Is proliferation or multiplication of committees and government-inspired or government-created bodies conducive to the achievement of expected results?

SAJ recently made a realistic diagnosis that the “manivelle”, figuratively, must be used to get the engine of the Civil Service started so that Civil Servants deliver all the goods expected from them in the implementation of the goals established in the Economic Mission Statement and in the economic commitments taken during the recent Government-Private Sector Consultative Get-Together. The setting up of really proactive and performing Fast Track Committees within Ministries, with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, with attainable targets and objectives, with a managerial work methodology, and with a given time frame for anticipated results, can really work wonders in the materialization  of the economic vision of SAJ. Can also work wonders the many and various other committees and government-inspired or government-created bodies set up particularly in the wake of the BAI/BRAMER BANK/ IFRAMAC/COURTS  tragic saga. However, “hiving” off of duties, responsibilities, and accountability is not, and cannot per se be a panacea. In Great Britain, for example, where the authorities very many years back started to experiment with such “hiving” off, which in certain cases smacked of a disguised form of  “nationalization”, “hiving off” yielded mitigated results, over and above transferring power and authority from ministries into “third party” hands. But in its great wisdom, Great Britain did subsequently get things right in its policy of “hiving” off, ensuring that it contained all the necessary ingredients for its success, among which “hiving” off to the right body or institution, the right people, the right logistics, the right means, the right direction, and the right and relative freedom of action. Great Britain is a huge country, with lots of brains in every field of human activity. Mauritius is a very small country, with scarcity as well as poverty of brains in specific areas of human activity, and wherein very many  people live from hand to mouth, do not have even the faintest idea of what economy is all about, love soap operas, are interested in scandals and sensational stories, are fond of rumours and gossips,  and of propagating them, becoming in the process part and parcel of an arc of distortion, and who do not really care for what government has been doing to set the country on the right path of recovery and progress, so long as they are not personally affected by government actions and decisions. “Hiving” off really means nothing to the common man who is more than fully satisfied with having elected SAJ as Prime Minister, and with his presence at the helm of the affairs of the country.

“Hiving” off in Mauritius

Indeed, the proliferation/multiplication of committees and circumstantial novel bodies or institutions in our country can indeed work wonders. But they can also, if incompetent, inefficient, ineffective, and out of control, become counterproductive, and turn out to be themselves bottlenecks in the fulfilment of SAJ’s Economic Mission Statement and the achievement of even short-term economic objectives. “Hiving” off of duties, responsibilities, and accountability to these committees and these novel bodies or institutions must in no way be tantamount, or be perceived as being tantamount to a mere “contracting out” exercise that removes the burden of results from Ministries, Departments, and concerned government bodies. “Hiving” off needs to be complementary to proper and appropriate ministerial actions comprising monitoring, supervision, and control, as well as needing to be subject to parliamentary scrutiny.  Minister Roshi Bhadain, who has been doing a really great job also as Minister responsible for Good Governance, and who has been one of the topmost performing Ministers, despite and in the face of trying circumstances, is no doubt aware of all these realities, as he is also no doubt aware that there must be, in the “hiving” off process, not only alert and vigilant “controllers”, but also a mechanism to “control” the “controllers” themselves, for often the following question is asked: who controls the controller?

Government is setting the good example. Will the Private Sector follow suit?

There is no doubt that the Private Sector and Government, following the Government-Private Sector get together, is in consultations within the ambits and parameters of ministerial offices and boardrooms. But “consultations” must not be prolonged, as they are not enough in our country which is very much in a hurry. Concrete actions, and serious commitments are required from the Private Sector as a strategic partner  of Government to deliver all that it can, and all that it should deliver as its fair and equitable share for the advancement of the country in togetherness. Dilly-dallying and  prevarication on its part cannot and should not be accepted and tolerated. Complimentary words from the JEC are thus not enough to provoke timely actions. Polite and welcome, these complimentary words must not be allowed to remain at the level of mere lip service, but must be followed by tangible actions by the Private Sector which must follow suit the good example set by Government. Will the Private Sector really and sincerely rise to the occasion offered and seize the tremendous opportunities provided by Government?

Care and caution needed

Care and caution are needed to ensure that the aftermath of the Government-Private Sector Meeting yields fairly rapid and visible results, and that the Meeting itself does not remain, and is not perceived as a one-day off event, losing impact and significance, as the Governmental Programme and the Budget Speech did in our really unique country. Indeed ours is a unique country  wherein the average citizen is short-minded, forgetful, fickle, and is more interested in the horse racing maiden cup than in the economic maiden cup, more interested in the British Premier League than in the pertinent actions of a Premier Government, so long as SAJ is Prime Minister, a Prime Minister he has chosen and in whom he has rested his entire confidence. In fact, he has given “carte blanche” to SAJ, confident that SAJ will take care of his interests, without himself bothering about them, while he devotes his own entire time to all that personally pleases him and his family.