Youth debate: Is Mauritius over-regulated?

There has always been a raging debate whether Mauritius is an over-regulated country. In the economic sphere, the country has embarked on reforms through the Ease of Doing Business framework to reduce red tape.

By definition, an over-regulated country is one where rules and regulations are applied excessively. Business owners often complain of an excessive regulatory environment which hampers daily operations. Red tape affects all spheres of society, for example, a citizen has to take a day off for some simple administrative procedure. Is this only a cliché or is Mauritius really over-regulated? This week’s Youth Debate addresses this issue.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"21096","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-35012 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"300","height":"351","alt":"Akshay Appadoo"}}]]Akshay Appadoo: “Mauritius as a well regulated country”

23-year old Akshay is a student at the University of Mauritius. According to him, we have a well-regulated country rather than an over-regulated one, given that the population enjoy a certain level of freedom. “This is further supported by the fact that despite retreating to the 15th place in the ranking of the Index of Economic Freedom from the eighth place in 2016, Mauritius is still qualified as a mostly free country. The foundation of a democracy is based on regulations and how these regulations are respected. As a whole, Mauritius enjoys the freedom of an open market with a growing financial sector dominated by private commercial banks which are well capitalised and resilient,” he says.

He further adds “with smoother procedures for the setting up and registration of businesses, coupled with a flat tax rate of 15%, Mauritius positions itself as a fertile soil for entrepreneurial activities to both local and foreign investors. As with everything, there will always be two schools of thought, proponents and opponents. It is undeniable that those who find themselves at an advantage by some regulations will support it and those who are disadvantaged will oppose them. As a whole, however, as long as regulations serve the population they should be welcome.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"21099","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-35015 alignright","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"300","height":"506","alt":"Heynna Rekha"}}]]Heynna Rekha: “Regulations to boost up economy”

22-year old Rekha is a second year student in Fine Arts at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute. She explains that Mauritius has successfully diversified its monoculture economy into manufacturing and services, with a vibrant export sector focused on textiles, apparel, and jeweller as well as a growing, modern, and well-regulated offshore financial sector.

“Regulations are enforced usually by a regulatory body, whether formed or mandated, to carry out the purpose or provisions of a legislation. In order to be competitive and attractive, Mauritius has had no other option to innovate and implement new regulations in order to boost up its competitiveness,” she adds.

She argues that regulations have been beneficial in ramping up investment since its independence in 1968. “The rise in the number of educated persons cannot be ignored as it resulted from regulations imposed by the government for compulsory education till age of 16. Recent activities in the tourism sector show that the rise in the number of visitors is not only due to our beautiful beaches but also by attractive and well maintained hotels and leisure industries which are governed by a vigorous regulation. Apart from these benefits, Mauritius can be cursed, too. For example, there can be frauds and illegal activities that can hinder more foreign investment,” she says.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"21095","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-35011 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"300","height":"392","alt":"Soonita Purbhoo"}}]]Soonita Purbhoo: “Rules and regulations for protection”

Psychology educator at PBBC, Soonita states that our laws are accurate, precise, suitable and regularised. “Rules and regulations are there to protect each and every individual from exploitation. To clarify on this situation, we are going to draw our focus on an existing issue. For instance, convicted criminals such as rapists or murderers who are the sole income earners. According to law, a murderer or criminal is a human, we have to provide him with his basic needs. In the local context, we have to provide the family with a pension. Here, is this not an over exaggerated issue? Where the rapist or murderer has harmed another family, but on humanitarian grounds his rights are being observed.”

She further adds: “Laws are regulated and respected to a large extent but this is also a truth that we are heading towards a capitalist system where the rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer. For example, referring to profit making organisations, there are laws protecting such organisations even giving grants to flourish their business.”

For her, instead of regulating such laws for industries where they are already in a defensive position, why not shift to other more beneficial rules where even the employees’ rights are safeguarded. Hence, upgrading their standards of living by granting educational loans and such other flaws that might exist and solved within the system.

Soonita believes that over-regulated issues in Mauritius would be a boon only for those benefiting from these facilities. “In general, anything which is over-regulated is a curse where there is misuse of power, over-exploitation and such other negative conditions leading to a country’s downfall, where democracy is not being used at its fullest.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"21098","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-35014 alignright","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"297","height":"283","alt":"Mitch Lebouc"}}]]Mitch Lebouc: “The country has been well regulated”

Mitch, 21, is a second year BSc (Hons) Economics with Management student at the University of Mauritius. He recalls that apart from the short spell of ethnic-based riots in 1999, Mauritius has been able to develop its economy with its continuous political stability.

“In 2014, Mauritius has been ranked second in Africa regarding the Human Development Index (HDI). The island has been well regulated by its democratically elected governments where freedom of expression is guaranteed, not only in the constitution but also in daily life. The judiciary is independent and free from political intervention.

The Mauritian rupee is a free-floating currency. The central bank has over past years demonstrated independence of action and resisted government interference. On the reverse side of the coin, Mauritius has experienced some strict laws in the previous years but a more perplexed one is the new regulation set in the 2015-16 budget concerning gambling where there was an increase in license fees and more surprisingly a complete ban of scratch cards as well as advertising!”

According to him, the main reason behind these strict regulations was that our island was becoming a “gamblers’ paradise” but the main question here is: Will prohibition resolve issues? “We also note that the criminal code 242 stating that manslaughter committed by any person on his spouse, as well as on his accomplice, at the very moment he finds them in the act of adultery is excusable is being debated in Parliament. Being too centralised, some pertinent issues are being neglected, especially corruption. It should be noted that the island ranked 37th out of 150 countries according to the World Democracy Audit in 2015.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"21097","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-35013 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"300","height":"489","alt":"Dhirish Krishna Raghoo"}}]]Dhirish Krishna Raghoo: “Over regulation is a barrier”

Final year student in BA (Hons) Economics and International Relations and executive member of the UOM Political Science Society, Dhirish maintains that if we have a look at the number of bills and laws which have been passed in Parliament over the past ten years, we can safely say that we are over-regulated.

It is important to keep pace with international standards and practices, but Mauritius needs to focus on regulations that will adapt easily to the local context. There were regulations which were put forward by the government and then suspended later on because of protests; for e.g. the obligation for motorcyclists to wear a fluorescent jacket during the day or more recently, the obligation for contract buses and coaches to display big stickers on their bonnet.

“Over regulation is a hindrance to democracy. People feel their rights are being restricted. We often tend to mix politics with the new laws being passed and therefore lag behind in terms of constructive national debates. It is not only the role of our politicians to voice out against laws that could cause prejudice to society, but each one of us has the equal right to voice out and express our views and opinions. It is common knowledge that over regulated countries are subject to constant political and social instability,” he says.

He further argues that red tape has never helped in solving social issues such as thefts, rapes, murders, drug trafficking and road accidents. “It is essential to focus on enforcement; not only to penalise people, but to also sensitise on particular issues. Everyone deserves to live in a society where customs, values and traditions govern our way of thinking, living and actions. And in return, depending less on laws and regulations drafted by humans to control humans,” he adds.