Labour Government Criticised?

From Our Archives: A Glimpse Into 1960

By Peter Ibotson

From time to time, I receive letters from Mauritians commenting on the political situation in the colony. Most of my correspondents are present or former supporters of the Labour Party; most are trade unionists as well. Some are MLC’s.

It is with the former supporters of the Labour Party that I wish to deal. These former Labour supporters choose to express dissatisfaction with what they call the performance of the Labour Government since last year’s general election. They criticise the achievement of the Government; they criticise individual Ministers and Departments.

Their criticisms are not always couched in polite language. It would be unprofessional if I were to quote directly from any of their letters, which have clearly been written to me in my personal capacity; but the letters deserve comment nonetheless since they are symptomatic of the malaise which the anti-Labour groups have sedulously fostered over the last 18 months.

I am not saying that the Government should not be criticised; constructive criticism is good for any organisation, be it a Government, a Village Council, a political party or a football club committee. What is not good is the destructive vituperation which some people choose to heap upon the Government and Ministers.

One charge often made is that the Government has done too little in the last 18 months and has done it too slowly. Here may I say simply this: If you want to erect a steel and concrete building which will stand the test of time, you first make absolutely sure that the foundations are secure and well-constructed. In London, at the moment, there are several big blocks of offices being erected; right opposite my house a huge multi-storeyed block of flats is going up. The builders of all these blocks spent weeks on the below-ground foundations, to make sure that they would hold up the weighty superstructure due to be erected. So, it is with a government whose task is the fulfilment of development plans designed to diversify the economy and increase the standard of living.

Just as the builder’s preliminary essential spadework results in little visible achievement until such time as he begins to get the building above ground, so there must be in the fulfilment of any economic or social development plan a great deal of preliminary spadework which is essential in order that results may be achieved. The spadework itself does not appear to achieve anything; but it is necessary in order that anything may be achieved. Long-term planning, which is the keynote of the Mauritius Development Plan, begins with a great deal of unspectacular work which apparently achieves nothing. But when the planners have finished their task, then the operators of the plan come into their own; and their fulfilment of the plan is made easier by the planners’ preliminary work.

Those who accuse the Government of being dilatory and of going ahead too slowly are forgetting this. They expect everything to be done in a rush; they do not realise that there is a great deal more to economic development than just saying “Right, we’ll have coffee plantations in this area of Mauritius” and expecting the coffee plantations to spring up overnight.

Land surveys have to be made; the best layout for the proposed plantations must be determined; how to market the coffee and transport it to Port Louis for export — all these and other problems would have to be dealt with before any coffee plantations were undertaken.

So, it is with the art of government. You can make plans and undertake policies. But you have to translate these plans and policies into action. There is the planning stage. There is the stage when the plans are put into operation for the first time — perhaps a pilot plan is begun. People study how the plan is working out. Perhaps in the light of circumstances the plan has to be amended or altered in some respect (this stage can be equated with manuring or weeding the young canes). But after the initial stages, which appear to be barren of results, the plan is brought to fruition.

What the Government has undertaken, and is undertaking, is the development of Mauritius in the light of prevailing economic, social and demographic circumstances. This development cannot be undertaken overnight; in order to be securely-based, it needs an enormous amount of preliminary planning and organisation. The time taken up by this essential planning and organisation is not time wasted; on the contrary it is time well spent since it ensures that the available resources are deployed in the best, the most economic, manner. Far from doing too little too slowly, the Government has in the last months been by its planning ensuring that the task of development proceeds smoothly, and more rapidly and with more lasting effect, than if it had been undertaken piecemeal and unplanned.

In expressing impatience with the rate of visible achievement of the Government, my correspondents have shown that they do not realise the complexity of the task of development confronting the Government — a task not lightened by the effect of tragic cyclones. The Government could, if it wished, undertake measures of development which could show rapid, but not lasting, results; by so doing it would no doubt receive meretricious kudos and praise from those (such as my correspondents) who are impatient for short-term results with no heed for the long-term. The development of Mauritius is a long-term task, and it is a task which only a government imbued with the spirit of Socialism can be trusted to carry out. It is to the credit of the Labour-CAM Government that it has resolutely refused to undertake mere palliative measures which would only scratch the surface without making any real, lasting contribution to the island’s development. Instead, the Government has set about the long-term task of deep-rooted ameliorative development, regardless of the fact that by so doing it is losing the support of short-sighted adherents whose only concern is for immediate results regardless of the long-term consequences.

To those people who write to me criticising the Government for lack of results, I say “Have patience”. It is early days yet; time will show that the foundations of prosperity are being well and truly laid by the present Government. The lack of immediately visible results may be losing the Government some popularity but in a few years’ time the laugh will be on the other side of their face. The correctness of the Government’s policy of long-term planning will most certainly be amply demonstrated, and the ill-advised critics will be shown to have been suffering from political myopia. Patience, and faith in the Government — these are prerequisites for the Labour and Moslem Action Committee supporters nowadays.

Labour believes in Mauritius; and the right road for Mauritius is Labour’s road. Those who impatiently clamour for short-term results, for expediency as opposed to justice, are hindering the journey along that road; the journey to social and economic emancipation. They are playing the reactionaries’ game; they are playing the foul and vile game of the Destroyers; they are putting self-interest above community welfare; they are falling prey to that terrible foe rajas (all-consuming greed) and are failing to realise that service before self characterises the true socialist, that long-term results built on a sure foundation are more important to a country’s development and welfare than quick and easy results built on insecure foundations. It is easier to build a house on sand than on rock, but the house built on rock will stand up longer and better.

My correspondents who are dissatisfied with the Government evidently want a house built on sand. The Government wants a house built on rock. Who is right? Obviously, the Government, so to my correspondents, and to others who feel as they do but haven’t written to me, all I say is just this: Have patience and trust your government. Don’t withdraw your support from the Labour Party for the reasons you have given me: such reasons are frivolous and myopic. Work for the Party, and with the Party, and in the Party, and so help to play your part in ensuring the future of Mauritius by keeping the Labour Party in power.

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 5 December 2025