Platinum Card Case : president’s dismissal triggered by Cabinet

The President of the Republic is at the center of a major controversy following recent articles published in the newspaper L’Express by La Sentinelle about purchases she would have made with a Platinum Card from Barclays Bank with a ceiling of Rs 1 million given to her in 2016 by the NGO Planet Earth Institute, chaired by the controversial Angolan businessman Alvaro Sobrinho. This affair has caused a torrent of criticism and the President has been asked to abdicate.

On Thursday, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day celebrations at the SVICC at Pailles, Pravind Jugnauth threw a passing shot towards Ameenah Gurib-Fakim by stating that “when a woman is given a position of responsibility, she must assume and lead by example.”

Pravind Jugnauth: When a woman is given a position of responsibility, she must assume and lead by example”

At the time of writing, we learned that the Council of Ministers has approved that legal proceedings be initiated to dismiss the President of the Republic. If the form of this dismissal has to be refined by the government’s legal team, on the merits, the Cabinet is, however, unanimous on the need to initiate legal procedures.

This decision from the Council of Ministers is due to the fact that Ameenah Gurib-Fakim has refused at several instances to resign despite meetings and discussions with the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. In addition, Minister Mentor Sir Anerood Juganuth even headed to the State House to meet with the President on Thursday afternoon. It was believed that SAJ was trying, for the last time, to convince the President to resign of her own free will.

Why did the government not wait after the 50th Independence celebrations to take such actions? It is believed that the Opposition had clearly stated that it will not be part of the celebrations if the President of the Republic will be present and still in post.

Ameenah Gurib-Fakim : Imagine, for the entire week I have been slandered, accused, vilified, judged and now, I am being sentenced. Where was my crime?”

Bank statement leaked

Following the publishing of these articles, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim declared that she has doubts about the authenticity of documents that have been published and challenged the newspaper to prove the legitimacy of these within 24 hours and declared that she will answer all questions only if the authenticity is proven. However, the director of the publications of La Sentinelle, Nad Sivaramen, uttered that the onus is on the President to come and prove that the documents are not authentic.

“Since Tuesday (27th February), before the publication of the article, we called the President to have her version of facts. We even sent her e-mails and tweets, but to no avail... If the documents were not authentic, they would have never been published and the President would have already denied them,” stated Nad Sivaramen.

On Thursday 1st March, the Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, who was part of the ceremony organised by the President for the laureates of 2017 at Réduit, did not comment on the affair. Even at the Government House, many preferred to state that the issue was that of the President of the Republic and not that of the government. It is only on Saturday 3rd March, following the political bureau meeting of the MSM at the Sun Trust building, that Pravind Jugnauth responded.

“When one holds the post of President, Prime Minister or Minister, I think that one should be careful about one’s actions... especially regarding the use of cards because it causes speculations.” He added that he is waiting to see how things will go before commenting further.

Politicians, namely from the Opposition, requested, on their part, the resignation of the President of the Republic. The leader of the MMM, Paul Bérenger, uttered that Ameenah Gurib-Fakim is bringing shame to the entire nation and believes that she should have had the decency to resign. The leader of the Labour Party, Navin Ramgoolam, stated that the President should have resigned a long time ago, as the issue involving Ameenah Gurib-Fakim and the NGO Planet Earth Institute does not go a long way back.

The President of the Mouvement Patriotique, Alan Ganoo, also declared that the President should resign if she is not able to provide coherent explanations about the card and her expenses. The Minister Mentor on his side, Sir Anerood Juganuth, showed his support and uttered that he did not understand this “smear campaign against the Head of State because she had already made the necessary repayments.”

However, following the meeting on Monday 5th March between the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, Ivan Collendavelloo, at the Treasury Building, it came out that Pravind Jugnauth does not want to turn the celebrations of the Independence upside down. However, according to some sources, the Prime Minister did point out that this situation is embarrassing to the government.

Pravind Jugnauth and Ivan Collendavello later came to the consensus that Ameenah Gurib-Fakim should go and did send the message to the State House, but the President is resisting. Following the official launching of the activities in the context of the Independence Day celebrations on Tuesday 6th March, Pravind Jugnauth stated that the presidency and the government are not on the same wavelength.

“There was consensus within the government and it was after that Ivan Collendavello and I went to meet with the President to share the government's opinion. We talked about several aspects of media articles. She also gave her points of view, but she does not share my opinion. There is therefore divergence,” said Pravind Jugnauth. However the motto at the level of the Prime Minister’s Office was clear.

“All political parties must agree to in order to make the President leave as soon as possible.” The communication cell of the Prime Minister’s Office insists that nothing and nobody should taint the solemn moment of the 50th Independence.

