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Maputo via London

16 août 2012, 10:57

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Why on earth would anyone need to go through London to reach Maputo? I tested the question on a few people and the standard reaction was a knowing look and a laugh. You know, it was almost like this idiosyncrasy of the Prime minister had become a local joke. I would join in the collective merriment obviously had I found the situation funny. I don’t as you may have guessed; it irks me.

So the question again- why did Navin Ramgoolam feel the need for a stopover in London (there’s a terrific cartoon by Deven T on this subject in the latest edition of the magazine “Week-End Scope” by the way) before going to Mozambique? We don’t know because the Prime minister has never believed in accountability especially where his travels are concerned; that would be beneath him.

What he does on occasion is get someone from his office to mail a laconic statement to the press on the night he is due to travel, explaining only in the briefest possible detail the reasons behind a particular offi cial visit.

More often than not we have absolutely no idea who accompanies him- and why-, when he is due back and what exactly our Prime minister has done on his publicly- financed trip.

Also unlike all other heads of government or states, Ramgoolam detests the very thought of having journalists as part of his delegation even if he occasionally makes an exception for the MBC (the MBC journalists conveniently don’t ask questions). He’d rather, I gather, think he was on a private visit.

But this time around even poor old MBC has been kicked off the London bound plane. Maybe they managed to get a fl ight to South Africa and then on to Maputo- the most sensible way to reach Mozambique?

Dear old MBC told us the other day that Ramgoolam had gone to London to meet with lawyers to discuss very important things such as Mauritius’ strategy before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. I think I also read somewhere that he was going to discuss for the nth time his new proposed media law with poor Geoffrey Robertson.

How outrageous is this explanation? The Prime minister of a country has to travel all the way to London to discuss with lawyers, paid a fortune from the public coffers, to discuss our case? Can’t they come here? And since when is it the job of a Prime minister to meet with lawyers to discuss international legal strategy? What do all those people at the State Law Offi ce and at the ministry of Foreign Affairs do, for crying out loud?

We can’t begrudge Ramgoolam his love of London but we must ask that he indulges in his pleasures in his own time and at his own cost. It’s unbecoming of a Prime minister- who loves to wax lyrical on the principles he supposedly holds dear- to expect the taxpayer to foot the bill for a flight to Maputo via London- per diem includedwithout good reason.