Publicité

Mismanaging the country: Capitalist development under a dictatorial government?

21 avril 2017, 12:46

Par

Partager cet article

Facebook X WhatsApp

lexpress.mu | Toute l'actualité de l'île Maurice en temps réel.
Civil activists and members of the public took to the roads yesterday in Port-Louis to protest against governmental decisions such as compulsory land acquisitions, the Metro Express, the National Identity Card issue, among others.

The controversial issues and political comments coming from the new Prime Minister (PM), as well as his Deputy PM, Ivan Collendavelloo, on several issues to do with the public interest invite some comments. The complacent attitude adopted by this government on certain important matters, contrary to the likes of the majority of the population, has tremendously shocked and upset many people.

Some people have even regarded that the comments made by this government are outrageous, as well as an insult to their intelligence, especially with the repressive law on the compulsory acquisition of lands, just to deprive poor people who have been living in their areas of birth for years and now have had to abandon their birth places with peanuts compensation. Is the Metro Express more important than the dignity of those poor people? Are these people paying the price of capitalist developments under a dictatorial government?

This government has gone a bit too far and in a different direction in so far as its limits are concerned. Has the new PM stepped over his limit when he persists and remains ada- mant about this new project of introducing the Metro Express at the expense of those poor people? Is this not amounting to a gross abuse of authority on the part of this government? This manoeuvre of the government is unacceptable and should be condemned by one and all because such an exercise is against the principle of human rights

I leave it to the PM to make his own auto-criticism as to whether or not he has brought down the reputation of his own government. Besides, the actions of his Deputy PM on the problem of water and electricity could be regarded as a catastrophe.

The population never forgets how the ex-Minister of Health, Anil Gayan, banned methadone to patients entitled lawfully by medical prescriptions. As it happens, Gayan has replaced the methadone by another more expensive and time-consuming drug on the shocking pretext that those methadone patients have voted for the MMM candidates in his constituency during the general elections of 2014. This is very absurd.

Now let us move to the next controversy affecting this government: the exorbitant monthly salary of Miss Vijaya Sumputh, a good friend of Minister Gayan. The population will recall when both Gayan and Sumputh were in the MSM, they were kicked out from that political party for not abiding to the discipline of the party, as well as for not toeing the line according to regulations. Gayan has known Sumputh when both were once members of the MSM Central Committee.

How come that Minister Gayan has appointed his close friend Vijaya Sumputh as Head of the Cardiac Unit of SSRNH? When asked in Parliament about Miss Sumputh nomination, the ex-Minister of Health replied: “Government is government! And government decides.” One wonders whether or not Minister Gayan is acting as a grave digger for the government and is a liability for the nation as well.

Thank goodness, we have an Opposition member, of the like of Rajesh Bhagwan, who cleared the air about this injustice and favoritism on the part of this government. Today, Sumputh is out but the damage has been done and we need inquiries to find out who is to be blamed for such a shameful exercise.

Last but not least, there is a growing discontent in the population about the performance of this government. There are justified complaints by many people, especially in certain constituencies where the government Ministers concerned have proved themselves very inefficient, untrustworthy and indolent, where no work has been done and where the constituents are not satisfied at all of their performance.

Even the Daily Herald, a prestigious British daily paper, published an article of our compatriot A. Macky on the 15th February 2017 that said: “Certain genuine investors abroad are now having cold feet to invest in Mauritius due to the great economic decline facing the island. There are frequent clashes between the government of the day and various commercial banks and other financial institutions in Mauritius. The governor of the Bank of Mauritius at times finds it difficult to control the financial affairs of the island. On the other hand, the local press on the island is waging war against certain black sheep so called investors, trying to invest dirty money on the island coming from dishonest transactions.”