Africa-Press – Mauritius. In recent times, a number of activities by a section of the police force have tarnished the image of this institution, yet so necessary and so useful within a democracy.
The one-upmanship between two radio stations to broadcast information has only aroused the curiosity of Mauritians a little more and forced each other to reflect on the extent of the degradation of values at all levels of society.
But all this media hype reveals above all the intensity of a certain bewilderment and one certainly wonders about the role of those who must not only reassure the population but also guarantee national security.
The Prime Minister has no intention of taking or initiating any action against the Police Headquarters Special Striking Team; he leaves it to the Commissioner of Police who, he recalled in his response to the PNQ from the Leader of the Opposition last Tuesday, is the only one mandated by Article 71 (4) of the Constitution, to determine the use and control of police force operations to take appropriate action.
Could he as Prime Minister and Head of Home Affairs do better in these particularly difficult and troubling circumstances facing the country? Me Antoine Domingue: The rule is clear, but it is not always well understood.
The Prime Minister cannot initiate any disciplinary action against any police officer. The Prime Minister does not have this competence which belongs to the police commissioner.
If necessary, the latter must set in motion the disciplinary machinery with the approval of the Disciplinary Forces Service Commission and the legal assistance of the Solicitor General.
The fact remains that in his capacity as Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, Pravind Jugnauth is primarily responsible for the police and the maintenance of order.
Indeed, political responsibility falls to him, whether to the President of the Republic (who appointed him to this post), to the cabinet, to the National Assembly, to the population as a whole, and, above all, before the electorate.
The Prime Minister is supported in his task by the Secretary for Home Affairs and by the Security Adviser who should therefore support and advise him.
I would therefore have thought that, given the seriousness of the situation we are all facing, the Prime Minister being, after all, only the primus inter pares (the first among equals), common sense should have prevail and this delicate matter should have been raised and debated in the Council of Ministers in order to be the subject of a collegial decision by the cabinet.
Nothing stands in the way of that. I recommend that after consultation with the President of the Republic, we should follow this path in order to give more weight and solemnity to decision-making. This should therefore, in the current circumstances, be a government response that is firm and appropriate.
* All that has been said and heard in the soundtracks broadcast by private radio stations, Radio Plus and Top FM, are at this stage only allegations and must therefore be subject to verification and investigation by the competent authorities , as the Prime Minister pointed out in Parliament last Tuesday.
Any other Prime Minister would have said almost the same thing, right? We do not see Navin Ramgoolam or Paul Bérenger shoot themselves in the foot and bear all the blame for the dysfunctions of the police.
Another prime minister, worthy of the name, would not have slipped and hidden behind the police commissioner and some rambling remarks by a former member of the commission of inquiry into drug trafficking in response to interrogations legitimate representatives of Touria Prayag who was worried about the numerous escapades of the Police Headquarters Special Striking Team which made the headlines of all the newspapers.
I continue to think that this special team, operating thanks to the complacency of the authorities, has tarnished and will continue to tarnish the image of the police.
Remember Raddhoa and his team who got out of control. So much so that he had refused to go to the summons of a judge of the supreme court who had exclaimed “Call him! If he does not know I will teach him! “. Isn’t it high time that OSH was given a spanking?
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