[Blog] From the Frying Pan….

By Jean-Mée Desveaux

There exists, at this juncture in Mauritius, a window of opportunity that calls for a tactical move at the national level in search of a new political leadership.  That is the only way to return Mauritius back to the place it had hitherto held economically and in matters of good governance among other developing states. If we allow this opportunity to close on us because of faintheartedness we will go down in history as the supine generation which allowed the Navin C. Ramgoolam and the Pravind K Jugnauth clans to bleed the country and its suffering people to their heart’s content.

We didn’t need the Mo Ibrahim Foundation Index to tell us that “Mauritius overall governance” score had deteriorated at an accelerated pace over the last two mandates of the MSM. The period of such decline coincides so fittingly in time and space that, had the analysis not been carried out by such a reputable international body, one might have been tempted to suspect it was a political shot aimed at unravelling the decade of misrule during which the MSM held power in Mauritius (2014-2024). But for us who have lived that decade, it is not confined to a mere statistical statement. We have lived such a period intensely in the deepest recesses of our fears and anxiety about the future of our society and children.

We have, over the years since independence, seen and taken stock of such a myriad of political tricks: lies, treachery, bullying of opponents, swapping of allegiances for financial rewards etc. that we thought we had seen it all. But it took the anarchy and misrule under Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth to reach the rock bottom of the political abyss when people are cold-bloodedly murdered for political reasons. Welcome to South America! 

The present Prime minister, very early in the piece, before any serious investigation was carried out, without any hesitation, declared ex cathedra that one of his ministers, the main suspect in the murder of Mr ‘Kaya’ Kistnen, chief political agent in his electorate, is absolutely innocent of the crime that he is suspected to have had a direct role in. The police agreed and chose instead to track the Minister’s  brother who was a political adversary. Without the shadow of a doubt, members of the police force declared in a chorus that they were confronted with an obvious case of death by suicide. It was the professionalism of a fearless young magistrate which debunked this tissue of lies to reveal that we were confronted with a case of homicide. The whole MSM party, which has never been a shining example of probity, is now guilty by association of that political murder. The country’s admiration should unequivocally go to the right Honourable Nando Boda who was the only politician who had the kudos to dump his ministerial position on the account of that murder which he was loathe to associate himself with. His resignation from all the instances of the MSM deserves our vote for such bravery and moral example which no one else in the that party endeavoured to emulate. 

The sundry affairs revealed at present under the title of “Mr Moustache Leaks” are as varied and shocking as one can expect from the rule of a mafiosi government. Each leak has its particular flavour and  contour. However, by far, the most frightening item revealed so far harks back to the theme of the above hushed-up homicide case, when we hear a voice attributed to the Commissioner of Police giving a verbal instruction to Doctor Gungadin, a well-known name among our “Médecins légistes”, in charge of the post mortem, not to examine the victim’s private parts where he received a mortal blow from the police. The subdued acquiescence of the voice attributed to the doctor at that peremptory order of the voice that sounds like that of the Police Commissioner to find a “natural cause” should give a shudder along the spine of the 1.3 million Mauritians. Is that the pits that our moral and legal infrastructure has fallen into in this country?!

We can’t leave this topic without mentioning the fact that Mauritius has, as far as several of its Police commissioners are concerned, deserved the status of a depraved state. The last three Commissioners or so showed us without the shadow of a doubt that the police force is under a kind of spell, an osmosis, whereby the worst elements float to the surface. The numerous occasions whereby the present incumbent was on the wrong side of the law or of sheer decency are too numerous to relate here. His proximity with the ruling clique seems to be based on another quid pro quo : “you scratch my back, I scratch yours”. When it’s not his son who commits serious financial fraud only to receive a presidential pardon under pressure from his Daddy, it’s the Daddy himself whose foul mouth doesn’t even respect the most sacred religious entities under the firmament. Quite consistent with such an osmotic process, when a policeman shows thorough honesty and fearless pursuit of the worst criminals in Mauritius, as did the Chief Inspector Hector Tuyau, a glass ceiling is put above his head to keep him down so that he never reaches a position where he can purge the force of the rotten elements that are at the beck and call of corrupt politicians when it’s not drug lords, themselves, who receive unencumbered visas and passports

Is there any need to remind the reader that PKJ, who has ruled over such state of affairs, has also systematically demolished the whole fragile structure of the national wage and salary system in his indefatigable attempt to bribe our million voters to go against their better judgement to kick him out of office in a majestic BLD. 

