the elections. The other parties would do well to adopt a similar position. They have to be immaculate when it comes to their reputation.

* The fact of the matter, it would seem, is that so long as the going is good, the people may not really be bothered about such things as political appointments or patronage appointments. The going has been good since before the last elections, but how long will this last?

It is not easy as La Boétie’s « Soyez résolus de ne servir plus et vous voilà libres ! » Most are aloof to the economic situation and the level of public debt. Neither are they concerned about the devaluation of the rupee nor are they worried about the fiscal gifts offered to the rich. That has been the case for decades now.

The system is tilted towards the powerful and everyone is out to get the crumbles, never mind a slice of the pie. People have fallen down the rabbit hole and seem entrapped in a maze. This apathy is not particular to Mauritius and can be witnessed across the world. The mind-numbing mantra is simple: Keep them in a perpetual sense of amazement.

Napoléon expressed it in succint terms, “Il faut des fêtes bruyantes aux populations, les sots aiment le bruit, et la multitude c’est les sots.” Onfray in his ‘Grandeur du petit peuple’ gives the other side of the coin of this system : « Or, une fois le spectacle terminé, ce peuple sans visage continue à souffrir et à trimer, à travailler et à peiner pour joindre les deux bouts, c’est lui qui se trouve en première ligne de cette guerre menée contre les gens simples par les ‘élites’, comme il est dit, qui les sacrifient pour une assiette de lentilles… »

There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. At some point, our debts will have to be repaid. Are we going lose our assets to foreign powers and lose our independence? There is great irresponsibility in being generous with money we do not have. What is cringeworthy is that the popular measures come at a hefty cost but the Government is not courageous enough to opt for progressive taxes.

In short, the government is trying the impossible equation of simultaneously pleasing the haves and the have-nots. A devaluation of the Mauritian rupee against the dollar is what we are staring at.

* What are your major worries for the country at the beginning of 2020, that is in the first year of the Government’s mandate?

The most pressing concern remains the education sector with the shift to the 5-credits requirement being a potential generation wrecker. Teeluck Bhuwanee in his article for the Mauritius Times rightly identifies the risk of creating a lost generation:

“The 5 credits requirement crisis could create a lost generation of children whose life chances will have been irreparably damaged by a failure of the state to protect their right to education. Out of the 13,000 that have failed to get the required credits to go to HSC, some 1000 will get admitted to Polytechnics and a few may repeat their SC. That still leaves some 7000 that will get no further schooling.”

Having lectured before, I can tell you all about the late bloomers – students who have done poorly at SC and HSC levels who turn out to be strong undergraduate students. We should not dismiss them at such a young stage of their lives, but be patient. My other concern is rote learning. What do we end up producing? Patented yes-men? People who will put financial success beyond all other considerations? It is a worrying trend.

Another major apprehension is that government would continue spending extravagantly thereby piling debt on further generations without having any idea on which new projects would be worthwhile to ensure additional revenue.

* We’ll get to know more about what the Government plans to do about the economy from the next Budget Speech. Economists are saying that its room for manoeuvre is rather limited given the high level of public debt, low tax takes, the financing of its popular social measures, etc, but the Government does not appear unduly worried. What’s your take on that?

We expect much more from a full-time Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development. He has not been very vocal about the paths he intends to follow and one of his first measures was baffling. However, in December of last year, he thought it wise to associate his Ministry with Lottotech so that funds can be raised for people afflicted by natural disasters.

Would more progressive taxes not be a more just solution than condoning gambling which impacts the poor households in a most damning way? Lest we forget gambling can be an addiction. It was poorly thought even more so for someone who, I believe, has been working to alleviate the burden on those at the lower rungs of the economic ladder.

An important issue that he has to address is the dwindling savings rate. Sanjay Jagatsingh evaluates the loss in savings between 2006 and 2018 “at Rs 569.7bn whereas the total FDI for the same period is Rs188.9bn.” He further avers “That’s Rs 381bn of net savings missing which could have been used to put Mauritius on higher levels of development by building new fields of activities that are more respectful of the environment and our national heritage.” New incentives to spur savings would be more than welcome. Another fake lodestar is the Doing Business ranking, the correlation between how well we do and growth achieved is insignificant. Why is he paying so much attention to it?

The Government’s relaxed stance could mean that it has some tricks up its sleeve. It could be the selling of our national assets, a line of credit from an imperial power in exchange for additional clout in the region, and we do have a formidable ambassador in Soodhun that could leverage his excellent relationship with the House of Saud to bail us out.

* At one time Mauritius had been able to transform itself beyond what was once thought possible. We have achieved this in the past with economic diversification. Now the ambition is to become a high-income, innovation-led economy. Can we bring about another transformation again?

According to me, there are more pressing concerns than reaching the USD 12,475 per year threshold. What would the high-income tag bring us if inequality between rich and poor is ever widening?

Our economic success has been built on efficient administration, political stability and a strong regulatory environment (Frankel 2010). We no longer offer that with regulators which are bastions of political nominees. We have witnessed the mess surrounding the licensing of companies attached to Alvaro Sobrinho. Is it befitting of a serious jurisdiction to let politicians interfere in the allocation of licences? Firefighting seems to be the norm in many of our regulating bodies.

Moreover, the economic transformation we are presently pursuing panders to the elite with an overt focus on real estate ventures whereas in the past the transformation was one that took account of the ‘political, human, institutional and economic realities and constraints of the time’ (Ramdoo 2014). Planning is central if we want to progress. How many times have we seen hotchpotch solutions being implemented merely because highly paid advisers found nothing better than to ape what has been adopted elsewhere? Often at a steep price for the country.

* Political parties are in charge of the implementation of the agenda for the transformation we spoke about in the preceding question. One no longer has the impression of politics being done in Mauritius the way it was done earlier, when the political leaders of the Independence generation worked in real earnest to change society into something better than what they had seen before. Does the present generation inspire confidence?

We have had some great leaders to steer our country away from the obvious pitfalls back then. I believe that there are men and women of value that think of the best interests of our country among the present generation. But many have been reduced to mere puppets serving their leaders, doing photo ops, trying very hard to sound cool and trendy.

Back then, the candidates were some of the best minds of the era: Seeneevassen, SSR, Kher Jagatsingh, Ringadoo, Walter, etc., but not only. There were some irregularities back then as well but those at the head knew that the interests of the country trumped any others.

Today’s selection seems to be the result of a casting based on Facebook following and media presence. What is disappointing is the ability to change colours within short timeframes. Former MMM members so adamant not to be mere followers of Berenger seem to be happy to acquiesce to whatever the MSM requires from them. There is nothing surprising in that for all mainstream parties have been hollowed out ideologically and shifting from one to another poses no issue.

The danger of a “centrisme mou” is that the state is viewed merely as a facilitator, something of a welcoming doormat for private sector interests. The colour on the flag does not matter – whether orange, red or blue.

* We spoke about the Government’s first 100 days earlier. That question could as well be put to the Opposition, which incidentally has been in the news mostly for the wrong reasons during that same period. What’s your opinion on that?

The night of the long knives was to be expected following the general elections results. Despite the strife within factions, the relationship between different parties has improved. This could quickly change such is the lure of power and an offer to join the government.

Our mainstream parties offer a democratic façade but the truth is simple, the leader is the one with all the power. Elevated to the status of God or King, the Leader more often than not chooses his ward as successor. No one else can wear the crown. The Labour Party’s history is rich with great leaders that have carried the torch be it Curé, Anquetil, Rozemont and SSR.

No one is irreplaceable and the best way to deal with the leadership issue is by adopting transparency. Let primaries be open to all Mauritian citizens and let them decide who the best at representing them is. For long, what differentiated the MMM and the Labour Party from the MSM was the freedom of expression given to its members and the view that they were not a family enterprise. If the differences are annihilated, they might as well cease to exist.

* It appears there is presently a morale problem within the opposition ranks, what with the results of the last general elections. J Chan Low was saying to this paper last week that there is more to the defeat of the opposition parties than the alleged electoral frauds. What do you think?

Certainly, it can be attributed to a number of other factors but that does not negate the right of the different parties to question the validity of the elections. There were way too many tactical errors in the campaign. No disruption could be made to the existing narrative sold by those in office. They had worked very hard at destroying Navin Ramgoolam’s image and had considerably hyped the hefty tramway, papal visit and Island Games.

Added to that, the enticing Rs 13,500 pension over the next five years swayed the voters in MSM’s favour. When the MMM and the MLP decided to match the pension figure of the MSM, they were treading on a terrain where the Jugnauths had first-mover advantage. Moreover, they matched the MSM’s artificiality with their own brand of make-believe.

* Do you see a credible alternative in the opposition with its present functioning and leadership structures?

We live in an epoch where an unknown figure can make it to the top of the hill in less than five years. It happened in France with Macron. There are a number of young talents that look promising and new ones will probably join in eventually. But it is near impossible to be heard in a system that is rigged in favour of the leader.

One way of ensuring that it happens is by opening the party to new members. Those that are disgusted with politics as it is presently practised would be more likely to participate. Then only can change happen. St Exupery’s « Si tu diffères de moi, mon frère, loin de me léser, tu m’enrichis » should apply or inspire at least: a political party is not a fan club but an agora where different views battle each other.

* But putting in place a higher internal democratisation process which will allow for internal debates, clear rules of governance and transparent operations… that’s a very tall order for the traditional parties, don’t you think so?

