SAJ’s mantra

The speech delivered by the Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth in the garden of  the Château Labourdonnais, Mapou, on Wednesday, on the occasion of the celebration of his 86th birthday anniversary organized by the SAJ Fan Club, contains myriad messages that are barely coded.  First, it emerged that there is no hope at all that Mr. Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo will find his former portfolio as Minister of Finance and Economic Development. Those who had thought that Mr. Lutchmeenaraidoo had been shifted temporarily to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade until he clears his name were utterly wrong. . As the Prime Minister has stated in no uncertain terms that “unfortunately after all that has happened, we can no longer rely on Vishnu. We will have to handle things by ourselves”. And he added that “I hope that in the near future, we will have a new Minister of Finance whom we can trust”. This single sentence carries at least two messages. First, that contrary to the impression he gave on the day he announced the cabinet reshuffle, Sir Anerood Jugnauth will not keep the Ministry of Finance for long as he clearly mentioned “in near future” in his speech on Wednesday. Second, he is on the look-out for a new Minister of Finance whom he can trust. In other words, it would mean that trust was no longer prevailing between the Prime Minister and his former Minister of Finance. For the first time, Sir Anerood Jugnauth has publicly admitted that he and his former Minister of Finance were not on the same wavelength on at least one issue: the Heritage City Project. For numerous political observers, it was clear since long that Sir Anerood Jugnauth and Mr. Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo were not sharing the same economic vision. Otherwise, what was the need for the Prime Minister to present “Achieving The Second Economic Miracle And Vision 2030” only five months after Mr. Lutchmeenaraidoo had presented the Budget 2015/2016? The former Minister of Finance had presented the Budget 2015/2016, incidentally titled “Mauritius at the Crossroads”, on 23 March, 2015 while the Prime Minister launched his Economic Mission Statement on 22 August 2015 at the Cyber Tower, Ebène. Sir Anerood Jugnauth was at times all praises for his former Minister of Finance, recognizing, for instance, that he and Mr. Lutchmeenaraidoo had fathered the first “economic miracle. However, we wonder why he chose to recall that opponents of Mr. Lutchmeenaraidoo used to term the latter as “rasoir” (razor). Using such a degrading word to qualify a person who is still a member of his government is simply inelegant and provocative and is tantamount to urging Mr. Lutchmeenaraidoo to quit. Now that Sir Anerood Jugnauth has made up his mind, why does he not revoke his Minister of Foreign Affairs or urge him to step down, the same way he did in the case of his former Minister of Environment, Mr. Raj Dayal? “Although some called him “razor”, I was satisfied with his work. That is why I had called upon him to team up with me to make the second economic miracle”, said the Prime Minister. Referring to the past, he revealed that there were rumours that “Vishnu was doing this and that”. “But if there is evidence, I am going to be without mercy”, insisted the Prime Minister. It sounded like rubbing salt in the wound when the Prime Minister showered panegyrics on Mr. Roshi Bhadain. The conflict between Mr. Lutchmeenaraidoo and Mr. Bhadain is an open secret. “When a minister is performing well, I will not only tell him about it but I will also decorate him”. Mr. Bhadain was recently made G.C.S.K, the highest republican decoration. Sir Anerood Jugnauth expressed his appreciation of the way Mr. Bhadain handled the Good Governance and Integrity Reporting Bill (now an Act) and his helping hand for the drafting of Vision 2030. It is worth noting that neither Mr. Lutchmeenaraidoo nor Mr. Bhadain were present at Mapou on Wednesday. Mr. Lutchmeenaraidoo left Clinique Darné on Tuesday after spending almost a week there following his fourth relapse. The days to come, or rather the coming hours, will be very decisive for Mr. Lutchmeenaraidoo. An intelligent and senior politician like him must have got the message of the Prime Minister. He has the choice between resigning honorably and waiting for a humiliating revocation by the Prime Minister. In any case, Sir Anerood Jugnauth seems to be ready to face a by-election in constituency number 7 (Piton and Rivière du Rempart). His message to his “fans” on Wednesday stands as some sort of a watchword in this likely event. Coming back to Mr. Bhadain, it would appear that he is quite unhappy these days, which could explain his absence to the birthday celebrations at Mapou. Some even say that a conflict is opposing him to his leader Mr. Pravind Jugnauth. On Tuesday, the media noticed that Mr. Bhadain was unusually silent and that he kept a low profile, avoiding to participate in debates on the Build Operate Transfer Projects Bill. The “frustrations” of Mr. Bhadain stem from the fact that Mr. Lutchmeenaraidoo is still being “tolerated” and supported by some ministers, that an important contract has been allotted for a project being monitored by a Ministry headed by a Senior Minister, and that Mr. Prakash Mauthrooa is still the PM’s Senior Adviser in spite of the Boskalis saga. Some ministers insist that the cleaning up campaign by Mr. Bhadain and his constant scrutiny of various projects will slow down the pace of work of government and will end up in an administrative paralysis. On the other hand, voters are urging for hastening the pace of decisions. This week was also marked by the resumption of the National Assembly. The Prime Minister had a very busy agenda. He had to reply to the Private Notice Question (PNQ) of the Leader of the Opposition Mr. Paul Bérenger on the case allegedly involving former Environment Minister Mr.Raj Dayal and to a number of questions (Prime Minister’s Question Time-PMQT). Besides he presented two motions, one for the election of Mr. Parasivum Pillay Vyapoory as Vice-President of the Republic and the other for the amendment of Standing Orders and Rules of the National Assembly 1995, presently in force, “more specifically Standing Order 69, to make recommendations for the setting up of a Committee to be known as the Broadcasting Committee for the monitoring of the live broadcasting of the proceedings and debates of the House and matters ancillary thereto”, Sir Anerood Jugnauth introduced The Build Operate Transfer Projects Bill. What we retain from this sitting is that Sir Anerood Jugnauth was shocked when he read the transcript of the conversation between the former Minister of Environment Mr Raj Dayal and businessman and investor Mr. Shakel Nawab Soobhany, also known as Patrick. The Leader of the Opposition grabbed this opportunity and “advised” the Prime Minister to actually listen to the recording. Meanwhile Mr. Raj Dayal has made a statement against Mr. Soobhany. The advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has been sought on how to proceed. It is worth noting that the Prime Minister has promised that there will be no cover-up in this matter. It just so happened that the DPP has chosen transparency in the Riches Noires case. In a communiqué issued, he informed of his decisions. As such the first formal accusation was made against Dr. Navin Ramgoolam, the former Prime Minister. Interestingly enough, all accusations against Mr. Ish Sookun were struck out this week. But there is another story that is leaving everybody perplexed: the recruitment by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) of its former chairperson as its Director. Already it would appear that the PMO, under which now falls the IBA, has called a meeting to sort out this delicate issue.