Stephan Toussaint: ‘Our youth have a big role to play to promote a Nation of Patriots’

The theme of International Youth Day 2017 is Youth Building Peace. Since the adoption of Security Council Resolution 2250 in 2015, there is growing recognition that as agents of change, young people are critical actors in conflict prevention and sustaining peace.

International Youth Day 2017 is dedicated to celebrating young people’s contributions to conflict prevention and transformation as well as inclusion, social justice, and sustainable peace. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development committed to fostering peaceful and inclusive societies and affirmed that “sustainable development cannot be realized without peace and security.” Goal 16 aims to ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels.

In Mauritius, Youth Day was celebrated on Saturday 12 August. In this context a youth concert was organized at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute- what a better place than the seat reserved for the Apostle of Non-Violence!

Hundreds of young Mauritians gathered there for a get together chanting their happiness and sharing their togetherness in unity and harmony.

News on Sunday called upon the Minister of Youth and Sports to recall this magic moment and to give his views on our youngsters and strategies put in place to bring them closer for a unified Republic.

The young Minister joined politics a decade ago after having worked as a secondary school teacher. He was elected second member for Constituency No 17 Curepipe-Midlands in December 2014 general elections under the banner of the MSM government party and was subsequently chosen as Parliamentary Private Secretary. He is the Minister of Youth and Sports as from January 2017.

What is your message to the Youth of our country on the occasion of World Youth Day 2017?
We chose another theme than that of the UN, that is, Youth Building Peace. We are fortunately living in a peaceful Republic. We rather chose ‘Your Destiny in Your Hands.’ This theme implies many things, that our youngsters living in a modern world have all the facilities for their own advancement whether in the field of education, as an entrepreneur, a sportsman or an artist; it is for him to decide the path to follow while maintaining Peace within and around him. We are fortunate not to have war, we can thus help consolidate unity and harmony and keep sustaining what has been built by former generations.

This unity and harmony has gone through various levels of consolidation since we are an independent country, from 1970 to 2000 our youth have been able to prevent any disruption of our social fabric and they used different means and actions and ideas to keep the march at a pacific pace and to-day, we are a reference of peace in the world.

We are fortunate not to have war, we can thus help consolidate unity and harmony and keep sustaining what has been built by former generations."

And yet a University Professor told this paper that Our National Unity is still an Unfinished Business!
We cannot say it is Unfinished or Unaccomplished. We can say without being gainsaid that we do have unity. There is no ‘semblant.’ We are not living in tolerance; we are living our unity and our oneness. We can see it around us and feel it in our daily lives- at school, office, in public places and at work.

After 50 years of freedom from colonial rule, we still feel a lack of patriotism amongst the population and among youngsters in particular. What can be done to consolidate patriotism among the young people?
Whenever I talk of my country, I always refer to it as the Republic of Mauritius thus enclosing Mauritius, Rodrigues, Agalega, St Brandon… maybe someday the Chagos! Our youth have a big role to play to promote a Nation of Patriots.

We feel it whenever we are on foreign land and whenever a Mauritian is taking part in a world competition. When our youth are asked to encourage a sportsman taking part in a world competition they are all excited to cheer for him whoever he is; we watched this with Buckland and Milazar, with Teeroovengadum at Questions pour un Champion and recently with Christopher Lagane in La Reunion conquering the cycling tour after 33 years. The flame of patriotism is there. I think sports can instigate this strong element that Mauritians believe is missing and other artistic values too; who was not with Jane Constance when she stood the test of singing in a world competition and won the championship?

As the new Minister of Youth, what are your dreams that you want to achieve?
Since I took office I have brought in a few new concepts which I want to turn into reality in order to have a strong youth movement. Already I have put into practice a few group plays and games. I have set up a group called ‘Volunteer Mauritius’ giving a new dimension to volunteer work. It has already a force of 1,500 young persons and a calendar of activities is already drawn and will be put in action in the near future. The Duke of Edinburgh Award is already there doing a good work. Apart from sports I have also put in place a ‘carrefour de musique’ all over the island. I think that just like sports, music can play a role of consolidation among our youth. I was quite surprised of the performance of Jerry during the Youth Concert on 12 August. Jerry sang in Hindi a Bollywood song, without paper and hesitation. This was enough for me to have faith in the future of our youth as patriots living in oneness with no cultural barriers. As for the sega, there is no Mauritian who wait to be invited to sing, clap or dance of what has become our national folk and our national heritage!

Can we know how Mauritius is getting prepared for the next ‘Jeux des Iles de l’Ocean Indien’?
The next Indian Ocean Games will be held in 2019. Some people may say that we do have time for the preparations but I can tell you that I have set up various committees which I preside upon myself to get all stakeholders on board in order to win the next Games. These monitoring committees follow the preparations of the athletes for the next Games to be held in Mauritius from 19 to 28 July 2019.

Thus, last Thursday, 17 August, it was the representatives of the federations of basketball, cycling and boxing who were summoned. From the outset, I made it clear that I do not want to interfere in the management of sports federations. But it is their primary responsibility to prepare their athletes as best they can. The ministry will come forward with financial, infrastructural, and medical support, among others. Federations must submit a complete program (work plan, training and competitions) for each of their pre-selected athletes. Several topics related to athletes, such as transportation, employment, medical follow-up, nutrition, and equipment, were discussed.

I also made it clear that I am not satisfied with the results concerning basketball, in particular at the Francophone Games, and at the under-16 Afro-Basket competition. The establishment of a basketball academy was raised. All pre-selected athletes, nearly 400, are concerned, and will have a complete medical record. The Medical Committee under the chairmanship of Dr K. Kistnareddy of the Sports Medical Unit (SMU) will be in charge of this program. All athletes will be invited on September 2, 16 and 30, and on October 14 at the Germain Comarmond stadium, Bambous for physical assessments.

This week I have met  the youth of Bambous, Montagne Blanche and Souillac and next week, I shall be at Triolet, Bois Cheri and Plaine Verte, meaning fully that the campaign to mobilise all Mauritius about the Games is on and we aim to succeed in 2019.