Almost 52 years since we achieved independence and we have yet to render political financing transparent. Democratisation seems very difficult to apply such is the level of rot within the parties. But should it really surprise us? Political parties are not that far-off from what our society is. Most people join parties, see that almost everyone around them is happy being a lackey and join the batch of followers.

Is it not the same sight at our workplaces? Is hypocrisy not prevalent with yes-men that go on full Che Guevara mode once ousted from power? That we have accepted hypocrisy and obsequiousness within party politics should not surprise us. It is unlikely to change in the short term and certainly not without great efforts from the progressive camp. Fewer echoes and more voices.

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* Published in print edition on 21 February 2020

Interview L’Express Weekly 5th of September

L’Express Weekly 1L’Express Weekly2L’Express Weekly3

Interview Mauritius Times 22.03.19

Interview: Chetan Ramchurn, Entrepreneur

“Change is certainly slow to come but it will come”

‘The Labour Party and the MMM were founded on sound thought… Both have been perverted to embrace Ramgoolamism and Berengism’

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Our interviewee this week is Chetan Ramchurn, a young entrepreneur who is not new to this paper. With his usual candour and directness he makes a refreshing and revealing analysis of the ground realities that are messing up people’s lives, of the economic woes and the carrots that our political leadership and political class generally are dangling before the electorate. His justified cynicism that is typical of at least the more aware of his generation will, hopefully, build into a force among the electorate so as to stop those vying for power from continuing to sell dreams instead of indicating more concretely how they intend to bring about the real changes that will improve the quality of life and ease the conditions of living of the population.

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 Mauritius Times: It appears the leader of the MMM has not taken too kindly to the recent statement of Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo in which the latter revealed his “shame” about the economic performance of the Mauritius economy which has stalled at a growth rate of 3% over the last 10 years. Why should he be unhappy with that when Lutchmeenaraidoo is providing him with fodder to run down the government?

Chetan Ramchurn: Well admittedly Berenger’s position is a complicated one as he has to preserve his credibility as a man who has built his career on a strong opposition to every government that he has not been part of and, en même temps, he has to be cryptic so as to keep some of the doors open.

The central piece of yet another boring press conference was an unprompted statement that the MMM was going alone. Seul contre tous. The economy is ailing and at least he admitted to that, pointing out the different sectors that were performing poorly. He described Minister Gungah’s stance as nonsensical and the situation in the textile sector as a “cacophonie”. That could pave the way for an alliance in the “intérêt supérieur de la nation.”

The term en même temps summarises MMM’s standpoint. In this regard it has a lot in common with another fervent user of the term, President Macron whose many pirouettes have brought the French to the streets. Henri Guaino exemplified it best, « On va accomplir une chose et, en même temps, son contraire ».

* What about the feeling of shame of the Minister of Foreign Affairs?

It is worth pointing out that the one hailed as the master conjurer of the second economic miracle in 2014 is now telling us that we are stuck in the middle income trap and that we have not pursued the routes that would have made a telling impact.

The 2015/16 budget was one with excessive optimism. The then Minister even averred that we should “expect GDP growth to go up to 5.3 per cent and for 2016/2017 we are targeting a growth rate of 5.7 per cent.” The absence of good economic results is a serious dent to this government’s credibility and on the image of the unchosen PM. The latter’s minions were quick to interpret the former saviour’s comment as one that warranted no consideration. But it does. The present Minister of Finance has not been able to get the Mauritius tramway past the 4% GDP Growth mark. The overtly generous incentives to promoters of smart cities, the dismantling of the BAI to further empower the historic bourgeoisie have not reaped the fruits this government had hoped for.

I will not even address the farce of the high powered committee on Achieving the Second Miracle and Vision 2030 with the 100,000 jobs it had foreseen. The blame goes to successive governments. It is a collective failure.

So many have over-promised and under-delivered. The shortfall from the trickle down measures such as the corporate flat tax is affecting our country to this day. We are crippled and cannot afford to invest in better infrastructure. Our last resort seems to be to give up some of our sovereignty so that foreign powers can bail us out. No good can come out of it. And what infrastructure? The ruinous tramway and big brother is watching us projects!

There is an excellent book, ‘Palaces for the People’ by Eric Klinenberg. The author makes a compelling case for social infrastructure such as libraries and childcare centres. In a society with disintegrating values, “libraries and the social infrastructure are essential not only for a neighborhood’s vitality but also for buffering all kinds of personal problems—including isolation and loneliness. […] Why have so many public officials and civic leaders failed to recognize the value of libraries and their role in our social infrastructure?

“Perhaps it’s because the founding principle behind the library—that all people deserve free, open access to our shared culture and heritage, which they can use to any end they see fit—is out of sync with the market logic that dominates our time. Libraries do this, principally, by providing free access to the widest possible variety of cultural materials to people of all ages, from all ethnicities and groups. For older people, especially widows, widowers, and those who live alone, libraries are places for culture and companionship, through book clubs, movie nights, sewing circles, and classes in art, music, current events, and computing.”

I fail to see how our dearth of commonality, what Klinenberg terms “real connections” will be curbed with these hefty projects. The people might be lulled by the mise en scène around the Premier but when reminded of the litany of scandals and misses associated with this government, they will wake up. Hopefully.

* Does it therefore mean that Paul Bérenger’s declared ambition to go it alone in a three-cornered battle at the next elections sounds to you a bit pretentious and improbable? Would that also suggest that his MMM would be unable to put up a fight in a three-cornered fight?

It is difficult to predict anything at this stage. I have seen no reconstruction process embarked upon, no quality blood infused in its system, no serious projet de société discussed as yet. Paul Berenger as leader has not contributed much to the debates in parliament other than to mention the need to bail out the sugar barons and when the koz koze pot of gold came to the arena; the elusive electoral reform. Still, these are strange years. Those opposite to him in parliament have been busy wagging tongues, belittling women and been embroiled in more scandals than I can remember.

Next to a new crop of politicians that seem incompetent and bereft of dignitas, the MMM has managed to retain some of its allure and could partake in a future alliance as a junior partner. The dangers of going alone are obvious and while I believe it would be the right thing to do, I do not see enough courageous voices in the politburo fighting for same. Again, until and unless the party returns to its socialist leanings and stays away from dynasty politics, a return to power of the MMM would not be beneficial to the masses. Its leader preaches pragmatism in economic affairs. Le centrisme mou, encore et toujours.

* As for Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo’s confession of shame, en d’autres temps, Sir Anerood Jugnauth would have cracked the whip, and Lutchmeenaraidoo would have been left out in the cold. Whatever happened to him?

Talks of a cabinet reshuffle have grown louder and must have disturbed his deep meditation. Having lost the Ministry of Finance as the result of a coup, Lutchmeenaraidoo is no doubt wary of another attempt to oust him again. Another cause of this awakening to our economic woes could be that as a result of self-reflection, he has reached the epiphany that this government has been disastrous for the people. In 2014, his plan was that of being a “passerelle” between the old and young generations. Maybe he wants to redeem himself at the end of his political journey.

In any case, the MSM has always put self-preservation at the top of its agenda. If I am not mistaken the Amsterdam boys were never ousted by the MSM when the scandal broke out. The MSM was accommodating enough to let them stay so as not to bear the wrath of the voters in by-elections. Let us not forget about the Drug Commission’s scarred figures, the many allegations of bribery and the salary raises allocated to the close ones of the regime. They will do what it takes to have the best chances of holding on to power. The Lee Kuan Yew posturing of the father never applied to anyone that would weaken him politically.

* We can understand that Pravind Jugnauth does things differently – at least that’s the impression that is put across –, and it could also be that he does not have much leeway in an electoral year to sort out the matter with Lutchmeenaraidoo and some of the others. Will we see a different man in office next time round if he succeeds in making it back to Government House in his own right — with or without Paul Berenger?

That is a narrative that has too many loopholes to be believable. The issue is Pravind Jugnauth himself. He has not been a great leader for this country, I do not feel that we are more united as a Nation. He has not managed to steer the country to new economic heights, the opposite in fact. He has given the keys of our economy to the lame EDB where the interests of the predatory private clique are upheld. He is never there when the storm is raging. He refuses to talk to Palmar employees but is happy to do a photo-op with workers from another textile company the next day. No one wants a leader who is only going to be there for the happy days. Leading is tough and does not amount to doctored images on social media. In a crisis situation, do I trust him to make the bold moves? No.

What bothers me is that many seem to forget that our institutions are in tatters, our police force has lost authority in the eyes of the public, there is no meritocracy in the way posts are being allocated, leeches and corruption are ubiquitous. The spin is poorly executed if you ask me. He was quick to start a clean-up campaign à la Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and since it was probably not garnering enough likes the whole idea was dropped. The funniest part of this charade was at the 2019 Independence Day celebrations at my alma mater the Royal College Curepipe. He was literally reading from a paper to narrate his school days. This is something you have experienced – but you still need to read about it from a paper?

If Pravind Jugnauth is back in power, it will certainly not be on his own. The choice of partner is still unknown, and the MMM and PMSD options are open to him. His choice of mamzelle will be interesting. If the Labour party ups the ante and puts him under pressure, will he not crumble despite the many press organs at his beck and call? He has been constantly campaigning since he slid his way through but this is mere shadow-boxing… The real showdown lies ahead.

* What if Pravind Jugnauth’s MSM does not make it despite the inaugurations which are in the pipeline this year, and the goodies that are anticipated in the context of the next budget in this electoral year? As we have lately witnessed the anguish of hundreds of textile workers who have lost their jobs, and some economists suggest that more is yet to happen, could the problems coming up on the economic front trump his political ambition?

