QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"When you're taking flak, you must be over the target"
-- Jim Robinson

To Our Readers 

Your views are of interest to us. They help us balance the argument in the correct perspective. We welcome you to draw our attention to anything or opinion expressed in the Mauritius Times (or any national or international event of interest) with which you agree from your own angle or disagree due to a different appreciation of facts.

We will gratefully receive your communications at the email address:

mtimes@intnet.mu

Squandering of Public Funds 

Some time back, Mauritians learnt through the press that the National Transport Corporation had written off debts amounting to millions of Rupees for unpaid dues on hired buses owed mostly by the big political parties including the Labour Party, the Mouvement Militant Mauricien and the Mouvement Socialiste Mauricien.

As a great number of buses were hired again on May Day this year (exactly three months ago) we believe that the Minister of Public Infrastructure, Land Transport & Shipping and the Chairman of the National Transport Corporation should ensure that action is initiated without any undue delay to recover any outstanding amount still due on those recent transactions. Failure to recover the dues early may leave the Corporation with more bad debts later which then have to be made good by the passengers.  

Clearly, the corporation has to balance its books one way or another: what is not paid by some has to be paid by others, either in the way of increased fares at the expense of passengers or of subsidies and grants which have to be footed by the taxpayer. Not one cent of the settlement of such debts comes from the pocket of ministers, of opposition members or the management. You will therefore agree with me that unpaid dues by political parties amount to squandering of public funds and the people responsible must be identified and held accountable.  

K. Thak  
Port Louis

crime rate 

Has crime rate been increasing beyond control of the law in Mauritius? Yet your government wants TWO millions tourists by year 2010. Fat chance!

It's about time to bring back death penalty. Wake up ministers before it is too late. 

Discerning tourist  
UK

a big circus

I enjoy reading about the politics of Mauritius in your newspaper. To us in the west it seems like a big circus where no one gets injured but the danger is foreseen. Members of Parliament should follow the standing orders. 

Latchman Kissoon    
Barbados - West Indies

Summer Time Debates

The motion for the introduction of summer time in Mauritius led to very heated debates in the Assembly. However, we cannot say it was a black day for Parliament. There was nothing wrong in the action of the members. They did not break any law nor any assembly rules. Heated debates are common in democracies all over the world and those members had a right to defend a point they did not agree with.

If black day there was, it was for those people who voted the members involved but did not belong to the "we" as uttered by one of them. The only “we” they voted for were the “Alliance sociale” and the MMM-MSM coalition.

At election time, the leaders of alliances and coalitions should tell us whether the candidates they recommend to us and that we will be voting for will, upon getting elected, speak in the name of us all or just of a small group of “we”.

Every MP has the right to defend the rights of any segment of the community that he thinks deserves to be defended. It is one thing to say “I hold a brief for community X and they have advised me they will not stand for this” and a totally different one to say “We will not stand for this”, for in the latter case the member would be identifying him solely with that community, regardless of the “we” people that voted for him.

Neeraj Singh

Standards of conduct for nurses 

In UK, the new Code of ‘Standards of Conduct, performance and ethics for nurses and midwives’ (NMC Code) came into force on 1 May 2008. As I am a qualified nurse as well as a senior lecturer in Nursing, I want to raise the awareness all our nursing colleagues in Mauritius about the issue of dignity by quoting a few statements from NMC Code: 

(a) You must make the care of people your first concern, treating them as individuals and respecting their dignity;
(b) Work with others to protect and promote the health and well-being of those in your care, their families and carers, and the wider community;
(c) Provide a high standard of practice and care at all times;

(d) As a professional, you are personally accountable for actions and omissions in your practice and must always be able to justify your decisions;

(e) You must always act lawfully, whether those laws relate to your professional practice or personal life;

(f) You must ensure that you gain consent before you begin any treatment or care. 

Nursing colleagues may wish to read up further on the code on this website: www.nmc-uk.org.
NMC is our governing body that monitors our standard of care and it also protects the public interest. I am sure a similar system exists in Mauritius to ensure that nurses are ‘Fit to Practise’. If it should happen that it does not, it would be high time to introduce it. Remember, we are there to care professionally and effectively. All nurses have a duty to ensure that they are keeping their knowledge up to date. 

Ramesh Seewoodhary  
Senior Lecturer  
Thames Valley University, UK

Apropos ‘The Gaping Holes In Our Economy’ 

Mr Ramnawaz’s article (MT, 1 Aug 08) brings up to the surface some of the effects, unfortunately painful, of the currently chosen economic policy orientation.  The question of inflation, being at the centrepiece of his article, I shall say two words on it.  