His moral and political association with and support for India’s PM Modi and its Islamophobic, mosque-destroying BJP whose philosophy he seems to have no compunction in supporting, stands as a serious menace in a multicultural Mauritius where 20% of our compatriots would take umbrage at such affiliation. Still in the realm of foreign policy he has succeeded not only in sacrificing our sovereignty over Agalega which every serious Indian newspaper recognises as an Indian Military base on the basis of a shameful secret deal between the Indian super power and its servile micro neighbour. In this instance there was a quid pro quo in the form of a lovely and quite successful Light Rail Transit which had remained a dream thus far.

Mauritius has become a State that offers its sovereignty over our inalienable territory for sale to the highest bidder. Thus, the lengthy legal battle that compelled the two big anglo-saxon super powers to recognise our sovereignty over the Chagos Islands through the highest international court of Justice, was squandered for 99 years (renewable) to the USA as a base from which to bomb Iran and the middle east back to the rock age and torture their prisoners to their hearts’ content without infringing any of their own countries’ most respected statutes. This BLOOD MONEY makes every murderous American adventure in the region as a  blot on the conscience of each and every Mauritian citizen. The quid pro quo this time is a yearly rent to be paid by the Americans via the British ex colonial  power to the Mauritian treasury. Morality does not fill a hungry Mauritian belly. This paradigm from the founder of the MSM party will resonate through the ages to haunt us. 

Mr Pravin K Jugnauth’s latest pernicious political mores was to unashamedly bribe every man and his dog to vote for him. In an endeavour to corrupt the electorate to support him at the next election, he has wreaked havoc on our Basic Retirement pension system, and turned the national debt from the vicinity of 60%+ of the national GDP when the MSM came to power to nearly hugging the fateful 100% level now. The sheer waste of national resources in the opportunity cost involved in repaying the huge interest on such a level of debt should preclude him from ever regaining power over this nation.

The kind reader who has patiently followed us so far must wonder where this reasoning will lead us to. Let me hasten to reassure him that I am not inviting him to jump from the frying pan into the fire! The Latin languages rendering of this saying is to escape from Charybdis to fall into Scylla, both being monsters facing each other on the coasts of Italy and Sicily respectively. That analogy is quite fitting when we speak of the two political monsters that the country is mesmerised to choose from during the next election.

Mr Navin Chandra Ramgoolam, the twice disavowed (2014&2019) leader of the Labour party, is like an over-ripe fruit that is just about to crash to the ground. It is blatantly obvious that the elections NCR has twice lost in electorates he hand-picked for himself are directly caused by his unique blend of: incompetence, indolence, […] irresponsibility in matters of national importance and a lewdness that was pervasive throughout his 14 years in power. No politician is expected to be a saint. But not only has Navin C. Ramgoolam unashamedly and repeatedly humiliated a lady with an uncommon blend of stoicism and dignity in front of the nation, but to boost, he had invented his own “cuisine” before the phrase was coined for Pravin K Jugnauth. To have access to the PM during his prime ministership, the visitor needed to obtain the acquiescence of his favourite who would put a word in the PM’s ears on his/her behalf.

His return to power in 2005 is a lesson that we should never forget. After 5 years in the sin bin of opposition, he had not undergone an iota of change to reform his undisciplined self. Between 2005 to 2014 he gave the nation ample reasons to be thoroughly ashamed of the depravity and debauchery that he dragged us and the country into. He does not have the wisdom of someone who learns from his past mistakes. In fact, he gives all the signs that he is incapable of changing for the better.