As soon as the aura weaved around him is shattered, the reality check should allow the blind to see. Still, destroying the maze will prove tough. There are lackeys diligently ensuring that everything he does is hailed as something promethean. That in zealous servitude, the national propaganda machine deemed that interviewing people in a shrine was judicious tells us everything about what we are in for. Pravind Jugnauth has gone overboard with his ribbon-cutting expeditions. It borders on the ridiculous and could end up tiring people. If he does not make it this time around, he will have possibilities of doing so for the next three decades. This is a family business. No one is likely to contest his position within the MSM.

I believe that reality will catch up on him sooner rather than later. Once it does, will he steel his nerves and not lay his weaknesses bare? We will see. Once the hype is stripped off him, will he show himself as a man that can act under pressure? I have my doubts on that. Still, who is Jugnauth’s main opponent? A significantly weakened Ramgoolam. His stooges in the media, existing and new ones, will likely bludgeon the leader of the Labour Party to give an advantage to their candidate. Still the narrative around the incumbent is weak. He has inherited power and not strived for it, he has implemented nothing that will significantly change the lives of Mauritians. True, the minimum wage has been introduced but the cost of living is significantly higher now and SMEs are suffering as a result of it. The dearth of planning is again obvious.

* What do you make out of the recent bid of the former MMM members – the Obeegadoos, Jeehas, Ganoos, etc – to come together in a common front? Do you see that as a “breath of fresh air” in Mauritian politics – or is that initiative meant to better negotiate an alliance with the mainstream parties?

It is clear that their horizon does not extend beyond the next general elections so any inkling that they are about to renew Mauritian politics should be quickly dispelled. Many of them have spent the better part of their political careers saying yes to their former leader. Les seconds couteaux ne deviennent pas des premières lames. What are they likely to pitch us now? La réunification de la grande famille militante? That is a stale act. Both factions have trouble existing on their own having followed blindly in the past. They are angling for the best suitor that can lead them to power.

* We’ll therefore have to make do with the mainstream parties with their current leaders and their agendas given that various attempts at reform by different ‘contestataires’ from within or from outside have not worked. Do the people know better and they want it to remain that way after all?

People do find it difficult to go beyond their comfort zone and the efforts of those trying to rock the boat have met with cynicism and scorn. But they should absolutely persevere. There is growing disdain with mainstream parties; the partisanship level has gone down in a most glaring manner for decades.

People no longer deify political figures since they understand that they are mere puppets in the hands of the financiers. It will require more convincing for movements with an honest voice to break through the noise. Their struggle is real for they are fighting against freebies and populism. People fail to realise that they will be the ones footing the bill. Change is certainly slow to come but it will come.

* Would this also mean that symbols and various affinities are more important to the people than what intellectuals and newspaper editors would want them to embrace?

At least two of the mainstream parties – the Labour Party and the MMM – were founded on sound thought with a real intellectual cachet. Both have been perverted to embrace Ramgoolamism and Berengism over the years. The MSM has always been about power vested in the hands of a family. There is no deep-rooted ideology. Moralité pas rempli ventre.

A change in mindset will not be triggered by editors or intellectuals. The enlightenment will only happen when the situation is so rotten that the carrots fed by the crop of politicians will no longer sway voters. Then only people will realise that they are co-creators of the current mess since they have perpetuated a system which celebrates incompetents and leeches.

A friend of mine recently told me that this “awakening” is not likely to be happening anytime soon since a significant chunk of the population is feeding off this sullied arrangement. I would hope that this is not the case.

* One could safely presume that the government would want to keep everybody happy during the remaining months prior to the next general elections – the old-age pensioners, the travelling public, captains of industry, especially in the textile and sugar sectors (with more stimulus packages) and other stakeholders in these sectors, etc – at great economic cost to the public exchequer. Who would want to sit in the Finance minister’s chair next time round?

There is seemingly no concern about what is bequeathed to the future generations never mind the next government. The risk of saddling the middle class with the sins of this government is real.

The latest MCB Focus seems ominous on gross public sector debt which “rose to attain 64.5% of GDP as at December 2018 as compared to 63.4% recorded a year earlier. The outcome thus moves further away from the statutory ceiling of 60% to be attained by the end of the fiscal year ending June 2021 as per the Public Debt Management Act. Moreover, the line of credit obtained from the Government of India for the financing of the Metro Express project would be included in the computation of debt upon its drawdown, and thereby lead to upward pressures on the debt levels.”

The truth is that anyone who will replace the present team will have to shoulder the expenses related to the tramway, the onerous Safe City Project and the electoral carrots… A real ‘rupture’ would be urgent so as to reverse the shrinking of the middle class and would encompass a wealth tax and a democratisation of land.

The one taking over would have to understand that we are at a tipping point and it would be wise to rein in the expenses and ensure a fairer redistribution of wealth. On a note of concern, many of those that are striving to reach that FM chair have had their stints in power and have contributed to the present situation.

* However there is therefore no “good” or “bad” time to accede to power, as former Labour leader Sir Satcam Boolell said in an interview to this paper years ago – any time is good time, right?

I would say that acceding to power when the going is tough is what actually defines a great leader. For example, in 1968 when SSR had to guide an independent country towards harmony and development, Roosevelt with the New Deal or Narasimha Rao with his bold measures to transform India. Anyone can lead when the sea is calm. It is when you manoeuvre your vessel through the tempest that you truly show your ability. And we are in the midst of one.

* Today’s Labourites feel the “good” times are coming back. What do you think?

They were very confident in 2014 as well and were expecting a walkover. They do have the advantage of having their very best of agents in the MSM and the ML. Nonetheless, this will be a rough road to power. Anyone aiming to topple the present government has to prepare itself to face the brunt of zealous and biased opinion leaders, the oligarchy and the many yes-men.

Ruffin says this about the French government, “Vous ne dirigez plus, mais vous dominez toujours.” I feel the same way about this Government. It is bedlam but they are eager to implement new laws to curb our freedom and will resort to every trick in the book. The opposition parties should gear up for some serious mano a mano and that much hyped ‘Rupture’ better not be about gossamer changes. With the fear of the retour de bâton hovering above their heads, this will be an ugly campaign.

Interview with Santa/Weekly 20/12/18

World Class Wrecking Crew (L’Express Weekly 04.10.18)

Interview: Chetan Ramchurn – Entrepreneur (Mauritius Times)

“The MMM today is essentially about a battle between old and new yes-men/women”

Interview: Chetan Ramchurn – Entrepreneur

‘The Labour Party should let the honest leftist voices be heard. For at the moment, it is not connecting with Mauritians’

 

‘The Annual ‘Tap Latab’ exercise (Budget Speech) is such a waste of time. 3 hours of pure PR’

Our interviewee this week is a young entrepreneur – formerly president of the Youth Wing of the MMM – who has bold and incisive views on the current chaotic state of our polity. His views span politics, economics, finance, business and the shady undercurrents on which they float and which are corrupting Mauritan society. His diagnosis is clear: there is rot everywhere and the only redemption can be a return to nobler values which the leaders and their yes-men/women have long since abandoned in their pursuit of filthy lucre in cahoots with Big Business and dubious investors to whom they are selling the country’s soul just so as to remain in their seats. His is a breath of much-needed fresh air. We hope it will blow all around and remove the mental cobwebs of those who are supposed to be leading us, but also of the people who must get out of their lethargy if they care for themselves and the future of their children.

 

Mauritius Times: The leader of the MMM went public a few days ago to express his “surprise” by and annoyance (“agacement”) with the goings-on within the MMM in relation to the election of the Poliburo of the party. It’s almost certain that he had been taken off guard, and might well be losing the upper hand over his party, as some would suggest. Rather surprising, isn’t it, for someone so well versed in turf battles in the political arena?

Chetan Ramchurn: Before indulging into that, let me first point out how irrelevant such internal spats are while we are in the midst of suffering from further encroachment upon our private spaces with the opaque Safe City project and we face the risk of welcoming dubious figures in our motherland, such is the eagerness of this government to sell our nationality to foreigners. But this is the MMM, a party that can re-enact the same stale acts sine die. Expect one of the patented yes-men to profess the non sequitur of ‘Plus fort que jamais’ or ‘Mari Travay Dekip’ after the confusion stemming from this masquerade.

There were signs of ‘revolt’ back in 2015 where an initial list scripted by ‘rebels’ (former obsequious members that had finally seen the light) had already penned the ousting of Bérenger. The latter having tamed some of his adversaries with top-notch posts was able to quell that revolt. This is the ‘lutte des places’ taken to its next stage. Taken to its extreme, this fight over seats could involve profiling and canvassing on ethnic lines.

These elections, now reduced to a divide-and-rule device, have been long used by the circus master to exercise total control over what will eventually become his last bastion. Having stripped the MMM of real causes, killed the ‘droit de tendance’ and sacrificed its credibility with on/off bouts, this was to be expected. French rappers use the line ‘Il a accouché de sa propre fin’ to describe such situations. Only time will tell whether it applies to him or not. He might have resolved the conflict on Wednesday and cobbled a team that satisfies both sides but the credibility of the party is in tatters. So many new and unknown figures with no expressed opinion on the issues that matter next to those who merely echo their leader, it does not look good.

