{"id":29590,"date":"2020-12-01T07:36:44","date_gmt":"2020-12-01T03:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/?p=29590"},"modified":"2020-12-01T07:36:44","modified_gmt":"2020-12-01T03:36:44","slug":"attending-to-burning-national-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/attending-to-burning-national-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Attending to Burning National Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editorial<\/span><\/p>\n

All over the world, common to all elected governments is that by the time they are in mid-term, their popularity dips in the polls. What happens next is that, since they cannot yet be voted out, the people express their frustration or anger when local or regional elections are held by voting for the opposition parties. The reason is simple: the ruling party is labouring to fulfil the promises that were part of the rhetoric at election time, and with only so much time remaining to complete the mandate, the people realise that all<\/em> their expectations are unlikely to be met.<\/span><\/p>\n

While it is a fact that citizens have some legitimate expectations, campaigning politicians add some more of their own to the citizens\u2019 basket, which has an enhancing effect on their existing ones. And then the onus is on the incoming government to give effect to what has been promised, since it remains the \u2018indispensable conduit of access to such state resources as taxation revenues, law-making powers and policing\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

In December 2014 we Mauritians decided to change from one political alliance to another, on the assumption that it was a shift to another kind of politics, implying an alternative, better way of doing things and of running the affairs of State for the benefit of its citizens. Initially, actions taken that were loudly and widely publicised gave the general impression that this in fact was the case. And we were confident enough that the same mindset would be sustained throughout the mandate. We had seen how in the past every incoming regime swept with a new broom, only for the old ways to surreptitiously make a comeback again \u2013 but surely, we told ourselves, this time it would be different?<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether it is savvy spin-doctoring or people\u2019s perception that things had changed for the better, the outgoing regime was re-elected in November 2019. Beefed up, it promised even more goodies, encountered head-on (as all other countries did too) the unfolding Covid-19 pandemic, and gained what it could claim as a measure of success in its control.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then the worms started crawling out of the woodwork with procurement and other scandals being exposed. The latest is the Angus Road saga which seems to be so polarizing attention that the government risks being paralysed as regards more pressing national issues, and it is time that they became the focus of concern and action by government, and by civil society too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Citizens require some assurance from both the public and private sectors, and civil society too on several counts, amongst others:<\/span><\/p>\n