In the light of the current scandal involving the ex-Prime Minister, a simple but sober reflection seems to be in order, especially when we consider that the same ex-Prime Minister could have very well been the Prime Minister again today.

Let’s imagine for a moment that the outcome of the December 10th election had gone the other way. What if instead of the Alliance Lepep winning the elections, the PTr/MMM alliance had won and Ramgoolam was Prime Minster again today? What would the circumstances be like today (early 2015)? And what would the next 5 years be like for our country? Here is part of my reflection on the subject:

1.  None of us would have known about the existence of the ‘NCR Private Bank’ at Riverwalk, and that one-man bank would have continued to amass millions for at least another 5 years;

2.  NS would still be in the country and her empire would have grown even bigger, her influence on the social and business life of the country would have spread even more;

3.  DC would still be manipulating all the public news reporting, dishing out lucrative contracts while continuing to drive the MBC further into debts by the millions;

4.  The Roches-Noire case would still be closed and no further questions ever asked;

5.  Who knows what would have happened with the Ring Road and Motorway problems?  

6.  NCR would be working to get the 2nd republic passed and eventually PRB would become PM. But even as PM, PRB would not have been the second most powerful person in the country after NCR. No, in practice, the second most powerful person in the land would have been NS;

7.  Many of NCR’s “petits copains” would have been rewarded for having voted him in again and they all would have received their presents - more free state land giveaways;

8.  The issues around Betamax, Ritum Coffee, Tarisa Resort, Airway Coffee among others would have still gone unaddressed and the culture of ‘petits copains’ would have continued to be perpetuated and it would have been business as usual for everyone;

9.  Mismanagement and wastage of public monies would have only gotten worse while the gap between rich and poor in Mauritius would have continued to widen;

10.          Our country would have gone further into debts with the implementation of the Metro Leger project and undoubtedly major issues and problems would have arisen from it;

11.          The government scandals of the last 10 years would have gone unaddressed and they would have had another 5 years to create even more. The country would have been even more depleted of its resources and riches to the benefits of a few people;

12.          Mauritius would eventually find itself increasingly immersed under a domineering and authoritarian regime while the population continued to endure in fear and intimidation.

Now add to this, the current Ramgoolam, Bheenick, Soornack affairs and scandals that have surfaced over the past few months! A sober reflection on the subject should lead us to appreciate the depth and significance of the change in direction our country took last December and all its ensuing implications that are now unfolding and emerging before us.

At the December 10th election, Ramgoolam was judged by the majority of the electorate to be unfit for the PM position, and this judgment was based on his 10-year track record, his performance during the electoral campaign and his vision for the country in the form of his proposed second Republic.

When it comes to political elections, there is a well-known adage that says “we often have to choose between the least of two evils”, suggesting of course that the perfect party or politician does not exist. In December 2014, the Mauritian electorate did exactly that by voting in majority against the PTr/MMM alliance.

But what about the next elections in 2019? Will there be a backlash, political revenge, a reversal of circumstances? Evidently, no one can know at this point and much will depend upon the performance of the current government over the next 5 years, its future leadership structure, the positioning of other parties, etc.

For the moment, the PTr and MMM are having their own internal in-fighting and struggles and still holding on to their historical leaders to lead their respective parties. Time will tell how this will all play out.

Food for Thought

Geographically and socially. Mauritius has always been thought of as isolated from the ‘developed world’. Traditionally, growing up in Mauritius meant getting our ideas, values and guidance mostly from our immediate, local settings of our parents, community, school, religious traditions, etc.

For a large part of the population how people lived in the rest of the world, what they believed, etc., did not have any immediate impact upon them since as a country, we were rather insulated from the rest of the world.

But all this began to change dramatically from the 1990s for a large part of our population with the wider spread of Internet access, larger numbers of young people completing tertiary education, increasing numbers of Mauritians traveling internationally, etc. These trends have only increased since then and continue to impact upon even more people. 

The fact that the world has now become a ‘global village’ thanks to the Internet has meant that Mauritians are now getting their ideas, values and expectations from around the world rather than from just their immediate, local environment. It is not unusual today for local Mauritians to find that they have more in common in regard to their values and ideas with someone living half way around the world than with someone living here in Mauritius. The Internet and social media have transformed and widened our social milieu and life. 

All this means that the composition of the contemporary Mauritian electorate has also changed. It is no longer only one dimensional, fixed and traditional like in the 1970s and 1980s. Rather, it has now become multi-dimensional, mixed and diverse as a result of education, progress and globalization. Values many Mauritians consider important today and that they expect from leaders include those such as transparency, authenticity and rationality.

Yet, against this new reality, the approaches, styles and methods of most of our politicians are often still one-dimensional and completely out of sync with the aspirations, desires and expectations of large sections of the electorate. Our politicians’ methods and styles tend to be those they learned in the 1980s and 90s. Some even go back to the 70s.

Not all Mauritians of course, are fully influenced and motivated by globally-oriented values and ideas. A good part of the electorate still hold to and operate by more traditional, parochial and communalistic values and ideas. However, whether we like it or not, one thing seems clear - Mauritius and Mauritians will continue to be increasingly influenced by the impact of globalization, and, transformation of our values, ideas and expectations is unavoidable. In this sense, Mauritius is no longer an isolated island, at least socially.  

Consider the fact that many of the voters in 2019 will have been born in 2000/01, they are now in 2nd and 3rd forms of high school. How does this new generation of future voters obtain and process information? How will they evaluate and decide who to vote for? How well will our political leaders in 2019 effectively communicate with and win the confidence of what has now become, a more diverse, more astute and more sophisticated electorate? So many unanswerable questions at this point!