Points
To Ponder
May
Day Antics
A
First Point: What have we
understood and learnt from the 1st of May
meetings of the various political parties? The Social
Alliance says that it has managed the economy well and it
has been possible for the country to attract huge foreign
direct investments. The MMM boasts that it is the strongest
political party of the country, but maybe not as strong as
it was on the eve of the last general election, simply
because the MSM was then its ally. The MSM says that people
must wait till September and then see what Sir Anerood
Jugnauth can do for the party.
The Social Alliance has defended its
performance in government to start with, and as a side dish,
it has hit hard at the MMM, the main opposition party. It is
fully satisfied with the attendance at its meeting as well
as with the enthusiasm shown by the people. Have the leaders
been saying that they are fully satisfied merely as an
exercise of political propaganda or have they been really
satisfied? It seems that they have really been satisfied.
The reason seems to be that though the country is going
through some very difficult times, yet the Social Alliance
could attract such a huge and enthusiastic crowd. It is
a fact that political commentators were not expecting that
such a big crowd would attend the party’s meeting.
The
Social Alliance is made up
of the Labour Party, the PMXD, the party of Rama Valayden
and the party of Anil Baichoo. They openly participated in
both organising the meeting and actually taking part in it.
The
MMM conducted its meeting on the supposed shortcomings of the
Social Alliance and on the
Alliance itself. I wonder what would have been the theme of
the meeting of the MMM if there would have been no Social
Alliance. The MMM also is
satisfied with the attendance at its meeting. I know some
people said openly that they were at the meeting of the MMM
before moving on to that of Jocelyn Grégoire. Before his
meeting, Paul Bérenger was violently critical of Jocelyn Grégoire;
thereafter the same Paul Bérenger was all praise for him.
Is
it that Paul Bérenger has realized, at last, that the
followers of Jocelyn Grégoire are in fact his followers as
well and therefore he cannot antagonize Jocelyn Grégoire?
Have the followers of Paul Bérenger helped Jocelyn Grégoire
and vice-versa? Time will tell. Why has Bérenger had a
change of heart towards Jocelyn Grégoire in such a short
length of time?
The
MMM says that it was alone for the 1st of May
against so many on the other side. But we know that Ashock
Jugnauth, Madun Dulloo, Dinesh Ramjuttun, Raj Dayal and
others helped the MMM and yet they remained behind the
scene. I wonder why? Are they only worthy of working for
Paul Bérenger as his stooge and for the MMM? This reminds
me of a story of a slave and his master. These people will
have to answer to the electorate that has made of them the
politicians that they are or claim to be.
What
is happening to and in the MSM? This party came up with one
new idea, and this concerns the role that Sir Anerood
Jugnauth will play when he will no longer be the President
of the Republic in September next. The MSM gave us the
impression that the meeting was essentially on Sir Anerood
Jugnauth, on what he has done and how people are still
thinking of him as the Prime Minister and especially what
political action he will take in the future. I find this
part of the meeting of the MSM to be against the President
of the Republic and his name should in no circumstance have
been dragged in a public political meeting.
The
MSM should be the first party to know and understand that
the President of the Republic acts in the name of the
country and of all its inhabitants, whatever be their
political conviction. I have always been for a President who
has no affiliation with any political party and I still
believe that Sir Anerood Jugnauth is keeping himself away
from party politics now and will do so in the future. I do
not think that the MSM has had his consent for using his
name at the meeting. Anyway, the MSM is satisfied with the
attendance at its meeting, taking into consideration that
the meeting was held in the centre of Port Louis.
How
many persons each of the respective parties attracted at its
meeting? It is difficult for me to say. But this much I can
say, which is that I am confirmed in my opinion who are the
racists among the journalists.
PM :
Why not Cuttaree, Ganoo, Jeeha, Guness… ?
A
Second Point: Pravind
Jugnauth put at stake his future political career when he
came up with the idea that Paul Bérenger could not aspire
to be the candidate for the post of Prime Minister at the
next general election if they were to fight the election as
an alliance. He had his own reasons for coming to this
conclusion, but we know that this was the main reason for
the break-up of the strong alliance which had, up to that
time, existed between the MSM and the MMM. Ashock Jugnauth
was called by Paul Bérenger and was told that he had the
capacity to be the Prime Minister but since then he is
nowhere to be seen. Was Pravind Jugnauth right to come to
such a conclusion about Paul Bérenger?
We must remember that Pravind Jugnauth was
at one time the main defender of Paul Bérenger outside the
MMM. However, people say that Pravind Jugnauth has been
over-ambitious for his experience and capacity and that his
opinion of Paul Bérenger is clouded by his perverted
opinion.
If
Pravind Jugnauth cannot accept that Paul Bérenger is the
most likely candidate for the post of Prime Minister, let us
consider the views of one or two other persons.
Let
us start with the views of Sylvio Michel, the leader of the
party Les Verts Fraternels. He is of the Creole community
and he was among the first leaders who started defending the
rights of his community in a systematic manner. He is still
doing so, and at the moment with a certain degree of
success.
He
has said that Paul Bérenger cannot be the Prime Minister
for, amongst other reasons, the Hindus are the majority
community and Paul Bérenger is from the smallest group. And
in a democracy, it is but reasonable that the Prime Minister
should come from the majority community. What Sylvio Michel
says makes good political sense.
And
now let us see what Cassam Uteem has to say. He is not a
newcomer in politics. He has had a long political
experience, starting, if I am not mistaken, with the Comite
d’Action Musulman. Then he went over to the MMM. He was
elected as a Member of Parliament on several occasions and
he was called upon to hold a ministerial post. He has always
been very faithful to Paul Bérenger. He then was given the
post of President of the Republic. Because of his sincerity
towards Paul Bérenger when he says that the latter cannot
be the candidate for the post of Prime Minister, we must
understand that he is not talking out of some personal
interest.