This is my reading of things; the absence of any desire to improve the lives of the masses and the selling out to the capitalists has transformed the movement in a hollow vessel with many yearning for any form of recognition. We are at the stage where the ‘seconds couteaux’ try to upgrade to première lame status; essentially a battle between old and new yes-men/women. The only way a party’s internal elections would gain in credibility would be through the organisation of open primaries where all Mauritians would be allowed to vote. Like other mainstream parties, MMM’s version of democracy is a farce.

* Paul Bérenger will surely fight back, as he is being nudged to do so – he would not himself want to be reduced to being a “Leader Minimo”, wouldn’t he? Do you expect him to regain control of the situation, or have the circumstances changed today for him?

He is not doing much as an MP albeit voicing his concern for the oligarchy on the sugar (a misnomer, this is verily the cane sector) conundrum so he has plenty of time to leverage control in his favour over the next few weeks and months. He will be patient and will not hasten matters. You will have noticed that he is only annoyed (agacer) and not angry (Mo bien amerder). He holds the purse strings of the party and that is a determining factor. He has a national aura that his adversaries need.

Some in the mainstream press still hold Berenger in high esteem and it constitutes an asset for the party. Both sides need each other. This is why they have compromised and he seems to have gained the upper hand with a number of people from his circle placed in good positions. While the two pretenders to the secretary general position have been denied, it has gone to his most loyal follower. He has fought and seems to have won, not necessarily to salvage his dimming career, but to keep the family concern going.

* If you go by the MMM’s past track record in the opposition, the current government would have faced a difficult time opposite an MMM of the earlier days what with the long list of scandals that have marked its mandate so far. Whatever happened to the MMM of the earlier years?

It simply does not know which party it will have to ally itself with so as to have the best chances of gaining power. Le cul entre deux chaises, the safest position is to stay quiet and not create ripples. The MMM has long been at the forefront when it came to the revelation of scandals. The catchphrase ‘Zot mem aster, zot mem vander’ punctured young Jugnauth’s credibility to such an extent that even the numerous advisers could not plug the leaks to this day.

But let us be honest about the MMM. In 2014, it was happy to play the “opposition loyale” while the Labour Party was in power and following the power change it resorted to taking shots in a most selective manner so that the scandal-prone MSM would get rid of the ML. With the live telecast of debates, people are realising that even Duval can ask questions that embarrass the government. One of the rare questions asked by the MMM’s leader this year showed the decrepit state it had reached; asking whether a hike in electricity prices would be considered to give some comfort to the troubled billionaires of the cane sector.

* Do you think that the younger generation who have climbed on the MMM bandwagon following the recent ‘Comité Central’ election, or those who look poised to take over, be able to take up from where Paul Bérenger has left it and provide the leadership that would reinvigorate the party?

The second fiddles in the MMM will have trouble upgrading to first violins. The system has been festering for a while and many who have held on to it have been nurtured into saying yes and not having ideas. This is not likely to change. There is no rebirth without a real funeral. I trust them to get this version of the MMM to the pyre eventually. Then only something new can emerge.

* The MMM is sailing in turbulent waters presently and it’s not clear in which direction it is heading. The PMSD and the Mouvement Patriotique are not tall enough to constitute a threat to the governing alliance. The only remaining contender on the political spectrum is the Labour Party. Do you see the LP capable of successfully challenging the government?

Limiting the potential contenders to a single option is dangerous and would mean that we would have to accept that it is only a cyclic switch between two families and factions. Can a leftist movement muster enough force prior to the next elections? We will see.

The Labour Party seems to have lost its voice. To paraphrase Gramsci, power is only conquered through ideas. At the moment, the hegemony of the capitalists is well entrenched. They are the ones dictating the terms of the debate. Their stooges are polluting the mainstream media and are framing public opinion to please their masters. Social engineering is being used extensively to veil the truth from our eyes. Nonetheless, shunning confrontation with highly biased figures would be a mistake.

Unless the Labourites position themselves in a battle of ideas versus the capitalists, there is the real danger of this calamitous government returning to power. It needs honest voices that say things as they are: this is a government that will rank amongst the worst this country has seen. So bad, that Pravind Jugnauth seems to be a visionary when compared to its other members. This is a government that has relinquished its powers in favour of the private sector that is happy to give exemptions worth billions of rupees to promoters of smart cities, that has considerably weakened the state while the EDB will determine what type of economic growth this country will pursue.

This is a government that toys with the idea of privatising water, that does not pay much attention to the rule of law, which is ready to do everything to satisfy the gluttony of the kitchen. Its charge sheet would have been enough to have it condemned. But the times have changed. There is little to no reaction on the part of the public on several critical issues. The first step would be to wake the people up.

The Labour Party would do well do revamp its personnel; let the honest leftist voices be heard. For at the moment, it is not connecting with Mauritians. It would do well to do away with those that have created a chasm between it and the middle class; those with love for stimulus packages and fiscal gifts for conglomerates. It needs to work on what democratisation would entail; it has to be the empowering of the masses not merely the pandering to another bourgeoisie.

It has to be bold; come up with new checks and balances and additional power to the people in the form of recall elections. Their dearth of bold ideas allied with an amateurish communication cripples them. They need to step up their game to have a solid chance of winning it next time.

* As regards the current government itself, critics have argued that its recent budget lacked a clear economic vision and substance and that it was more geared for the next elections. Isn’t it what all governments do at this stage in their mandates?

These are paltry gifts compared to what have been given to the haves. The Annual ‘Tap Latab’ exercise is such a waste of time. 3 hours of pure PR — I use PR to be politically correct. Big Business understands that and knows that the servile government will grant it whatever it desires, whether the government acknowledges it in this bill or not. There are a number of déjà vumeasures: the Civil Service College, Ocean Economy. Sprinkle some fad terms (Fintech, AI) and you have a potpourri akin to what this mandate is (not a lot of substance and plenty of spin.)

What is even more worrying is that some opposition leaders were almost begging for the government to include gifts to the cane sector… this tells us how rigged and perverted the system is. Of course, the government will be happy to oblige and will be setting up a Ministerial Committee for the bending over exercise.

As an entrepreneur, I find the budget out of sync. Saddling SMEs with graduates is like putting two issues together and hoping that a solution will materialise out of it. This is  simplistic and shows a dearth of knowledge of the many administrative hurdles and costs in the initial years of business.

Any measure to alleviate the burden on the middle class is welcomed. Still, this government is also saying that it will not touch the privileges of the ultra-rich. It needs the financing at election time. So what it does is reduce the price of petroleum products that it increased some weeks back and oversells the tax reduction. A lot of overselling will mean as many disgruntled people in one year.

* The government may be also looking for a face-saving device which would allow it to get out of the mess caused by the ‘Cash for Citizenship’ scheme. What lessons should we draw from this episode as regards the formulation of government policy on economic development and the role of such institutions like the EDB, the membership of which shows a predominance of private sector executives?

The way a few of the directors of the EDB are passing the hot potato to each other so that the ownership of this half-baked measure is not ascribed to them is comical. I am not even blaming them though. The private sector works like this; easy money means you can throw caution to the wind. What was the Prime Minister thinking when he chose to keep it in the Finance Bill? Pertaining to the outcry of some certified protectors of the historic bourgeoisie, this is an upgrade on the IRS/RES which only offered residence permits to the purchasers. The capitalists are good at influencing public opinion when they are not maximising profits. Some of the lobbying in that regard is thus artificial and we should be wary of that. Their villas could remain unsold.

The private sector works best only when the State holds its ground and is not reduced to a doormat for the private sector. The latter is on the look for profitability, usually on the short term and without caring about that happens in the long term. The EDB cannot dictate the terms of the game and tell us how the economy will be run. The present Prime Minister seems to have given up on affirming this stance. And this joke of a budget attests to that.

While we have been lauding the Singaporean model for years, we should probably pay attention to how their country is run. There is a strong state with strong regulators allowing private companies to operate in a safe cadre. Any government kowtowing to conglomerates hoping that this will lead to more jobs and economic growth fails to understand the primary motive of companies.

* Speaking of cash for the government’s budget, there would be a few billions forthcoming from the Saudis in the wake of the visit of the Kingdom’s Interior minister Prince Abdulaziz Al Saud. Whatever the price we would be paying for that, Showkutally Soodhun seems to outperforming his predecessors – the earlier frequent visitors to Saudi Arabia – who could never fetch us a political price for Saudi oil. What’s your take on that?

There is no such thing as a free meal in this world. Be it from India, China or Saudi Arabia. We are increasingly the hostage of their interests. I call it a duopoly; whatever the local oligarchy does not own is now being preyed upon by imperial powers.

The devil is in the detail. What will we be giving up at a later stage to please these overtly generous donors is what truly matters. Will they eventually have a say in how we are supposed to live? We have already started banning women from assemblies and there are tensions on communal grounds. Our way of life is what makes us unique. We should do our best to preserve that.

The generous grants showcase how past decisions affect us to this date. The manque à gagner from the flat tax considerably decreases the Government’s ability to act. Hard to believe that it is Soodhun’s charisma that is attracting this generosity, so I am pretty sure we will have to foot the bill in one way or the other at a later stage.

* But there is also some disturbing news about MP Soodhun relating to the sale by his son, Umeir, of his lease rights over a plot of State lands to Chinese investors for some Rs 48 million, a sale which according to documents published in the press would have been approved by former Housing and Lands minister Soodhun himself. The Intermediate Court ruling in the matter of MedPoint, although subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court, would however be a good place to start with for guidance on matters of conflict of interest. What do you think?

