Africa-Press – Mauritius. The question of electoral reform is back on the carpet, and the Government is said to intend to present a bill to this effect to be debated in the coming days before the next parliamentary recess.
What are your comments on the form and substance of the government’s approach? Joseph Tsang Man Kin: In another context, I would have said, “Better late than never”.
But, here, I have the impression that “late” and “never” mean the same thing, that is to say, I think that nothing serious will come up on the mat because it would be impossible to debate of this very important issue in a matter of weeks.
Moreover, in this case, neither the population nor the members know what we are going to discuss. And you tell me that they will want to finish with this very important question before the parliamentary holidays.
If what the press reports is confirmed, I would call this approach amateurish, if not irresponsible. It is unthinkable that one can think of his next vacation and rush the work that must be done, and for which the public contributes his money. This haste is pitiful because we guess the lack of ideas of those responsible who do not seem to know how to discharge their responsibilities!
* It seems that the Government would not intend to revise its copy with regard to the proposals for reform of the interministerial committee made public two months ago, and it is therefore not certain that the Government will be able to obtain the majority three-quarters to get his bill passed.
Can you understand the reasons for this government action? You are talking about the Government copy that they would not intend to see again. Seriously speaking, what you call “copy” is this little scrap of scrap paper that contains nothing substantial or serious.
We do not know who sat on this interdepartmental committee. Moreover, what they made public last October 1st certainly cannot be called “proposals”. If this Committee has serious proposals well put together and deserving of consideration, these should follow the normal route, and pass to the Council of Ministers for adoption.
A government respectful of democracy, and not working in opacity, would have already made public its proposals for the information of the Mauritian population and to invite comments about discussions or debates on the part of politicians, academics and constitutional scholars.
This way of doing things reflects the contempt that this Government feels for its constituents. So it would seem that if things are to be done on a regular basis that their Bill must be presented to Parliament for first reading.
Why are you already saying that it is not certain that the Government can obtain three quarters of the votes to pass its bill? Does the Government think like you, in which case it would be serious.
It would mean that knowing that his bill would be a stillborn, he goes ahead anyway, knowingly and deliberately choosing to waste the valuable hours of the Assembly.
It’s playing to play with other people’s money! Really this gesture is equivalent to embarking on an adventure, it is a headlong rush! It would be sad if the Government, on an issue so important for the future of the country, behaves like a blind man who does not know where it is leading us and especially where it is going itself.
* While it is true that the Government is forced to move forward with an electoral reform project because of the comments of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on our electoral system and the ” constitutional challenge” lodged by Resistans ek Alternativ in the Supreme Court, it is also obvious that the Prime Minister and leader of the MSM wants to ‘leverage’ his electoral reform project to achieve his political objectives in view of the next legislative elections.
You remember shark fishing in December 2014, right? The Constitutional Challenge launched by Resistans ek Alternativ brings us to the same precipice. To do things right, the Government should go to Parliament with a Bill to amend, modify or delete Articles 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 which touch on the question of “communities” and which are found in Schedule 1 of the Constitution.
Remember that to touch Annex 1 of the Constitution, it is necessary to have three quarters of the votes of the National Assembly. I will make the same reflection here on the need to present the Bill on this subject in three readings.
However, today, we are in no way informed whether the Government is ready or not with its Bill and whether it has already circulated it. This Bill, like the previous one, concerning the “constitutional challenge” must be made public so that the country knows exactly where the Government wants to take it.
If this issue should be sloshed quickly so that MPs can take their holidays, then that is outrageous! We have never seen so much amateurism and irresponsibility.
I don’t quite see why you mention the famous shark fishery. Let’s say right away that I don’t see a shark worthy of the name, scary with jagged teeth that is practically impossible to capture.
* We do not know if the “shark” of 2014 will be caught in 2019, but the press reports that if the MMM decides to vote in favor of a possible government bill MSM-ML, it will be, according to its leader, “under protest”. How do you react to what is obviously one of those political formulas of which Paul Bérenger has the secret, the last being that of the open door?
But if ! I see one, “little shark”, skinny and toothless, which turns around in the pool and volunteers to be captured! Otherwise, there are no useful sharks around! That the MMM decides to vote in favor of any possible bill of the MSM-ML Government is not surprising.
On the other hand, to say that this support will be made “under protest”, is comic opera that is fun and ready to laugh. Because a law, once voted, follows its course and if it receives the agreement of the President, it will immediately be part of all the laws in force in Mauritius.
“Under protest” is nonsense, a phrase that some may enjoy but which, in fact, makes all men of common sense laugh. In wanting to tease others, we confuse ourselves.
* What is surprising is that at the same time, Paul Bérenger asked the members of the political bureau of the MMM, last Monday, to “put their heads together” to work out a “good” option for the next legislative elections, including that of an alliance with another formation, or alone against all with himself as PM for five years, and the last: alone against all but sharing the first ministerial mandate with either Ajay Gunness or Madun Dulloo or Jyoti Jeetun.
It’s confusing the activists themselves, right? This request to the Politburo is also laughable because without having to “put their heads together”, the MMM is doomed to follow behind any party that agrees to take it into an alliance, a minority of course, even under conditions the most humiliating.
What is sad here is that this party, the MMM, confirms that it has lost its bearings: it has nothing to say on any of the subjects that interest Mauritians, such as electoral reform or the position of Resistans ek Alternativ on the declaration of its communal belonging.
