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Dear Minister: To those who are for and those against The Pros and Cons

29 octobre 2016, 10:17

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Things aren’t like what they used to be in my young day. What happened to the concept of the common good? Whatever the government does, there’s invariably criticism from opposition fellow travellers. Or just to make a lot of noise. A few oddbods holding placards are headlined as a mass demonstration. Apparently in Rodrigues proposed voting changes are creating more of a fièvre affreuse than the elimination of the cattle industry. You shouldn’t believe everything you read, my dears – apart from the odd notable exception.

Poor governments! However laudable a U-turn, you get hammered for it although Dear Paul occasionally rises above the fray to applaud a revised decision. Then he gets hammered too. Sometimes, of course, you need to plough on with unpopular measures and certainly not imitate our French forefathers. Reforms in France are regularly abandoned in the wake of student or farmer demonstrations, backed by nihilists – who’ve also blocked rational discussion on immigration and identity problems. The result is the rise of Marine Le Pen. Mount Olympos is keeping a close eye on her. She’s a powerful orator and the Delphic Oracle suggests she’ll go a long way. Hopefully that means she’ll get into bed with Donald Trump and they’ll love each other to death.

Poor Sage! When he changes his mind, he’s considered weak. Classically, not being obdurate has always been considered a virtue. Outside parliament, the environment for criticism is much healthier despite the odd case of ministerial indigestion. Better to be thankful for small mercies even if tempered with a few imperfections. Of course it would be better if the Pros understood that a Pro is a professional not a prostitute but everywhere there’s a lack of perspective.

What if Sun Inc hadn’t shone in 2014? Who’d have wanted more years of Baby Doc and Pote Paul with scandals swept under the carpet– apart from makers of balai fatak who’d have had a field day? There are things, of course, that need criticising. Populist measures are nearly always wrong and rarely challenged. How soon before social housing rivals luxury villas? Why are ministers so terrified of declaring surplus or incompetent staff redundant? Perhaps some ministries would be better privatised.

Poverty, of course, needs tackling but so do the ethically challenged. At all levels of society, there are many who see nothing immoral in adding another lining to their pockets. Others turn a blind eye. After all, this is Mauritius; that’s the way things are. Presumably they’d argue it helps to increase the country’s ranking in terms of the Ease of Doing Business. Tiresias, the blind prophet, complains there’s not just lack of insight but that people’s brains stop functioning when they don’t want to hear something. Literally. That sounds a tad modern but there’s more truth in it that you might imagine. Look at all those who waffle on about BAI when only the most obtuse refuse to accept it was inevitable. The Dude knew the game was up weeks before the crash, grabbed his French passport and shot off to join the Foreign Legion. Europe is still struggling years after its banking crises and the Oracle foresees further trouble ahead. Just in case, Apollo’s agreed to place an ark on standby but Mauritius has muddled through its crisis comparatively well. From what you hear, you’d think these islands are about to sink beneath the waves. There are a lot of cons around.

Yours sincerely

Epi PHRON