Well, jamais deux sans trois. First the accusations of threatening Duval, then he is alleged to have used derogatory terms about a section of the population in a private meeting and now the sale of this lease which raises questions.

The 2015 verdict would be a good starting point although the facts of this case might differ. The sentencing judgement in the MedPoint case highlighted that despite the absence of monetary gain for the accused, any participation in the decision making process was found in contravention of the POCA.

‘The concrete fact is that he participated in the decision making process as regards re-allocation of funds wherein his relative had a personal interest, and this actual taking part in these given circumstances is absolutely prohibited under section 13(2) POCA.’

The toothless watchdog could eventually pretend to act under public pressure. But not much is likely to happen. What people would like to know is whether he has respected his duties and responsibilities as a public official. Expect threats to members of the press by the parties involved and a lot of spin around this matter.

* There also appears to be lots of cash holed up in different places around the island – not only in ‘coffres-forts’ in the Upper Plaines Wilhems. And if we go by the trade the ‘depositors’ of the latest catch to the tune of some Rs 58 million ply, the Rs 220 million look like peanuts today. Isn’t that the perception?

These two issues are interrelated. The opaque political financing system is at the heart of our woes. How can people enjoying the perks of unlimited money from financiers seriously try to crack down dirty money or prevent money laundering? It is a state of mind that has percolated to the masses. The wheeling and dealing, what Mauritians call ‘tracer’, is present at different levels. This greed is seen when we open our arms to international con men, when vehicles are given like bones to those holding important positions in the system, when despite the billions of profits of the well-diversified cane sector, there is still the desire for more, when the father ensures that he places his/her ward to replace him so that this system perpetuates itself. Insatiable greed is present everywhere.

What we can do at this stage is initiate our youth to more noble pursuits. I wrote earlier in the year about cultural democratisation and the importance of a pass which would allow students to discover the beauty of our culture. This along with the cultivation of empathy should be at the heart of our concerns. Otherwise, we have other leaders that will not care about the inequality gap and this is not the type of society that would be elevating for its residents.

As regards the much maligned Rs 220 Million, we should be honest. To even think that only one of the mainstream party leader’s would have a war chest would be illogical. There are many that have profiteered from the system and have built whole empires with this kind of financing. It is a massive hypocrisy on the part of those that have handsomely benefited from this system to pretend that they are any different. What I regret is that nothing has been done by the Labour Party or the MMM to remedy same. They have not questioned the system and if they have their attempts to change it have been weak.

We should add the number of drug cases, the ballad of Lutchigadoo, the freebies given to family members, the use of public money to rescue a sinking hotel, the constant lying of our leaders, their dishonest acquaintances, the vulture-like lawyers, and the many shady deals to the unaccounted money that seems to circulate in Mauritius.

What is even more worrying is that the disenchantment of the population is quickly turning into indifference. The people seem to no longer care. This is what we will have to fight against.

 

THE ALL-SEEING EYES (Le Mauricien 07.06.18)

https://www.lemauricien.com/article/the-all-seeing-eyes-on-the-safe-city-project/

 

There are sick minds everywhere. Including in Mauritius. There are those who envision a complete overhaul of our society, dream of one where strict compliance to their dogma is the only possibility. To achieve same, they are ready to resort to violent means. This is a fact and often the premise of those in the pro-surveillance camp who aver that a state should be allowed to defend itself from such harm. It percolates from a utilitarian perspective. Sometimes for the greater good, we need to sacrifice some of our privacy. It has its supporters, even on the left.

I believe that state surveillance, reasonably controlled and constrained, helps promote liberty and helps to protect against terrorism. Surveillance helped us win the Second World War because we were able to break the Japanese and German codes. Would anybody say we shouldn’t have done that? (Dershowitz, 2014)

Chetan Ramchurn

 

The key questions pertain to the efficiency of such a system in combating crime and the extent of the trade-off between privacy and the additional protection this system would purportedly bring. Surveillance has always existed. Technology significantly expands its possibilities and allows it to be ubiquitous with everyone falling under scrutiny. Surprisingly, there is little resistance to this potentially democracy-altering and fragilising system that the soon to be implemented surveillance project could be. Few MPs have raised their voices to breach the opacity surrounding the project. This could be explained by the fact that in the past, Labour’s biometric card already ruptured our privacy and this government specialises in going from bad to worse.

Shrouded in Secrecy

The population needs reassurances about how this will work. What we know so far is that this is a project that will run for two decades and that the costs are hefty. Based on the answers of Anerood Jugnauth in the parliament, we are talking about a staggering 456 million USD. It is a heavy investment on something we know near to nothing about. The cost over this period will be spread as follows:

–             Year 0 : USD 13 million (i.e. the current financial year)

–             Year 1 to 7 : USD 18.9 million yearly, and

–             Year 8 to 20 : USD 23.9 million yearly.

A cabinet decision of December 2017 has informed us that the ‘project […] aims at enhancing the security and safety of the public, comprises a CCTV Smart Camera Surveillance System, a Multimedia Radio Trunking System, a Central Watch and Management System, an Integrated Emergency Response Management System and an Intelligent Command System, to enable the Police Department to obtain better intelligence with a view to optimising response.’ Would this CCTV Smart Camera include facial recognition features? No further information has been offered on same.

The Powerful Watcher

As part of the other considerations that are related to the Safe City Project is the considerable power held by the watcher over the watched. Richards further states that this advantage can be misused for ‘blackmail, persuasion, or discrimination’. He further emphasises that ‘we are gradually losing our levers of influence over the most powerful members of society because they’re using exceptional powers and exceptional privileges such as the state secrets power…to remove themselves from our accountability.’ These misuses have been reported by the New York Times in 2009 when NSA employees were found to use surveillance to watch over their lovers, ex-girlfriends, and other individuals who were not perpetrators of any crime. Likewise, journalists with different views were monitored and screened out from press conferences.

As Edward Snowden points out, the belief among employees is that they are ‘good people doing bad things for good reasons’. Soon however, the employees reach the point of utilitarianism ‘where you say, ‘As long as it benefits my tribe, as long as it benefits my cohort, my group, my class, anything can be justified.’.

People ≠ Objects 

The issue with the utilitarian mantra of the pro-surveillance cohort is that it turns human beings into mere objects. As Cohen (2010) highlights, ‘Kant admonishes us to “always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any another, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end.” Utilitarianism treats persons “simply as a means” (objects) instead of as “ends” (persons) and is, therefore, unacceptable’. This in turn creates the confusion between people and objects and reduces the human beings to mere ‘objects as if they were physical things to be tallied.’ Cohen (2010) upholds that unlike objects, our self-determining ability allows us to have rights and privacy is one of them. As such, we should not have our private space encroached upon by others.

Dangers to our democracy

The risks that surveillance poses are myriad. It dampens democracy as Richard points out it can ‘chill the exercise of our civil liberties.’ Constantly watched, most people would shun from engaging themselves in a faction that opposes the government of the day and would hesitate to embrace divergent views. Washington University School of Law Professor Neil Richards calls for the ‘protection of our intellectual freedom to think without state oversight or interference’.

The State is entitled to protect itself from the harmful effects of those ready to create havoc. But what does havoc mean? Would it mean any form of dissent against what the state does? In China, this takes the form of protection of ‘social stability’ which if any, is a distinctly Orwellian term meaning preserving the status quo. Would people raising their voice against a government that acquiesces to everything requested by the economic elite, that reduces our public domain by removing beaches from it, that privatises essential goods be guilty of disturbing social stability?

This government understands that knowledge is power as it tries hard, very hard to hold on to it. With scant information on this project and no empirical evidence presented to back its crime-reducing capabilities, the motives of our country’s leaders are difficult to ascertain. Even more so that any surveillance project would normally be accompanied by a battery of measures including improved lighting and police presence. At the moment, this is merely ‘the boot stamping on a human face.’ As previously with the light-rail project, this is an endeavour that seems poorly planned and which comes saddled with a burden that will weigh upon us over the coming decades. As Anerood would probably say, ‘Well, if that is so, it is so! What can I do?’*

References:

\    Greenwald, Alexis Ohanian, Alan Dershowitz, and Michael Hayden in conversation, by Rudyard Grifffiths. (2014) Does state spying make us safer? : the Munk Debate on Mass Surveillance Aurea Foundation

 

\    Cohen, E. (2010) Surveillance and State Control, The Total Information Awareness Project. Palgrave Macmillan.

 

\    Hansard 15 May 2018.

 

\    *Answer to MP K.Ramano who queried on the monopoly situation in surveillance of  MT and Huawei, Hansard 15 May 2018.

\    Neil M. Richards. The Dangers of Surveillance. Harvard Law Review. 2013

The Circus is Back in Town (28.03.18)

The Circus Is Back In Town

After months of respite, the disgruntled population has to bear the shticks of the seasoned

Chetan Ramchurn

actors again. Are there any new additions to their stale acts now? Albeit the unanswered questions, the “tombe dehors”, “vander”, “batchiara”, the sniper-like targeting of anyone preventing an alliance with the On/Off party, the walk-outs at dinner time, the spats between former and future bed partners, and the half-baked answers of an utterly incapable leader? Yes, there are two novelties that have been​ added to the drama; colour matching when it comes to ties and beyond the sartorial effort, visual cues are now part of the fray. ​

Hence, neck deep plunged in immorality and shenanigans, the heir can find no better answer than to come up with a snap that proves nothing but his own limitations.

