Fighting for a cause has something noble to it. Drives you, keeps you going in a direction when others have given up…This is what is missing from our governing leaders. For, they have bartered systemic changes for sugar-coated, déjà vu measures with solely the political gains in mind. And since la population a bon dos, it has again been toyed with, reduced to the role of the sedated guinea pig under the expert hands of seasoned politicians.
System Error
Accordingly, the middle-class pilfering measures introduced under the second prime ministership of Navin and defended back then with table shattering vehemence in the parliament, have been scrapped, duly applauded by “objective” experts. The issue lies not with this budget, one in a long list of uninspiring bookkeeping exercises, but with the way the system has been perverted over the years by our leaders’ absence of vision. The dearth of accountability and transparency should have been at the centre of a new budget. Greater integrity first and foremost should have been introduced in the sphere most pertinent in the running of a country; politics. For a thriving Mauritius to ever exist, the financing of political parties should have been the cornerstone of an ennobling of politics movement.
Of public education…
Another pressing issue for the governing alliance is the loss of trust of people in state offered services. How public schooling, once the pride of our country has been seen as grossly inadequate for the creation of a new Mauritius. A knowledge hub is not built simply by promises of offering laptops and talks of additional student capacity in tertiary institutions. More importantly, it encompasses the need for more qualified teachers and a broader education curriculum. Similarly, the goal of our education system should have incorporated more humane elements such as the fostering of care for the downtrodden. Would 6 months spent after one’s HSC/BAC exams for the good of the country serving those in need not be something that would inculcate a greater sense of care for others?
Empowering the citizen
Mauritians are atrophied to scandals; they have witnessed fact finding committees over the years as futile as Ramgoolam’s outbursts against David Miliband. The first step would be to reconnect the Citizen to the society through local communities, empowering him or her to participate in the decision making of his country at the level of his neighbourhood. The absence of place for contestation would also be curbed. In the same vein, the creation of highly dependent citizens through freebies is crippling for a country. Offering all Mauritians a level playing field should be at the centre of concerns of a serious government.
Fairness and The Mauritian Dream
A greater degree of autonomy to public bodies would be a welcomed addition to the Mauritian landscape with real independence in the hiring of people, in the allocation of contracts amongst others. It would also allow power to be decentralised effectively from the central government and put greater onus on some of the institutions to deliver. The Mauritian dream, if limited to monetary terms, shows a lack of concern for moral values and one that thrives on consumption. What we need is a mindset change that helps people realise their full potential through a system that applies equally to each and every one of us.
The toxic adversarial nature of the domestic political climate can lead relatively reasonable people to foolish acts, which offers us, if not of sensible thoughts, at least grants us moments of comic relief. The opposing alliance’s PR stunt of having seasoned political figures that live and die by the party line use the term L’aile Jeune to indulge in a Budget appreciation exercise at least made us chuckle.
Alvin Veeren, Krishna Jadunundun and Chetan Ramchurn
On behalf of Jeunesse Militante.
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