Highlands dreamers

The three main political leaders of the country, namely Sir Anerood Jugnauth, Mr. Paul Bérenger and Dr. Navin Ramgoolam have been indulging in a ding-dong battle remotely. Each of them chose his own platform, or rather battlefield, but the objective remains the same: that of “demolishing’ his opponent.    The Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth seized the opportunity of the celebration of Makar Sankranti by the Hindu House at Le Grand Bleu Hotel in Trou-aux-Biches on Sunday to fire round shots against his opponents, more precisely Mr. Paul Bérenger and Dr. Navin Ramgoolam. He termed the Leader of the Opposition and of the MMM as being “selfish” and a “traitor” while Dr. Ramgoolam was presented as “somebody who should not be trusted”. Fair enough, for he knows both of them personally, having shared political power with the “selfish and traitor” as well as with “the one who is not trustworthy” at different periods of time. In his own inimitable style, Sir Anerood Jugnauth urged the population to put their trust in the sun (no pun intended) which brings happiness to everyone, instead of the key which is used to open the coffers of Ali Baba and his forty thieves. The Prime Minister immediately added that he was referring to the planet Sun because Makar Sankranti marks the transition of the sun into the zodiacal sign of Makara (Capricorn) on its celestial path. However, it is a known fact that the sun is the official symbol of the MSM while the key is that of the Mauritius Labour Party. That Sir Anerood Jugnauth reviles his opponents is understandable; he is a politician after all. But that he treats voters as being ungrateful is unforgivable. For the simple reason that voters backed the Lepep Alliance at the December 2014 general elections in spite of the fact that the Labour/MMM Alliance, or rather the Ramgoolam/Bérenger alliance, was numerically stronger, put together. Voters from these two important political parties, in a bid to oust Dr. Ramgoolam and teach him a well deserved lesson and to send a strong signal to Mr. Bérenger for his repeated “on” and “off” moods”, preferred to support the Lepep Alliance led by Sir Anerood Jugnauth. At least for that, Sir Anerood Jugnauth ought to show gratitude to the voters; many of his candidates were mere novices but they were elected on the basis of the trust of voters in Sir Anerood Jugnauth. We fail to understand why since a few months, Sir Anerood Jugnauth does not miss a single opportunity to criticize the population, more precisely voters, for having chosen the then Labour/MMM Alliance at the December 1995 general elections to form the government, leading to end Sir Anerood Jugnauth’s thirteen years of continuous reign. There were many reasons for his defeat in 1995. First the MSM/RMM Alliance proved no match in front of a Labour/ MMM Alliance. Second, the MSM/RMM Alliance was indeed ill-inspired to carry out an electoral campaign on oriental languages. Third, at that time Sir Anerood Jugnauth was a spent force and fourth the Bérenger/ Ramgoolam tandem was by far more appealing than the Sir Anerood Jugnauth-Dr. Prem Nababsing duo. Moreover, after the 1995 debacle, at least on four occasions the population has renewed their faith in Sir Anerood Jugnauth. At the by-election held in constituency number 9 (Flacq and Bon Accueil) on April 5, 1998, Sir Anerood Jugnauth came out second with 12,571 votes whereas Mr. Madan Dulloo (Alliance National –MMM/PMSD/ RPR) won only 5,239 votes. Mr. Satish Faugoo, the Labour Party candidate, was elected with 14,045 votes. This half-balked “victory” of Sir Anerood Jugnauth, that confirmed the Hindu power base was partly with him, led to the founding of the MSM/MMM Federation and later to the MSM/MMM Alliance which won the 2000 general elections. The MSM shared three more political victories at general elections held in 2010 and in 2014 and the by-election held in constituency number 8 ( Quartier Militaire /Moka ) held on 1 March, 2009 and which saw the victory of Mr. Pravind Jugnauth . There is absolutely to need to lament on defeats and to try to place the blame on Hindus. There are two other minus points in the speech of the Prime Minister; his almost sarcastic remarks regarding the impatience of the population and his defeatist attitude towards his own son and current leader of the Mouvement Socialiste Militant (MSM). Mr. Pravind Jugnauth is a grown-up and it is obvious that by now he knows how to make choices, unless he still stands guided by his father! But the greatest irony remains the fact that the Prime Minister attended a function organized at Le Grand Bleu Hotel, belonging to the Nundlall family. A member of this same family, proprietor of Tarisa Resorts is facing numerous problems with the government. For his part, the leader of the Labour Party, Dr. Ramgoolam “used” the court to level accusations against Sir Anerood Jugnauth. According to him, a senior police investigator in the various cases against him is related to the Prime Minister. Dr. Ramgoolam is also accusing Sir Anerood Jugnauth of having publicly vowed to put him in prison and he will apparently summon press reporters when the case is heard. Also, the Mauritius Labour Party has entered a court case against the Municipal Council of Vacoas/Phoenix arguing that they were the first to apply for the use of the Market Place, Vacoas to hold the May Day public gathering but that the MSM was “preferred”. A daily newspaper has revealed that MSM municipal councilor (who happens to be the chairperson of the NHDC) Mr. Praveen Kumar Ramburn has apparently made the application on behalf of the MSM. At least that has saved the party a ten-rupee postage stamp, Mr. Ramburn having accepted to be the postman! Mr.Bérenger still prefers his regular press conferences in the comfort of the Hennessy Park Hotel to comment on the political situation. The Heritage City Project bothers Mr. Bérenger and the MMM. (that would be a good headline in French: Bérenger dérangé). So is the case with those who have some brains. Why on earth should such a project which requires investments to the tune of US$ 820 million be placed under the supervision of the Minister of Financial Services, Good Governance and Institutional Reforms, especially that the holder of that ministerial portfolio ranks eighteenth in the ministerial hierarchy? What is the urgency for implementing a “prestigious” project? Does the present government have the required popular mandate to transfer the political and administrative capital from Port-Louis to Highlands? The danger of that type of project is that the political administration of the country is emigrating to a gated community. This could deprive opponents the democratic right to express themselves through public demonstrations. It is unthinkable that Heritage City would welcome habitual demonstrators like Mr. Eddy Sadien, Dr. Rajah Mahadewoo, Mrs. Jane Ruggoo or Mr.Reaz Chuttoo. Without realizing it, we are perhaps allowing the government to practice gentrification and at the same time curb down democratic expression. There seems to be a new trend in this government, that of marketing the country by every Tom, Dick and Harry. Can you imagine that three MPs, namely Mr. Mahen Jhugroo, Mr. Maneesh Gobin and Mr. Bashir Jahangeer have travelled to Koweit to make sheep’s eyes at the government? Making the second economic miracle has become such an obsession that we will end up with an Arab Heritage City, a Port Louis Harbour controlled by Dubai, a Neotown managed by South Africans and MauBank led by a Dubai-based bank. In a mind-blowing interview to Mr Nad Sivaramen and published in l’Express on Thursday, the Governor of the Bank of Mauritius Mr. Ramesh Basant Roi coins a very interesting expression while speaking about Ponzy scheme : “(…) The essentials are the same. The dramatis personae in the game changes (…)”. This could very well apply to our political situation here. Fortunately, the public still reacts. The comments on social media and on web pages like that of the Defi Media Group following the arrest of Mr. Ish Sookun in the wake of the e-mails containing terrorist threats, depicts that debates are still possible and that when it comes to freedom and democracy, the population generally does not make any compromise. In this context, the decision of government to introduce a Freedom of Information Bill is most welcomed. Similarly, artists will most probably unite politicians from various parties when they march for their rights and against piracy in the streets of Port Louis on Friday. Would this still be possible in three years time in the posh Heritage City?