Veiled in secrecy, the former doormat for an international crook is hardly bothered. He sits there while his stooges continue their destructive work in our institutions. The name of a toothless watchdog headed by a patented yes-man is often thrown in the fray. Not much is likely to materialise such is its inaction. The system is rigged and not in our favour. The weekly discussions are make-believe; an increasingly difficult exercise to sustain the illusion that there is an alternative.

The house is presided over by a partisan lady whose bias makes the illusion seem slightly more believable such is the one sidedness in the way she handles the business of the agora. Overtly protecting the incumbent, hearing most selectively, she does more harm to those she wishes to serve. Every week, the freak show is broadcast live. The public is now accustomed to the acts of the ones it has chosen. They are scripted and some of the actors have spent decades perfecting the art of pretense. And the gullible electorate has spent years believing that the dynasties working for those wielding economic power would ultimately be beneficial to them.

The people are weary now. They are progressively more aware that they have been repeatedly betrayed. They know that corporate interests will predominate on their rights. On this Tuesday, not much was spoken about inequality while the gaps continue to widen and should have preoccupied. While the actors hail from different banners, they are united around the same goal; benefit from the generosity of financiers. This has led to a loss of faith in democracy and lower voter turnout and could potentially see the emergence of parties with extremist views.

This Tuesday is no different from others. The circus will be in town on a weekly basis. Over the next weeks, love will be gradually introduced to the plot. Love between two brothers will be rekindled “au nom de l’intérêt supérieur de la nation”. Likewise, two forsaken lovers, one in red and the other in blue will gradually move towards each other. The population knows it and will ​watch the déjà vu with tired eyes.

What happens after the stinking kitchen is out?

The cyclic switch between two dynasties seems to be on the cards once again. With MLP generating some momentum after Arvin Boolell’s victory in Belle-Rose/Quatre-Bornes, many feel that a win at the next general elections is more than probable. This has, not so surprisingly, been translated into a rekindled chutzpah among those that were defeated in 2014. But will our collective fate improve with an overhaul of personnel?

Those in office were eager for anything but a Labour success at the pre-Christmas polls. But the people have decided otherwise. There is now a greater sense of urgency in the government’s ranks. The clock is ticking. They are pinning their hopes on an economic upturn and visible signs of development. With many in the press quick to laud anything that benefits the rent seekers, the coverage around same would amplify these ‘realisations’.

MSM≠MLP

But what is in for us? Do we continue to switch to and fro between two families and their associated yes-men and women? The MSM and the Labour party are not alike: the former’s regressive economic stance translates into the consolidation of the historic bourgeoisie while the latter’s version of democratisation supports the emerging bourgeoisie. Both when in power pursue their respective agendas…often at the cost of the better interests of the nation. For how could a fiscal gift of such proportions be given to promoters of smart cities or why would a flat tax rate with ruinous consequences be introduced? The damage caused by both parties cripple the country and will continue to do so.

A purple locomotive for leftist forces? No, thank you.

 The MMM, after yet another defeat, is on the look for that elusive winning formula. Of the ideas that have been thrown amidst the “seul contre tous” and “plus fort que jamais” inanities is that of a leftist force that would drive similar movements and factions. But is the MMM still on the left? Is a political party that eschews from communicating on smart cities, which stands for economic realism with an overt concern for the sugar barons and was one of the architects of the Illovo deal, of any contribution to progressive ideas? Not at the moment.

Enough space for a progressive movement

With the growing chasm between citizens and political parties, what would be ideal is a progressive movement that would renew faith in democracy. It would be truly transparent in the way it would operate; with open primaries citizens would get to elect their candidate for elections, it would ban any donation from corporate entities or business magnates and have clear limits on the amount that can be contributed, it would have a well defined programme and thus not indulge in the kind of impromptu measures such as the Metro Express.

A truly leftist force would not be a device at the hands of capitalists to thwart their competitors, would not have the undemocratic obsession with prolonging dynasties, would not contract alliances to gain power and would have no unhealthy obsession for one “homme providentiel”. We have enough people in this country that could make this project work. The challenge is getting them together.

Populist carrots are being thrown to the masses in an attempt to turn back the tide. All accompanied with excessive communication meant to curb the absence of leadership. Like the previous government, this one is not bothered with the weakening of the middle class and is saddled with scandals. But the economic doxa it follows is much more regressive. Progressives should unite. Now.

Pou Enn Demokratizasion Kiltirel

Article paru dans Le Mauricien | 6 novembre, 2017 – 15:35 | Par CHETAN RAMCHURN

Mo rev denn kiltir dekloisone,
Ki permet bann lespri evolie,
Nou sosiete ava benefisie,
Ant nou, bann lien ava resere.

Rises kiltirel Moris pou ogmante
Bann zenn pou lir bann oter ki zot oule,
Ant Bellow ek Balzac zot kav navige,
Ek proz Cabon ek Chazal zot kav teleporte,
Si enn kolezien le al teat,
so paran pa bizin frike,
Kan kikenn ler dekouver Mozart,
pena pou dimann prete,
Si to ler transporte par mazi
Bharat Natyam, to nepli bizin ezite,
Calligraphie Chinoise ava fer toi emerveye,
Enn konser Menwar, to oblize vibre.

Mo rev denn alokasion kiltirel
kouma Renzi inn amene,
Kot a laz 18 an, to gagn enn larzan pou depanse,
Lor expozision, liv, mize, konser ou sine,
Toi to gete!
Lib arbit lor seki to opte.
Macron pe esey kopie,
Seki dan Italie apel 18app,
« pass culture » linn nome,
Me lesans napa sanze.
Se permet la mas ek kiltir konekte.

Interview Mauritius Times 01.12.17

“Young Mauritians feel that they could end up as a lost generation with not enough space in politics, business or culture to exist”

‘The electorate would seem to favour the party with the best chances of ending the present government’s reign… It is the other side of the ‘Virer Mam’ coin’

 

33 years old, Chetan Ramchurn is an entrepreneur, and was previously active in the MMM. He is a lifelong resident of Quatre Bornes where his office is based. Since in the forthcoming by-election the country is looking forward to a renouvellement and a rejuvenation, we have felt it appropriate to listen to a youthful voice about the political situation and the broad issues concerning the country. Chetan Ramchurn gives us refreshing views about a number of them, and his candid perceptions and assessments should make all of us stand up and think. They are thought out and based on sound reasoning from serious sources, and are wedded to the ground realities and the social changes that are impacting the country.

Mauritius Times: Speculations are rife about who is most likely to win the 17 December Belle Rose-Quatre Bornes by-election, the likely turn-out on polling day and what the result of this election will lead to. The bookies’ favourite appears to be the Labour Party’s Arvin Boolell at this stage. What do the strategies of the different parties inform you about the importance they attach to this election?

Chetan Ramchurn: With the government cowering from the electorate, the absence of an antagonist as target for opposition parties is clearly felt. This is a campaign where image is everything and not much of substance can be heard or seen; a battle of photo ops and videos mixed with an avalanche of shallow comments on social networks.

However, the important message to communicate to the No.18 electorate is that this is an election which will determine our common future.

The MLP (Mauritius Labour Party) understands this. This is no mere by-election; winning it could trigger the change process which would come to fruition at the next general elections. The strategy to support this core message (Zordi No.18, Dimé Moris) is well executed. Their candidate steers away from any controversy, conveys the image of a friendly man and smiles a lot. In short, he is playing to his strengths. His presence since 1987 in active politics has been carefully omitted and Ramgoolam’s relative absence from the fray is designed to give him the best chances of winning. But no election is won before votes are cast. Polls use a glimpse of the past to show the future and cannot always be relied upon. And in the absence of a clear target, the favourite attracts the darts of fellow candidates. This is a crucial battle for the Labour Party, one that it cannot afford to lose.

As for the MMM, it started the campaign with two disadvantages; its presence in the constituency had been weakened with Kavy Ramano’s departure, and the non sequitur of opting for a new candidate instead of Vijay Makhan. As if that was not enough, the vocal admonition of the Mouvement Patriotique’s candidate by Berenger was ill-advised. Moreover, rumours of probable on/off fits have been prevalent during the campaign. This dampens the ‘novelty’ cachet the MMM wants to project. Some attempts have been made to frame this as a match between the Labour Party and the MMM. The success of these attempts will only be judged on the 18^th of December and will determine the party’s stance at the next general elections: will it go alone or will it saddle itself with another party?

* What about the one who triggered this by-election?

Roshi Bhadain’s Reform Party is fighting for relevance… and its existence. Its adversaries will have smelt a whiff of desperation over the last few weeks. Its supporters clearly believe in their leader and in his words and want to see him triumph. Whether they manage to sway the electorate in their favour remains to be seen. Bhadain’s presence and influence as a Minister until early 2017 harm his chances. He has after all been an active participant in the government’s actions and will have trouble shedding that image. The RP’s strategy is a disruptive one. Expect a lot of noise.

As for the others, Rezistans ek Alternativ’s Kugan Parapen talks about ideas that are relevant to our future. He delves on the social divide, the fiscal imbalance on which our economic structure rests and he has managed to keep some form of authenticity in his campaign by not communicating for the sake of communicating. He will have to cut through the noise and artificiality that this election is mired in to connect with the electorate.

The PMSD comes with new ambitions; that of seeing XLD as prime minister. They will rely more on his pull in and experience of the region than anything else. The result will determine the number of bargaining chips in their hands when negotiating an alliance. The Mouvement Patriotique’s ambitions do not match those of the PMSD’s; they want to show to possible partners that they are significant enough to be taken on board.