He is incapable of proposing anything, he has no idea. Never mind ! But he has ambition, a lot of ambition, not for the country, and even less for his party.
All that interests him, and he says it, is his appetite for power, so much so that even a small piece of a Prime Minister’s mandate, he wants it, even if it means sharing it with Ajay Gunness, Madun Dulloo and Jyoti Jeetun.
Really it is pitiful! * Do you see the more uphill battle for the PTr should the MMM choose the first option – i. e. an alliance with the MSM, presumably?
Let us quote Corneille: “To conquer without danger, one triumphs without glory” or one of the former members of the Labor Party, I believe it was the late Seeneevassen who said: “Or not stupid result ziska ki kass box” That is to say that, the more the the battle is arduous and the more uncertain the outcome, then the more glorious will be the victory.
The MMM can go with whoever he wants. But, if we listen to what is said in the markets, in the taxis, in the streets and in meetings across the island on the performance or the popularity of the present Government, it would be extremely difficult for me to bet on the success of this covenant.
* However, it is very likely that we will move towards a fight of three or four in case the leader of the MMM ultimately decides not to alienate the militants.
The Government also shows a determination to silence any challenge to its governance on social networks with the amendments made to the ‘Judicial and Legal Provisions Act’ and the ICT Act.
He also has the state apparatus and uses it for his political propaganda. Then, there will no doubt be the popular measures that will be announced at the appropriate time.
The battle looks tough? I do not know if the Government is showing determination or stubbornness, since it continues to provide grist for the mill of its opponents.
It is hard to forget the Roland Armand promenade massacre, a crime that will remain high on the Prime Minister’s hunting board, not to mention that, contrary to the requirement of the law, the Metro Project EIA did not has never been made public: an opacity variously interpreted.
You add to this the Government’s desire to stifle what it does not like to hear about its governance, while emphasizing that it has the state apparatus for its political propaganda, not to mention the special forces at its arrangement ! Let’s say that we are no longer faced with a small pile but a heap of measures that make the Government more unpopular.
As in everything, too much harms. We must not provoke people, push them to anger or rebellion. Above all, we would not want to see what is happening here in Reunion, following the rise in the price of gasoline! Government should govern, not repress.
As to the amendments to the Judicial and Legal Provisions Act and the ICTA Act, there is a protest lodged in the Supreme Court. We await his judgment.
But in the meantime, remember that it is not what is said on Facebook that should worry the Government but what is said in the streets. * How do you think things will look in 2019? Everyone, starting with the Prime Minister, knows that 2019 has a lot of surprises in store for us.
And everyone knows that there is a sword of Damocles hanging over the head of the Prime Minister: I am obviously talking about the decision that Mauritius expects from the Privy Council.
But in the meantime, the Prime Minister will try to go about his business at the head of the country in the most normal way possible. This means that he will not fail to attend the celebration of Republic Day in India on January 26 and he will certainly not want to miss the celebration of our Independence on March 12.
If the Prime Minister wins his case, he will be greatly encouraged and he will be extremely combative to win the elections which he will probably want at that time to be held as soon as possible in the wake of victory…
And, as you say, he will take extremely popular measures, even very costly to the State. On the other hand, if he loses his appeal, it will be a disaster for him and depending on how he leaves the Government, the country will risk going through an extremely difficult and uncertain phase.
Unless he has already planned out the course of action in either case… Let’s hope he behaves like a responsible politician, whether in victory or defeat.
* In addition, the issue of ethnic census and that concerning the redrawing of constituencies have been debated in recent weeks.
Priests joined the debate and aligned themselves with the position adopted by the PMSD of Xavier Duval. Did this position taken by Duval surprise you?
Certainly, the question of ethnic census and drawing up of constituencies has been mentioned in the press, but I cannot say that this question has been the subject of serious debate.
We did not find ourselves in the presence of a document on one or the other subject which provoked discussions and debates among politicians or academics.
I do not believe that priests will align themselves with a political position of any party whatsoever, but they can happen to share the same opinions sometimes.
The position adopted by the PMSD of Xavier Luc Duval seems logical to me about the anomalies noted by his party about five constituencies in the country. He also pleaded for an ethnic census which, let’s face it, is a very useful tool in sociology for the study of multi-racial societies.
And on the other hand, it is not proven that those who are in favor of the ethnic census would necessarily be communalists, because one can be a most retrograde communalist without proclaiming it, without displaying it!
* It is therefore difficult to eradicate the germ of communalism and ethnicity from Mauritian politics: is this also your analysis, Mr.
Tsang Mang Kin? I rather think that the germ of communalism or ethnicity exists especially in the older generations before independence. They are the ones who keep in their minds the bad memories of this period.
Now, today, we have new generations. For them, these memories of the last century are like prehistory. They look resolutely to the future. These new generations are living outside the patterns we inherited from the last century. To hear them and watch them live, I would say that communalism is dying.
And look closely, those who talk about electoral reform and who, at the same time, want at all costs to maintain reserved seats, the ‘best losers’, or proportional representation, these are the men of the past, incapable of putting themselves to the listening to new generations of Mauritians. These young people want, on the contrary, to dismantle all these mechanisms of communal division and hasten the arrival of a real Mauritian nation!
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