Sense of Direction

Mauritius Times – 71 Years

Editorial

The time will soon come when our growing population asks if new police stations, posh offices, or civil servant housing can truly feed an empty stomach or ease a burdened mind

Within ten days, the Legislative Council will resume its activities. The hitherto drab political atmosphere will be greatly enlivened by the cut and thrust of the Council’s debates. But not only by that. The coming session bids fair to become the most crucial stage of the present Government, which is regarded by both sides of the House as the precursor to a cabinet system of government. During this session, it is expected that Government will unfold its reconstruction plan; discuss and adopt or reject the Titmuss and Meade Reports; consider the findings of Mr Ringadoo’s delegation; and last but not least, discuss and adapt or reject the revised Five-Year Plan. It is precisely in connection with the Five-Year Plan that the Council’s decision will prove most critical.

On previous occasions, we have drawn attention to what we consider the lack of a sense direction in the plan. We do not rule out the plan as worthless nor do we think like the Opposition, that the Plan should be thrown overboard. There is much good in it, but it is inadequate. Because for obvious reasons it cannot even contemplate controlling the rise in population, it becomes more of a palliative than anything else: by the time the plan is completed, no one will be able to tell us by how much the standard of living will have increased. Furthermore, the list of priorities has not been properly drawn — or to be precise, it has been wrongly drawn.

In an economy like ours, walled in by both natural as well as man-made difficulties, can we decently give priority to building of police stations, quarters for government officers and the sewerage scheme? Of necessity, all our eggs remain in one basket: the sugar industry. Since it is no news to our planners that Mauritius as a country is at the mercy of cyclones, don’t they think that it is unrealistic to freeze millions of rupees in cement? Planning is a continuous process, which must be delicately sustained, and above everything, its continuity must be kept. Therefore, we must have a sense of direction. We must know what we want, and our planning must be geared so as to enable us to satisfy our needs over a period of years. This is planning.

Mr Wilson before he left and Dr Ramgoolam after his return from London have both said that the Five-Year Plan, which is half way through, would be amended in light of the circumstances created by the cyclones. In what respect will the plan be modified? The only thing we know is that housing will be given a larger share. But what kind of housing? And what about the other items of the plan? Let us try to answer these two vital questions.

It is agreed that housing must be given pride of place in the Government’s thinking if it is at all felt desirable to insure the population against future cyclones. But we fail to understand why at this critical juncture in our history we should spend hundreds of thousands of rupees on building quarters for government officers. General Notice No. 960 of 1960 published in the Government Gazette of Saturday last says that “tenders will be received for the construction of fifteen houses together with garages, drainage, site works, services, access roads and ancillary works at Moka (Houses for Government Officers).” What is all this nonsense? This is but one isolated illustration of misspending. Examples like this are legion. Rs 204,000 were spent to build a new sanitary office in Vacoas. And you must see the garage at that sanitary office — it is better, far better than the houses of thousands of people.

Next, the plan must be so revised that we can reduce our dependence upon imported goods. The plan is perfunctory about prospects of increasing our milk and fish production. The promotion of local foodstuffs seems to have been left out completely. This is just inconceivable especially when one considers that all the major countries where planning is well understood and where common sense and pragmatism reign supreme, production of foodstuffs is given top priority. Another pointer to our lack of effective planning is the fact that we have spent, during the last three years, about Rs 22,000,000 in compensation to planters of the North only who have suffered from droughts. With half that amount a reservoir could have been built to capture the waters now being wasted in the sea.

We therefore feel that as the plan is being revised the opportunity could be availed of to give a sense of purpose to our planning. Mr Boolell must claim the Iion’s share of the huge amounts voted for the plan for his ministry. Then and only then shall we be able to look into the future with hope and confidence. Otherwise, the time is not far away when our swelling population will wonder whether new police stations, posh sanitary offices or civil servants quarters can help to soothe an empty stomach and a burdened mind.

7th Year – No 318
Friday 30th September, 1960

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 3 October 2025