It has been a dull campaign so far but will hopefully be vivified in the last two weeks.

* What do you see being spun in terms of political propaganda these days for the people’s and the electorate’s consumption and what are the objectives of these spins?

“Those who tell the stories rule society.” What Plato says resonates even more in times when the doctoring of messages is practised widely. The best coup in recent times was the 2014 projection of Anerood Jugnauth as a harbinger of change and as the guardian of public weal. With the implicit cooperation and collusion of many in the media and the arrogance and missteps of their opponents, they managed to pull it off.

At the moment, the spin around the selling of Pravind Jugnauth as Prime Minister is the one most deserving of our attention. In his case, we have someone, apparently destined for the post since he joined politics, whose absence of charisma and leadership is known. He has long struggled to find his own voice. So instead of looking for one, they are opting for mere imitation: cleaning à la Modi, jogging à la Obama with the only original activity being the zip-lining in work clothes in Rodrigues. It is a tough sell.

From what I can observe, Pravind Jugnauth will be portrayed as someone who is good on the economic front. In a way that is not too different from his father minus the Lee Kuan Yew-inspired authority. The only issue is that people now understand that the economic prosperity he refers to rarely percolates to them and that his policies will favour the rent-seekers. The fiscal gifts given to promoters of smart cities are astronomical but most in the press seems to have obliterated this crucial piece of information.

While some of the communication around the new airplanes is propaganda at its most amateurish, the hype around the negative income tax and the minimum wage is being built to win over the masses. Right wing politics sugarcoated with populist measures is a dangerous concoction for any country. The population should wake up to this potentially explosive phenomenon.

* One may be disappointed with the level of debates and how the opposition seems to be bent on shooting itself in its foot in the context of this by-election, but there also appear to be other things being played out in the background, power plays as well as possible alliances being hatched by political gymnasts. What’s your take on these matters?

One would hope that the large slap across the face of the two main parties in the last elections would have prevented such shenanigans to happen. The ‘opposition loyale’ that the MMM today represents with its attacks on those that should be ousted from the current governing alliance for a possible alliance is seemingly on. I am surprised that any noble party would wish to be associated with any of the factions left in government… the scandals, the destruction of the BAI, the drug related scandals and figures, the absence of a clear vision and the incendiary comments. But power’s lure is great.

I am immune to this type of call for change which would lead to shifting back to those who have failed us in the past. This cyclic to and fro between dynasties bears a testimony to how sick our democracy is. What really matters is what happens afterwards, as Zizek questions, ‘What happens the day after revolution?’ Unless someone comes up with a coherent plan that would truly address the country’s woes, any such change is futile.

* But “l’offre politique” on the political spectrum, however, is very limited and the people find themselves at the end of the day with very little choice than go for the “lesser evil”, which is generally not good enough for the country. And the initiatives launched by young intellectuals and academics in recent years who said they would “do politics differently” have remained stuck at the starting stalls. So we find ourselves periodically back to square one, don’t we?

Even worse, those that have professed to loathe and reject the mainstream parties have joined them. The problem is not with the parties; they are mere structures with varying degrees of historical mileage and achievements. The problem is with those who make up the party. They have failed to understand the importance of regeneration and so generously have they been fed by financiers that we are stuck in a society where the economic fabric is in favour of the powerful.

But change will come. It will come when capitalism will have seemingly conquered it all. The attempt to strip our Welfare State to the bare minimum, as targeting and privatisation are proclaimed as absolute requirements for our country to survive, attests to this trend. Dark times are looming with the present government.

* Once every three decades or so we see a sort of tidal wave election, which brings up a new team of young politicians taking over from the old order and presiding over the destiny of the country until they also get swept away by the next wave. This is only a by-election, but some commentators are hoping the December by-election will set the ground for a new beginning. Wishful thinking, would you say?

I wish I could pin such hopes on the ‘young and new’. Have we not often witnessed such overhauls where the young replace the old and there is no change in terms of the way Mauritius is governed? It’s epitomized in Giuseppe Tomasi’s line: “Everything must change so that nothing changes.” There were new and young faces in 2014: Jadoo-Jaunbocus, Rutnah, Duval, Bhadain and Tarolah all fitted that description perfectly. I do not feel that they have contributed much to the betterment of the country.

As I said the allure of newness and change for the sake of change is dangerous. I would rather have someone who has a coherent thinking pattern with a clear ideological choice. We have had enough of the ‘centrisme mou’ which most politicians seems to be happy to adhere to. Economic pragmatism essentially translates into the entrenching of inequalities, less protection to employees and stimulus packages to be injected in failing companies. If new faces espouse such views, there is hardly any need for them.

To come back to Belle Rose/Quatre Bornes, the electorate would seem to favour the candidate and party with the best chances of ending the present government’s reign. It is the other side of the ‘Virer Mam’ coin but essentially it is the same coin. They are part of the system.

* What about the “new beginning” I referred to earlier? If Mauritius really needs a new beginning, what should it be about?

It starts with getting rid of the diseases of the past: the state financing of political parties would be crucial to ensure that the allegiance of those elected is first and foremost to voters and not to financiers. Transparency should also encompass the assets of the state and include a more rigorous control on land; the allocation of leases should be monitored and regulated so as to prevent the kind of generosity towards petits copains we have witnessed and are witnessing.

The country needs independent regulators and institutions. For that to happen, we need people that will not give in to political pressure and will not, for example, accept the presence of international frauds in our jurisdiction. Matthew Simonton in his book ‘Classical Greek Oligarchy: A Political History’ traces the rise of oligarchy as a response to democracy. Oligarchs would design institutions that would protect them against citizens. For institutions to be truly functioning, we need people at the head of institutions to be chosen on the basis of meritocracy.

The limits of parliamentary democracy are even more glaring now that debates from the assembly are broadcast live. Clearly limiting the participation of citizens to one voting expedition every five years is not working in the country’s favour. Additional power should be given to people to sanction their representatives, initiate laws and have a say on major projects being embarked upon.

A new Mauritius can only be built by having a long term perspective on matters. Research carried out by Dr Osborne from the University of Oxford evaluated the percentage of job loss through computerisation to stand at 47% in the US. The research paper avers that “For workers to win the race, however, they will have to acquire creative and social skills.” This is an important consideration that should be factored in the type of education we impart to our children in the future.

Talks of a nation of entrepreneurs sound good to the ears but will not materialise unless entrepreneurs are given the real impetus to thrive. Access to finance remains a major issue and the administrative hurdles numerous. There is nothing that I feel is being done despite the PR exercises of successive ministers.

The building of national unity is a continuous process and one of the hurdles that prevent it from happening is cultural hegemony. A culture pass, akin to the one which has been introduced by Renzi in Italy, would allow young people to broaden their perspective and accept the breadth of our cultural richness and subsequently each other.

* There is increasing talk of the disaffection particularly of the younger generation with regard to politics but mostly with the “traditional parties” – perhaps more so with the leadership of these parties. In the US, The Atlantic newspaper states that “if there’s one thing people are learning about this young generation, it’s that they are liberal. Even leftist. Flirting with socialist.” What do the young Mauritians want?

Lumping all young Mauritians together would be wrong. The fils de of politicians and capitalists certainly have no qualms about the present situation as they benefit from it. The system is in their favour. The amount of bootlickers among people would surprise you. But those more concerned about their country than their own pockets feel that there is a marked feeling of regression where the present and future generations will lead lives worse than those of their parents. Access to housing is much more costly, their purchasing power does not allow them to aspire to something better.

At the moment, they feel that they could end up as a lost generation with not enough space in politics, business or culture to exist.

* The young generation must indeed be sharing the same concerns about their future as those of their peers elsewhere – concerns ranging from access to quality education and health services, jobs and affordable homes to a level playing field for the young entrepreneurs. This is what the new beginning should also be about with a view to addressing those concerns, isn’t it?

Definitely, they are components of what would normally be deemed a ‘happy life’. But there is much more than mere home ownership or a decent job that would fulfill an existence. Settling for that would be an issue because it does not encourage participation in the life of the polis and would ultimately render democracy impotent. We need to have a proactive population that can voice out and influence the way the country is run.

I would expect, for example, more cultural vibrancy in a country such as ours. Beyond mere individual considerations, I believe that the need for collective wellbeing is crucial. This is why inequalities matter and need to be rectified. There is no point in having a minority in gated communities afraid of the hungry masses outside.

* This year’s Legatum Prosperity Index™, which shows Mauritius retaining the top spot as Sub-Saharan Africa’s most prosperous nation also states that “however prosperity has however declined in Mauritius for four straight years following a high in 2013, prompted by significant declines in mental health and increasing dissatisfied with healthcare. Personal Freedom and Safety and Security also fell in 2017 – Mauritius ranks 130th in the world for the freedom of its press, whilst people reported feeling increasingly unsafe at night, and this year a greater number of people were reporting shortages of food and shelter.” What’s your take on these findings?

Personally, I have never paid much attention to rankings and indexes. It is, to paraphrase Talleyrand, a mentality of “Quand je m’observe, je m’inquiète. Quand je me compare, je me rassure.”

The index report of 2016 highlighted a female president as something worth noting but this does not improve the lives of Mauritian women.

But based on some of the issues highlighted, I can only say that we have an increasingly unequal society and many people have trouble making ends meet. There is a sense of despair among the young people who face unemployment and resort to a life of crime. The collectivist mindset is gradually being relinquished in favour of a more individualistic one. Everyone is fending for himself/herself and the government has outsourced its role to NGOs. This tendency is on the rise. The absence of meaning in our overtly materialistic lives, rising job insecurity and an uncertain future all add up to create a depressed society.

