Politicians’ Private Lives

Editorial

The talk of the town this week relates to the affairs a senior politician in office is alleged to be having with several young women. This came out in the public following an allegation made by an opposition politician at the beginning of this week. The Mauritian press, which generally is not inclined to reporting or commenting on the private lives of public men – except for the unusual coverage of some papers of the private activities whilst in office of the former Prime Minister — has so far stayed away from this matter. However, it has been overtaken by social media platforms, which have today emerged as a more powerful communication medium than traditional media due to its ease of access and its reach. The recent posts with salacious content, including pictures of the young women, meant to shame the senior minister point to the dramatic change that is taking place in the dissemination of information… and trash.

With the Internet having taken over control of information that goes round the world at a mouse’s click, nobody is spared from the prying eyes of the multitudes of voyeurs keen to have a peep into the private lives of public men, especially those activities in which they partake when no one is watching — or so they think. The good name and reputation of all those involved in such affairs, especially the women, get bruised, but that is not a matter of concern – or remorse – for those who take a sadistic pleasure in posting or circulating such stuff.

On the other hand, a recurrent question that has come up for debate time and again in all democratic societies is: does a politician’s private life matter? Tony Blair is reported to have said, ‘Politicians are entitled to private lives the same as anyone else.’ Blair’s opinion does not seem to carry much weight today as only last June British Health Secretary Matt Hancock had to resign following revelations that he broke the government’s own coronavirus restrictions during an affair with a close aide. In the US, many sex scandals have involved politicians, as well as persons appointed with the consent of the Senate. Wikipedia informs us that ‘sometimes, the officials have denied the accusations, have apologized, or have lost their office in consequence of the scandal (e.g. by resigning, being defeated, or deciding not to run again)’.

The French are usually less inclined to criticize or condemn what their leaders do in private. Jean-Marie Charon of the École des hautes études en sciences sociales argues that ‘the respect that French journalists pay to politicians’ private lives, stems from perhaps the French Catholic culture… more forgiving than protestant culture – labelled “puritan” in French public debate.’ Dominique Strauss Kahn, the former head of the IMF, who was arrested and charged with the sexual assault and attempted rape of 32-year-old Nafissatou Diallo, a housekeeper at the Sofitel New York Hotel in May 2011, went on to become a leading candidate in the French presidential election a year later. Despite the Sofitel affair, the French media never reported on the relationships Strauss Kahn had with other women. However, that affair has dented his reputation in France, where he remains in total retreat from the political scene.

We have for long seemed to have adopted the same approach as the French, but the times are changing. With little attention paid nowadays to the political ideologies, if any, and programmes of politicians, it is possible that their character and behaviour whilst in office are what could likely become the focus of the people’s attention and important to them as well. It is also probable that the dissemination of information of a politician’s behaviour in power and his comportment and character in private may already have had a bearing on how people vote if we go by recent elections in Mauritius.

Without being too puritan about this issue, the debate is increasingly about whether, as Nik Antovich of Oregon Daily Emerald puts it, the decisions politicians make in their private lives best reflect the ones they will make while serving in public office. ‘Politicians ask us to entrust them with sweeping powers, and so we have a right to know as much as necessary about their morality. It is a valuable resource voters can use to determine if a person is someone, we want to represent us in office.’ In other words, politicians are not like ‘anyone else’ as argued by Tony Blair. What they do in private and how that impacts their decisions in office is everyone’s business.

Public figures and leaders who infringe the norms of ethics and morality will have themselves to blame if and when they get exposed.

* Published in print edition on 17 December 2021