Procurement Murders? Judicial Inquiries and the Search for Truth in Mauritius

Has the rot become systemic and embedded, or can the new CP redress the recklessness that prevailed for too long?

By Jan Arden

Hearings by magistrate Ameerah Dhunnoo at the Souillac court, appointed for a judicial enquiry in the death under suspicious circumstances of Pravin Kanakiah, a public Procurement officer at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, on the 11th of December 2020 at La Roche-qui-Pleure, have ended and her findings and recommendations are awaited both by the family, the DPP and the population at large. As in the case of MSM chief agent Kistnen in the PM’s own constituency, police enquiries rapidly privileged the thesis of a suicide and shelved the file, much to the concern of a group of lawyers who, under the guidance of Rama Valayden, took on the mantle of investigators and became notorious as the Avengers.

The suspicious death of Pravin Kanakiah, a public Procurement Officer, on December 11, 2020, echoes the Kistnen inquiry. In both cases, police investigations swiftly leaned towards a suicide theory. This approach raised concerns among lawyers, leading a group, guided by Senior Counsel Rama Valayden, to step in as independent investigators

In the Kanakia case the testimony of the Chief Police Medical Officer Dr Sudesh Kumar Gungadin, confirmed that the victim was already dead before his body hit the waters and head lacerations would be indicative of a criminal act which police handlers were well placed to handle. Yet, in both cases, police authorities ignored either contrary evidence or inconsistencies in their enquiries and decreed that suicide rather than foul play was the only answer.

Pravin Kanakia was not the only disturbing case of mysterious deaths in various public procurement offices over the coming months, almost all rapidly dismissed as accidental or suicides by police enquiries. The trade union leader Narendranath Gopee in September 2022 raised the alarm: a Procurement Officer at the National Development Unit fell from the Médine Mews in Port-Louis and passed away four days later.  Another at the Ministry of Health passed away after a fall in the Registrar Building.

The latest incident is the suspicious death of a young lady at the Procurement Office of the Ministry of Commerce and Trade. This particular ministry, allied with the Ministry of Health, was at that time pressing for the expeditious treatment of the most unlikely suppliers during the Covid-19 pandemic: hardware importers, spa and massage parlor owners, not forgetting the disastrous saga of ventilators, vaccines, and health supplies like Molnupiravir at ten times market rates.

Even a junior cadet at Scotland Yard might begin wondering if there were invisible strings knotting together the threads of cold-blooded murder in paradise island, especially when Covid-19 emergency supplies became a favored route to jackpots. Where, then, will this judicial inquiry lead? Has the rot become systemic and embedded, or can the new Commissioner of Police redress the recklessness that prevailed for too long?

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Addressing Mauritius’s Employment Disparity

Forty thousand foreign workers and some thirty-five thousand local unemployed or job applicants, the equation looks deceptively simple and though it hides many complexities, has to be addressed. On the one side we need to know better the profiles of our own job seekers: their age, gender and qualification, if any, their region and so on, an exercise which, if it has not been conducted recently, our Human Resources Development Council (HRDC) or one of our Varsities could undertake diligently. It should be comprehensive enough to provide the authorities and in particular the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development with baseline information on their motivations, skills, previous work experience and those elements which could help planners and deciders plan some energetic targeted action over the short-term.

What are their expectations and those of about to be school-leavers, in terms of salaries and career prospects? What would they be willing to sacrifice in order to accept conditions of work in trades other than office clerks: building and construction, hostelry and tourism, handicraft, agro-industry or manufacturing? Have they received enough information on setting up their own micro-enterprise to start on the rocky initial period of establishment, marketing and management or been exposed to difficulties and success stories of start-ups? Answering these and many other questions, along with statistical examination, is crucial for understanding the minds and situations of Mauritians. Many among them might have unfortunately struggled for over ten years, having been induced into dependency on the state as a purveyor of ‘free’ Rs 1,000 notes or other freebies.

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The Weight of the Past: Debt and Disillusionment

Focusing our development trajectory on the sale of luxury properties, while the Mauritius Investment Corporation (MIC) dished out millions, if not billions, to some questionable cronies and political figures, may have trampled the dreams of a whole generation and left the country in the lurch and debt-ridden. No week passes by without the disclosure of yet another scandal concerning the high and mighty of yesteryears, from suitcases jam-packed with cash to the world travels of pumpkins, through overtly rigged political recruitments even for illegal contracts, to princely salaries and travel perks of “jokers in the pack” like the DG of our only anti-corruption agency or the ubiquitous lawyers and accountants swirling around the past politburo.

We understand that the FCC (formerly ICAC), heeding the widespread call for greater diligence, has now launched a substantial recruitment drive for key personnel to assist in its inquiries. While some of these investigations are undoubtedly complex, many are perceived by the public to be moving too slowly, and dozens of others, at the very least, have not even commenced. Every CEO, DG, Chairperson who manned the forts and executed biddings from above should have been already sidelined to make way for fresh energies and visions but, for unknown reasons, many Ministries and State-Owned Enterprises have yet to conform to the demands for “rupture” and renewal.

At a time when the national budget may have to embrace a new tune of responsible financial management, taking into account the legacy of structural deficits and debt interest repayments while charting new pathways of growth, the miseries of the lower classes, the more vulnerable, or those struggling with high costs of living should not be forgotten. Many, while recognizing the calamitous legacy of debt-induced stupor, may have pinned some expectations on rays of hope from ‘Changement’ government rather than confiding the country once more to the faltering sun.

Every budget carries messages and symbolic measures meant to reconnect with employees, the workplace, business operators, marketplaces, the youth, and the elders. There’s no reason to believe this first budget from the Alliance du Changement government, presented by Prime Minister Dr Navin Ramgoolam himself, will be any different, even though the public knows he walks a tightrope.

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 6 June 2025