Politically, not only has the Labour Party lost these last two elections in quick succession under his (mis)rule, but his personal popularity had fallen so low that, until the last minute, in both cases, he was repeatedly unable to choose an electorate which would turn a blind eye to his abysmal record. The enlightenment of these two electorates, mainly the intelligent people of Triolet who have been a model for the rest of the county, needs to be acknowledged and praised. It is to the incorruptible electorate of Triolet that all Mauritians are once more turning their eyes to in the hope that our country returns to normalcy. Triolet must not vote for Navin again. It will earn the nation’s eternal gratitude in doing such a favour to country.

More than anything though, it is the 2014 post electoral days that showed his nadir when Rs 220 millions were found to be lying unexplained in his personal coffers. Any attempt at explaining that the money had been earmarked for use to build the party’s HQ turned out to be contradicted by the secretary of the party. His explanation then took the form of his “per diem” (the extra money officers get to live on when they are on duty in foreign countries). That was obviously another gross exaggeration that didn’t tally up. After so many years Navin has not even deigned to tell the country what he would do with that treasure if, against all probability it is returned to him. Around the end of the last decade, documents the MCB declared genuine showed indubitably that he had squandered millions from the party accounts for his own personal gratification. Adding insult to injury, his paramour is living like a princess in Italy with the fortune she absconded with on the day following the election. In the meantime, tens of thousands of Mauritians are still parked like cattle in longères 30 years after their ramshackle shelters were blown away by a cyclone.

Not even in the heart of Africa has a political leader with such an abysmal record been allowed to contemplate returning to power. Each one of this plethora of misdemeanours should constantly stand as a memento used by patriots to plague him back and boot him out of the political arena for good. We must not fall into the illusion that is created by his lackeys that he is innocent since legal technicalities and other esoteric niceties have got him so far off the hook of spending several well deserved years in jail as would have happened in any self-respecting country. Those who follow him today are hangers on, nonentities, like the President of the LP, who live off the mirage of a political power NCR promises to retrieve soon. 

It must be recognised nationally that with such a track record, Navin’s posture as the next PM is one of the greatest motivation for the one million electors to be sorely tempted to vote again for PKJ. That Navin has ignored this risk to the future well-being of the country is another proof of the self-centredness and egocentricity of someone who has still not attained the status of a true Statesman. He never will. 

The sense of entitlement of  Navin C. Ramgoolam has no limit. He had the privilege and prerogative to be at the helm of the county in spite of the numerous instances he gave the nation that he is far from being qualified for such a lofty role. The ease with which he declared himself as irreplaceable at the top of the Labour Party to the exclusion of any other is based unequivocally on the fact that he is the son of the Father of the nation, SSR. Should we not ask ourselves whether a real patriot like SSR would have voted for such an “enfant prodigue” as Navin! Would he have entrusted the nation that he painstakingly built through thick and thin to smear both his family reputation and the fate of Mauritius? 

In spite of all this no one in the Labour rank has yet had the fearless mettle and audacity to challenge him even though he has been banished from entering parliament for such a lengthy period. It must be acknowledged that Navin has not hesitated to use the brute force of his hangers on to scare anyone from challenging him. 

What is there to be done therefore? Making abstraction of their leaders for a minute, the MSM Party is guilty by association with the Moka politically motivated homicide. The Labour Party does not have such a blot on its record. I dare dream of the people of Mauritius voting for Labour to regain power with the decisive fate of Navin Ramgoolam left to the able hands of the Triolet electorate to courageously reject again. It has been done twice before but that was not enough for the message to get through. Let us do it a last time and rid ourselves of the leeches that feed off the country’s blood. 

Due to Labour’s weight on the electoral list vis a vis the MMM, no labourite needs to fear that the fall of Navin will automatically promote Paul R Bérenger as PM. Paul has decimated his party which is now a mere spectre of what it used to be. A sizeable number of his former able members are now in the clutch of the MSM and are de facto guilty by association with at least one political crime on their conscience and C.V. A defeated MSM being beaten by a leaderless victorious Labour party in power with the support of the MMM could well be our answer. The parliamentary labour party would meet to vote for a new leader after a period of reflexion and the country would once more be able to breather freely in the model of a proper Westminsterian parliament. May be I am a dreamer but I sincerely hope I am not the only one. I pray that this vision may be shared by the many concerned patriots who have decided not to be forced to choose between the plague and Cholera.