Last year’s report clearly identified diabetes as a major health issue and heralded the role of associations in helping patients deal with further complications. There is clearly more to be done on this front by the state. Pertaining to our low scores on vocational education, I believe we should start by removing the perception that vocational training is only open to those not good academically. Moreover training offered locally does not always have international recognition thus preventing young people from furthering their studies abroad.

It is evident that the lack of planning and thinking is potentially threatening our country’s future. Mauritius is still a wonderful country with great people whether indexes show it or not.

 

* Published in print edition on 1 December 2017

Of Words & Grief

ARTICLE PARU DANS LE MAURICIEN | 27 JUILLET, 2017 – 15:15 | PAR CHETAN RAMCHURN

Le Journal du Dimanche has an excellent series running in its literary pages. It is hosted after Pivot’s handpicked scenes from classics and takes the form of an interview where a known figure converses on his passion for reading and how it has influenced him.  In one of the exchanges, Edouard Philippe, current Prime Minister of France gives an interesting insight on the liberating influence of reading:
‘La lecture est l’un des vecteurs les plus puissants de la réflexion. Lire rend libre car lire permet de réfléchir, d’accumuler de l’expérience, de s’évader. […] La lecture est l’outil de la pensée. La transmission et l’enrichissement de la pensée passent par la lecture, et c’est par la pensée qu’advient la liberté. Je lis donc je pense, je pense donc je suis.’

 
Anyone who has been elevated through literature can relate to his words. As readers, whenever academic or professional boredom creep upon us, do we not find solace in pages? Do we not relate to the plight of the black woman when Morrison‘s Sethe would rather forsake her daughter than let her bear the humiliation of slavery? Does Roth’s flawless writing in The Human Stain not evoke within many of us the pain of the unjustly ostracised? Are we not impressed with McEwan’s savant alchemy of Hamlet and Mahabharata in The Nutshell? Are we not imparted the gist of Noah Webster’s philosophy when going through Sitaraman’s work:
“An equality of property, with a necessity of alienation, constantly operating to destroy combinations of powerful families, is the very soul of a republic —While this continues, the people will inevitably possess both power and freedom; when this is lost, power departs, liberty expires, and a commonwealth will inevitably assume some other form. Let the people have property […] and they will have power.”

 

 
‘Every love story is a potential grief story.’
Good writing takes us to realms otherwise unknown to us. The Loss of Depth, the third and final part of Julian Barnes’s essay Levels of Life has that rare quality. He confides in us the pain of losing his wife. Beautifully written, this is as much about love and as it is about sorrow.

 
“You put together two people who have not been put together before. Sometimes it is like that first attempt to harness a hydrogen balloon to a fire balloon: do you prefer crash and burn, or burn and crash? But sometimes it works, and something new is made, and the world is changed. Then, at some point, sooner or later, for this reason or that, one of them is taken away. And what is taken away is greater than the sum of what was there.”

 
The Man Booker Prize winning author takes us through the mental phases he has undergone: the feeling of helplessness prior to losing the loved one, the unpreparedness for the loss, the anger at the world for not mourning the demised, contemplating suicide as an exit route and eventually the surmounting of grief.

 
“We may say we are fighting cancer, but cancer is merely fighting us; we may think we have beaten it, when it has only gone away to regroup. It is all just the universe doing its stuff, and we are the stuff it is being done to. And so, perhaps, with grief. We imagine we have battled against it, been purposeful, overcome sorrow, scrubbed the rust from our soul, when all that has happened is that grief has moved elsewhere, shifted its interest. We did not make the clouds come in the first place, and have no power to disperse them.”
Barnes’s own loss is expressed with dignity in an elegiac style that will move those initiated to grief as well as those that have yet to know its devastating lows.

 
Inspiration for the Article:
Barnes, J. 2013, Levels of Life. Jonathan Cape.
Morrison,T. 1987.  Beloved. Knopf.
Roth, P. 2000 The Human Stain, Houghton Mifflin
Ganesh Sitaraman, 2017. The crisis of the middle-class constitution : why economic inequality threatens our Republic, Alfred A. Knopf
McEwan, I. 2016. Nutshell, Jonathan Cape.
Philippe, E. 2017.  “J’assume le fait d’apprendre”, Interviewed by Marie-Laure Delorme, Le JDD, 16 July 2017.

A BETTER TOMORROW

All Mystery and No Magic

Desiderata/L’Express 50 ans avec le pays

Na pa Zize/Le mauricien 25.06.12

Drum Roll (Le Mauricien 01.08.2023)

How Ramgoolam’s musical performance sent the governing alliance fanatics into a meltdown and laid bare the fear that has gained their ranks.

On last Saturday evening, lo and behold, a new video was unveiled; that of the Mauritius Labour Party’s leader exhibiting his mastery of cymbals and drums. Was it improvised or staged? No one quite knows.  Still, that it was shared online was a slick political manoeuvre, a rare one from the MLP since its defeat in 2014.

Deftness at music is a tried and tested recipe. Clinton played the saxophone, Obama offered a moving rendition of ‘Amazing Grace’ during Clementa Pinckney’s eulogy and even the much-maligned Nixon was something of a piano-virtuoso. While musical talent does not automatically translate into great leadership skills it carries a cool cachet that is undeniable. Certainly more than zip lining in work clothes. Boris Johnson, who most likely served as model for this PR stunt, has undoubtedly more than a few cases of sheer buffoonery under his belt but at least he is an original and has the gift of the gab.

What happened in its aftermath was much more interesting. That the former prime minister can play an instrument is known but that his ‘coolness’ became on display again ruffled feathers within government ranks more than it should have.  The next morning, supporters of those in power were vehement on radio waves, rehashing episodes that have now become stale, the coffers and denunciations on his private life. This was replicated online. A press conference was even convened by two government members to dissect Ramgoolam’s legal woes which reaped more derogatory comments against the government and its members than against their target.

Image has been everything since January 2017. Spectacles are staged and followers gained. Every single activity is a photo op. The farcical is on display. Capital intensive projects mushroom around the Republic with a ferocious appetite. And all of a sudden, in this cauldron of make-believe, their opponent gets groovy and disrupts everything without spending a dime.

The battle between past and present disappointments rages on.

What a sorry sight our democracy is.

Omerta? (Le Mauricien 17.12.2020)

OMERTA?
Law and order in Pravind Jugnauth’s first reign (i.e with him holding a majority in parliament after standing as the prime ministerial candidate) has proved to be a major concern. The initial enquiry into the death of MSM agent Soopramanien Kistnen concluded that it was a suicide. Astonishingly, the various pieces of evidence on the location where the burnt body was found were seemingly not important enough to indicate foul play. We were informed last week by a Police Sergeant that he was surprised that the suicide option had been privileged for upon visiting the site where the body was found on the 18th of October 2020, he discovered a box of matches, a partially burnt pair of scissors with traces of blood on the blades, a backpack as well as a mobile phone which had neither a sim nor a memory card.

That traces of a red car’s presence and a mobile phone cover have been collected merely some days back by the panel of lawyers and family members raises even more doubts on the way in which the investigation was carried out. On Thursday last, a Minister’s brother gave his version in court, taking the time to detail the various intricacies of an ever-thickening alleged plot. Of course, everyone is considered innocent until proven guilty. Still, the Prime Minister has chosen not to talk. Not even on the glaring misses of the enquiry and the obvious loopholes and unexplored possibilities. The head of government has failed to show any gravitas: a sense of the importance of the matter at hand. The Premier has not addressed the fact that someone with crucial information was interviewed in a mess without having his statement recorded because “it was a sensitive issue”. That Jugnauth chose to give a ‘clean chit’ to a scandal-prone MP from his constituency at a political gathering based on his own investigation is even more worrying. What we have instead of a dignified response to this matter are attempts to tarnish the opposition.

Another issue which has come to light during this enquiry is the inefficiency of the hefty safe city cameras. The Rs 19 billion surveillance state project has showed its obvious limits. At such a costly price financially and in terms of privacy, one would expect greater efforts to be spent in ensuring that a transparent process would be set up. We are entitled to know who watches upon us, what exactly is being recorded and for how long these recordings are kept? Had recordings been available, further cues could have been gleaned. Whether the sought footage is found remains to be seen. Still, there are other avenues that are available to the police. Mauritius ranks high on the number of police officers per capita, otherwise known as the police density index. As at 2013, for every 100,000 people, our country had 987 police officers. Further personnel can potentially be assigned to the case. There are certainly other ways of generating leads: calls for witnesses, asking for CCTV footage from businesses and households, checking mobile exchanges between the departed and others and the ‘bornage telephonique’ of the mobile numbers of Mr. Kistnen amongst others. This will again spur a debate on the need to introduce the ‘juge d’instruction’ (Examining magistrate in the British System) in our system.

Will the Kistnen case like the Angus Road saga not be properly investigated until and unless there is a regime change? Arendt describes the leaders of totalitarian governments as being those who ‘can never admit an error’, their followers as blinded and who have chosen to ‘not trust their eyes and ears’, choosing to welcome propaganda as an ‘escape from reality’. Mauritian citizens would hope that we have not reached this type of cynicism where truth is buried and a morbid code of silence maintained. May the brave ones keep fighting for the truth.
https://www.lemauricien.com/le-mauricien/omerta/393641/