The Year Gone By (Almost…)

By Jan Arden

Undoubtedly, the overarching feature of the year 2024 was the political upheaval and rout of the MSM and its allies in another historic 60-0 outcome in the last general elections. Much of the year’s headlines were therefore concerned with the intricacies and minutiae on the political front. Elections by year-end were conducted under the most unusual of conditions, with thousands of volunteers spending sleepless nights manning voting and counting centres to prevent any bis-repetita of 2019, which was widely suspected of unexplained bizarreries (deletion of some 8,000 citizens from electoral rolls, laughable T-square explanations, computer room opacity, migrating forms or private transport lorries for voter bulletins, among others).

Hard lessons had obviously been drawn, and the results were as clear-cut as could be. But we will not spend more space on the “Boot them out” phenomenon that overrode all ethnic, clannic, and rural/urban divides to hand the Alliance for Change, headed by former PM Navin Ramgoolam, the massive challenges of redressing what is now evident: a burnt-out economy running on illusory monies, fabricated statistics, and mountainous public debts. A reminder of the Greek disaster.

Some may recall that the Greek debt crisis had its origins in the fiscal profligacy of successive governments, the two main parties outdoing each other in lavish, generous, and wasteful social spending the country could not afford and hiding the real figures from EU or international watchdogs. In 2009, a new Greek government led by Papandreou’s son George had to reveal that the real fiscal deficit was 12.7%, more than twice the previously disclosed figure. Public debt had ballooned from about 100% of GDP in 2000 (already abnormally high) to the astronomical figure of 160% in 2023 and could not be camouflaged. The country was nearing bankruptcy, and the government was forced to seek a very painful and brutal bailout from international lenders. Greeks had to live with stiff austerity measures for nearly a decade, and it might take another decade to bring fiscal responsibility back as a core value.

The non-camouflaged figures of our far tinier economy are not as dramatic as Greece’s, but our resources are far more constrained, and the declining trend of our manufacturing exports remains a worrying prospect. Obviously, they have repercussions on the incoming government’s ability to fully respect campaign promises made before the fraudulent figures were uncovered. In retrospect, it was rather sickening to listen to a former Leader of the Opposition, past Minister of Finance, and an “expert-comptable” to boot, switching sides and pushing the 14th-month promise into the ears of an increasingly desperate Pravind Jugnauth. Such disregard for his countrymen warrants a timely and peaceful step away from responsible politics.

Before moving on, we cannot obfuscate some aspects that should give every political leader pause. If the charges of fake and fabricated figures have substance and have even been used trustingly by international watchdog institutions, the population expects that the drivers of such shocking irresponsibility, and any conspiracy from higher cadres or higher levels, be seriously taken to task before judiciary authorities.

On the other hand, given the extent of financial malpractices across the board, can and should the government or individual ministers be bogged down in chasing the presumed offenders? Should the task rather be delegated to a special investigation cell, aided by international financial specialists, and whose recommendations can be vetted by the ODPP? Pending legislation for the proposed Serious Fraud Office, which may partly answer those prayers, and a Fiscal Responsibility Act that might go some way to prevent future recurrence of irresponsibility at levels which have brought the country’s economy to its knees and campaign pledges that could ruin it further.

Past Singaporean PM Lee Kuan Yew once stated to his countrymen that an isolated island economy with no natural resources could not perform exceptionally well without being at risk of some demagogue who says “let us now distribute the savings and earnings of several generations.” This “freebies” approach is a cancer that’s hard to beat in India, where the exceptional resilience of India Inc. is ever at risk of regional opposition satraps offering free water, free electricity, or free transport to womenfolk, not to mention a variety of allowances, even to unborn children.

Fortunately, the Indian citizenry and its lively media have not given Congress or the AAP lasting mileage with the freebies approach as a cornerstone of political philosophy. By and large, and at the risk of being sweepingly simplistic, industrious people in India or elsewhere do not claim handouts or mendicity but seek more opportunities to grow, expand, invest, develop their talents and skills, and contribute to the national development story — legitimately, with transparent institutional support, and not by hook and crook, belonging to the right clan, or by wearing the right colour t-shirt. That was the gist of a forceful Joanna Berenger clarion call on the campaign trail and should indeed be the governing alliance’s or any future political alliance’s pledge.Read More… Become a Subscriber

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 20 December 2024