New Year Message - Navin Ramgoolam : “2019 is a decisive year for the country”

In his New Year message, which was posted on social networks online, the former Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party stated that the year 2018 has marked the decline of democracy. He uttered that economic indicators are flashing red and he did not fail to criticize the Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth.

For Navin Ramgoolam, the country has suffered a setback since the change of government in 2014. He further declared that “our institutions are in danger. Our parliament has degraded. We saw how the President whom they nominated had to step down. Never in 50 years has our country gone through such crisis."

He stipulated that “2019 is a decisive year for the country.” He argued that this New Year will be one of reconquering Mauritius by the Labour Party. He pointed out that after 50 years of Independence, only the Labour Party can lead the country to its destination and promised that there will be a renewal within the Party. He seized the occasion to appeal to the youth to join and to strengthen the Party and invited the Mauritians to make the right choice. “The Mauritians will be able to make their choice and say no to abuse and destruction of the economy,” he uttered. 

The leader of the Labour Party also forecast the defeat of the current government in the next legislative elections. According to him, the Government was afraid of losing the village elections, hence, their dismissal of these elections. Navin Ramgoolam also announced his decision to break with current political practices. 

According to him, the Commission of Enquiry Drug Trafficking Report is “the blatant proof that there is a clear link between the power and the drug mafia.” This, according to him, is happening as the situation becomes more and more critical. “A minister had to resign as well as the Deputy Speaker. Ask yourself one thing: ‘Who are the ones who support the drug barons?’,” he uttered.

For Navin Ramgoolam, the Metro Express is a proclaimed disaster. The project, which he described as a ‘simple tram’, is done, as he sees it, “to the detriment of the safety of road users, the environment and the daily lives of city dwellers.” He also severely criticized the Government for spending billions of rupees on a sports complex “that will not be ready for the Jeux des Iles de l’océan Indien.”

He added that the Electoral Reform bill, which was presented to Parliament in December, “was only a means to allow Pravind Jugnauth to have a personal gain. This electoral reform will distort our democracy.” He underlined that at the economic level, the figures show multiple structural weaknesses, with a public debt that surrounds 70% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).