He
says that if Paul Bérenger would be the candidate for the
post of Prime Minister at the next general election, the
march of Mauritius towards full nationhood would suffer a
setback. That is, another candidate from the majority
community must be the candidate, according to my reading.
Whatever be the reason, Cassam Uteem says that Paul Bérenger
should not be the candidate for the post of Prime Minister.
We
can say that he would have had more to gain if he were to
say that Paul Bérenger should be the candidate to the post
of Prime Minister. After all, his son is a likely candidate
for the MMM. So many people are voicing the same opinion,
and quite a number of them are sincere followers of Paul Bérenger.
But we know that most politicians prefer to listen to those
who flatter them rather than those who tell them the truth.
Therefore,
in the circumstances, we must ask the question: who would be
the most likely candidate? We have Jayen Cuttaree, Alan
Ganoo, Pradeep Jeeha, Ajay Guness, Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo
and maybe Vijay Makhan from the MMM proper. Then we have
other likely candidates in the persons of Dinesh Ramjuttun,
Madun Dulloo, Raj Dayal, Ashock Jugnauth and certain others
whose names I have forgotten. They are all close to Paul Bérenger,
who can pick and choose anyone he prefers.
But
the most likely candidate would be, other things being
equal, Pravind Jugnauth. Both Pravind Jugnauth and Paul Bérenger
made a good team whilst they were in government. They say
that they performed well in their job and when there was no
job for them, they fell out. The reason is simple: Pravind
Jugnauth voiced his view that Paul Bérenger could not be
the candidate for the post of Prime Minister, and that he,
Pravind Jugnauth himself, should be the alliance’s nominee
for the job, implying that Paul Bérenger would become his
junior. This was anathema to the MMM and to Paul Bérenger
as well.
Now
that the idea that Paul Bérenger
cannot aspire to become the next Prime Minister is gaining
ground, the chances of Pravind Jugnauth’s being the next
MMM-MSM prime ministerial candidate are getting better and
better. Is this not what Pravind Jugnauth always wanted?
Well, let us wait for events to unfold in front of our eyes.
Only then can we be sure.
Food
Crisis: What is the govt doing about it ?
A
Third Point: Believe me,
the outcome of the next general election would depend
essentially on the availability of rice, flour, vegetables
and other items of food crops at a reasonable price. People
on the lowest rung of the economic ladder must feel that
they are getting their articles of daily consumption at a
price that they can afford to pay.
Government says that planters should be
encouraged to grow all the vegetables that we need. This is
a worthwhile policy, but we must remember that our land
resources are limited. At the moment, the price of sugar is
such that the growing of sugar cane does not encourage the
planters to continue with this cultivation. Being given the
importance of sugar cane in the bio-fuel sector, it will not
be surprising that its price will follow that of petrol
though not to that extent. We should be prepared for that.
The
acidity level of our sugar cane lands is, I have been told,
very high and in the circumstances, the lands cannot be
profitably cultivated with vegetables. Of course we do have
other lands than the sugar cane lands to grow our vegetables
on but government must be careful how our lands are going to
be used. What I am trying to say is that the local lands
cannot, by any stretch of our imagination, be a panacea to
all our food problems.
We
are expecting some very serious problems with our rice
supply. India is not interested in exporting any type of
rice, but more so the Basmati variety;, the same situation
also prevails in Pakistan. These countries must satisfy the
demands of their citizens first, and this is a reasonable
policy. What are we going to do then? We know that the price
of rice has gone up by between 50% to a 100% over a period
of twelve months.
We
cannot grow all the rice that we need on lands available
here, nor are all our lands suitable for the cultivation of
rice. At the same time, we must consider that the big
producers of rice like Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and
maybe Thailand have decided to form a cartel for fixing the
price of rice on the international market and they want to
have more control on rice trade. This group would be called
the Organisation of Rice Exporting Countries, that is the
OREC, and it will function like the notorious OPEC, the
petrol cartel. Would the price of rice rise up on the same
percentage as petroleum products?
The
price of flour has seen a tremendous rise during the past
one year and we shall be satisfied if we can buy this
commodity even at this high price from our traditional
suppliers. We must remember that we have no lands to grow
wheat either and that for this commodity also we must depend
on our neighbouring countries.
We
must seriously think of producing our own rice as well as
our own flour. And as we cannot do it in Mauritius we must
perforce depend either on Madagascar or Mozambique or other
countries on the African mainland. And this will be to our
advantage as well as to the advantage of the country putting
at our disposal the land that we shall be needing.
Government must be fully involved in the
project, as also the private sector. Other persons who would
show some interest to join in should be welcomed. Mauritians
must be told on a regular basis what is being done, because
everybody is concerned about their food. When they are told
what is being done, they feel that they are part of the
process.
In
the meantime what measures can government take?
I.
Have a greater acreage of land involved under food
production.
II.
Increase the number of persons involved in food crop
growing.
III.
Do away with all duties on imported food items.
IV.
Give incentives and support to persons involved in food crop
growing.
V.
Try to find out if we can grow other than the traditional
crops normally grown here, I am thinking of soya beans,
butter beans, cape beans and such crops. They can be of use
to us and I am sure we can have a ready market for these
items in other countries.
In
so far as I am concerned, government is taking too long to
get the machinery moving, the population does not yet feel
involved and the next election will be held in about two
years, which is just round the corner. I am telling the
politicians to mind what they are doing or not doing.
LEX
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