In general, inflation is fuelled by incremental costs arising from demand running after supply, supply running after demand or other high cost generating sources.  

The first case is demand running after supply. Large money supply, at least for those who have it, cannot be singled out as a factor. It is true that the industrial capacity of Mauritius is experiencing a slow demise. But imports have become a flourishing activity such that the increasing money supply, manifested by greater purchasing power and higher demand, is met by growing supply of imported goods. So the question of a deficit supply of commodities does not arise. 

The second case concerns supply running after demand. Now, unequal distribution of wealth or money in society reduces demand and produces excess aggregate stocks, which are a source of diseconomies of scale and higher costs. It also creates scope for opportunity costs. Inequality, and with it inequity, find its way as a cause of inflation at source.  

This said, we do not produce, we simply import and this cannot be free of increasing costs adequately geared up by soaring hydrocarbon prices and uncertain character of the domestic currency. I am leaving aside national total productivity factor on purpose.  

If we want to identify an indigenous area where we have become dependent for growth is land resource. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to import land and, in the face of supply deficits, costs are increasing. This loops back to demand running after supply producing inflationary effects. 

Now coming to the Bank of Mauritius: to be in control of domestic price, it is obvious that one has to be in control of its costs. But, when the costs are totally outside one's control -- because everything is imported, and big capitals and speculators dictate the price of lands -- the institution is helpless to the extent that it cannot even assess what the effective rate of interest has to be at a particular juncture. This said, interest rate on its own cannot regulate inflation, other measures are obviously necessary, including adjustment of the nominal exchange rate of the rupee and certain relevant national policies.   

Sheriff Adam  
Development Engineer & Economist  
www.sheriffadam.mu

A Loving Tribute To Swami Bhagwandas 

On Monday last it was exactly 25 years that Swami BhagwandasJi departed this earth. Most of those who knew him during his earthly journey no doubt have the souvenir of a compassionate mystic who spent almost every minute of his life improving the lot of his fellow human beings. 

Swami Bhagwandas (29 Ap 29 – 4 Aug 08) who was originally from Surinam was the first Mauritian to have achieved the status of a Sanyasi. Upon his return to Mauritius, he dedicated himself to spreading the ideals of revered Satguru Kabir. The latter was the great Indian mystic Kabir who made his earthly appearance some 610 years before. To understand the earthly mission of Swamiji, it is important to briefly reflect on the life of Satguru Kabir. This saint devoted most of his life to breaking the pathologies associated with religion namely casteism and communalism. He had to take a stance against those who ‘missed the spirit’ and were literally in the business of dividing people. During the times of Kabir, religion in India was taught mainly through Sanskrit. The down-to-earth Kabir quickly realized that the masses knew little of this language. This led him to exhort the masses to adhere to good conduct and practise simple rituals like Satsang and mantras. He preached a philosophy of a formless God inclined towards the Atma or immortal soul.

Swami BhagwandasJi did his best to promote these practices in Mauritius as from his return from India in the early sixties. He was first and foremost a discrete man who shunned the glare of publicity and moral exhibitionism. In many ways he was a silent saint. The Kabir Mandir of Vacoas literally became a hub where Mauritians of different faiths and social classes would go regularly to encounter God. Swamiji was friend to all and the word barrier did not exist in his vocabulary.

Whether one were a VIP or a common citizen, he or she would be treated in the same way. Hundreds of people would flock to him in their quest to mend their destiny and solve their problems. He would always distil loving and sober advice like ‘Faire ou mantra tranquillement, tout pou correct.’ Based on my own personal experience, I will not hesitate to say that Swamiji in lots of ways helped people mend their lives. Many people through their devotion overcame many kinds of distressing problems; you name it, he had a solution for it – be it financial, educational, family or whatever.

Those close to Swamiji also fondly remember his friendship to two great religious figures of his times: Swami Venkatesenanda and Jugdish Pundit. The friendship uniting these men was something elevating to witness. They did not hesitate to share their ideas and philosophies with one common aim in mind: the betterment of Mauritians. Through a sad twist of fate these three great souls all departed over a period of eighteen months leaving a vacuum which up to today is hard to fill.

The work of Swami BhagwandasJi is today being followed up in Kabir Mandir by Sisters Premila, Sheela , Basantee and Acharya Gurusharandas . Thanks to their painstaking efforts people are living the ideals of Swamiji daily and many make it a point not to miss the monthly puja.
Swami BhagwandasJi is no longer with us but his loving memory lives on.   

ARJUN