In fact, those in the government wish that Ameenah Gurib-Fakim resigns before 12th March. However, a resignation would be an admission of guilt but the President believes that she is above reproach and has nothing to hide. On Wednesday 7th March, during the launching of her book ‘From Le Réduit to the State House’, the President of the Republic said she wondered, in her official address, why the Plantinum Card affair has surfaced almost a year later and on the eve of the 50th Independence.

“I believe we are living through dark days of our history where some people are trying to paralyze the proper functioning of our institutions by using partial truth. I am not a politician but a professional and a proud member of the civil society... We are living at a time where the sitting Head of State is undergoing a trial by the press. Imagine, for the entire week I have been slandered, accused, vilified, judged and now, I am being sentenced. Where was my crime? When I joined this office, I said right from the beginning that I would do things differently... I partnered with institutions like the London Base Chartiy, Planet Earth Institute along with a partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for advocacy and capacity building in science. In the course of this exercise, I was given a corporate bank card and I have duly refunded everything in full since March 2017. I do not owe anything to anybody,” she stated.

Many declare that the decision resides in the hands of Pravind Jugnauth. Some members of the Opposition believe that the Prime Minister has the duty to recall Parliament as soon as possible and to submit a motion to dismiss the President of the Republic. Pravind Jugnauth did not meet with Ameenah Gurib-Fakim at State House on Thursday morning, as per their usual weekly meeting.

In the meantime, the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister, Ivan Collendavelloo, at the launching of the President’s book is not being perceived from a positive perspective. Critics surfaced that the latter was supporting the President. Ivan Collendavelloo has flown to India on Thursday and will be back to Mauritius on Monday 12th March for the celebrations of the Independence.

Resignation in view

On Thursday, when the International Women’s Day was in full commemorative mood, an exhausted President of the Republic is believed to consider of handing over her resignation. Earlier in the afternoon in a message sent to Radio Plus, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim made it clear that she had no intention of resigning. “I will NOT resign. Let them set up a tribunal and then we will see if I am guilty!”

However, according to her surroundings, she is really affected by all the happenings and she is very weary of criticisms. Sources close to her reveal that she is considering resignation in the days to come and maybe before Independence celebrations.

Biography

Ameenah Gurib-Fakim has been, prior to joining the State House, the Managing Director of the Centre International de Développement Pharmaceutique (CIDP) Research and Innovation as well as Professor of Organic Chemistry with an endowed chair at the University of Mauritius. Since 2001, she has served successively as Dean of the Faculty of Science and Pro Vice Chancellor (2004- 2010). She has also worked at the Mauritius Research Council as Manager for Research (1995-1997).

Dr Gurib-Fakim earned a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Surrey (1983) and a PhD from the University of Exeter, UK (1987). During her academic journey, she has participated in several consultation meetings on environmental issues organized by international organizations. Between 2011-2013, she was elected and served as Chairperson of the International Council for Scientific Union – Regional Office for Africa, and served as an Independent Director on the Board of Barclays Bank of Mauritius Ltd between (2012-2015).

As a Founding Member of the Pan African Association of African Medicinal Plants, she co-authored the first ever African Herbal Pharmacopoeia. She has authored and co-edited 28 books, several book chapters and scientific articles in the field of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.

She has lectured extensively across the world, is a Member of the Editorial Boards of major journals, has served on Technical and national committees in various capacities. Elevated to the Order of the Commander of the Star and Key by the Government of Mauritius in 2008, she has been admitted to the Order of the Chevalier dans L’Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the Government of France in 2010 and is the recipient of four DSc (s).

Elected Fellow of several academies and societies, Dr Gurib-Fakim received several international prizes including the 2007 l’Oreal-UNESCO Prize for Women in Science, the African Union Commission Award for Women in Science, 2009.

On 05 June 2015, she was sworn in as the 6th President and the First Female President of the Republic of Mauritius. She was elevated to the Order of GCSK by the Government of Mauritius, admitted to the Order of Francois 1er des Deux Siciles by Prince Charles of Bourbon and received the Legion d’Honneur from the Government of France in 2016.

In 2017, she received both the lifelong achievement award of the United States Pharmacopoeia-CePat Award and the American Botanical Council Norman Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award.

In 2018, she received the Order of St George at the Semperopernball, Dresden, Germany and the Global Energy Parliament Award, State of Kerala, India.
In June 2016, she was in the Forbes List for the 100 ‘Most Powerful Women in the World’ and 1st among the Top 100 Women in Africa Forbes List 2017. She was honoured as one of Foreign Policy’s 2015 Global Thinkers.