{"id":998,"date":"2011-05-13T14:51:25","date_gmt":"2011-05-13T14:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/2011\/05\/13\/krj-yash-38\/"},"modified":"2020-03-22T16:59:42","modified_gmt":"2020-03-22T12:59:42","slug":"krj-yash-38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/krj-yash-38\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00ab\u00a0Bat\u00e9 rend\u00e9 pa fer dimal\u00a0\u00bb"},"content":{"rendered":"

By KRJ Yash<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ce qui compte <\/span><\/span><\/em>vraiment\u2026 <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Premi\u00e8rement<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

J\u2019ai finalement compris pourquoi le Premier ministre s\u2019\u00e9nervait tant apr\u00e8s certains journalistes, et aujourd\u2019hui je suis s\u00fbr que Paul B\u00e9renger partage le m\u00eame avis. Je m\u2019explique. Lors de son discours du 1er Mai, Paul B\u00e9renger s\u2019est \u00e9vertu\u00e9 \u00e0 critiquer pendant des dizaines de minutes le gouvernement sur tout et n\u2019importe quoi.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Vers la fin de son discours, en 30 secondes, il a simplement fait un rappel de la position de son parti concernant la r\u00e9forme constitutionnelle et la r\u00e9forme \u00e9lectorale. Cette position de B\u00e9renger, je le pr\u00e9cise pour certains \u00e9ditorialistes attard\u00e9s, est la m\u00eame depuis des lustres\u00a0: le MMM est toujours ouvert \u00e0 toute discussion visant \u00e0 consolider la d\u00e9mocratie.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Or voil\u00e0 que les oursins commencent \u00e0 piquer l\u2019arri\u00e8re train de certains journalistes, ils montent sur leurs grands chevaux dans un fran\u00e7ais approximatif et d\u00e9duisent du discours de Paul B\u00e9renger qu\u2019il est en train de mendier une alliance avec les travaillistes\u00a0!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Il y a vraiment de quoi se mettre en rogne. Imaginez-vous \u00e0 la place de Paul B\u00e9renger, vous \u00eates un chef de parti, un aspirant Premier ministre, vous devez motiver vos soldats pour qu\u2019ils aillent au combat en toute confiance dans une victoire prochaine. Vous faites un discours fleuve d\u00e9non\u00e7ant les d\u00e9rives du pouvoir en place, vous vous montrez m\u00eame un fervent combattant pour plus de d\u00e9mocratie participative, mais voil\u00e0, cela ne convient pas \u00e0 certains journalistes, se croyant dot\u00e9s de facult\u00e9s d\u2019analyses sup\u00e9rieures. Ces journalistes d\u00e9cident de comprendre, que vous n\u2019avez pas foi en vos collaborateurs, ni en vos soldats et encore moins dans votre \u00e9lectorat pour une victoire. Ces journalistes pensent que vous mentez \u00e0 tout le monde, y compris \u00e0 vous-m\u00eame, que vous n\u2019avez aucune conviction, que vous \u00eates foutu et que vous \u00eates condamn\u00e9 \u00e0 mendier une alliance avec le Premier ministre pour gouverner ce pays. Bref que vous \u00eates incapable d\u2019y arriver par vous-m\u00eame. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Voil\u00e0 comment des journalistes arrivent \u00e0 discr\u00e9diter le travail honn\u00eate que fait un l<\/span>eader de l\u2019o<\/span>pposition pour reconqu\u00e9rir le pouvoir. Tous les efforts de Paul B\u00e9renger tombent \u00e0 l\u2019eau et les sp\u00e9culations d\u2019une alliance avec le Parti travailliste att\u00e9nuent l\u2019action des militants, rendant leurs critiques timides.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Maintenant imaginez que vous \u00eates un Premier ministre qui se d\u00e9m\u00e8ne pour faire avancer le pays. Vous n\u2019\u00e9pargnez aucun effort pour attirer les investisseurs \u00e9trangers, vous vous battez contre l\u2019injustice pour d\u00e9mocratiser l\u2019\u00e9conomie et vous favorisez l\u2019unit\u00e9 nationale. Mais qu\u2019\u00e0 c\u00f4t\u00e9 de tout cela il y ait des journalistes qui passent leur temps \u00e0 analyser toute votre action \u00e0 travers le prisme de je-ne-sais-quoi\u2026 Leur but \u00e9tant juste de ternir votre action ou de casser le mouvement de la machine en marche. Alors je vous le demande, combien de temps pourrez-vous vous retenir avant de balancer quelques v\u00e9rit\u00e9s sur ces journalistes \u00ab\u00a0savants\u00a0\u00bb en public\u00a0?<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Deuxi\u00e8mement<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Pricing the priceless<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We all know water is priceless. Then, why is there a price attached to water? My understanding is that we pay the Water Resources Unit (WRU) for the administration of water resources and the Central Water Authority (CWA) for the treatment and distribution of potable water for domestic, commercial and industrial usage. In brief, we pay for the infrastructure in place to bring potable water to our homes\/industries. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On World Water Day earlier this year, we were told that the price of water will go up in Mauritius. Perhaps, in today\u2019s materialistic world we need a price tag on everything that has to be valued. A rise in price will undoubtedly contribute to people using water more efficiently. In fact, we were told that the increase in price is inevitable as the infrastructure in place has to be upgraded. As at today, one cubic meter of potable water is sold \u201cnearly\u201d at the same rate as a litre of bottled water! One cubic metre equals 1000 litres. It is unacceptable for providers of bottled water in Mauritius to make such a huge margin! Water tariffs in Mauritius have to be reviewed upwards \u2013 potable water cannot be used to flush toilets, to wash the cars or to water the plants…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Lately, there have been lots of criticisms in the press on the management of water resources in the country. Indeed, the authorities have not been proactive in efficiently managing this scarce resource. I am sure the WRU and the CWA employ qualified people who have been given ample training to perform their job efficiently. Why is it that we need to have recourse to foreign expertise (at additional costs)? Do we have the right man in the right place? What about those who take decisions, do they talk to each other? Does the number one talk to the number two or they just ignore each other? Do those at the top possess the necessary qualifications? Water specialists are needed to manage water resources; electrical or mechanical engineers may not necessarily possess the right profile for the job\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe CWA operates under the aegis of the Ministry of Energy and Public Utilities. It is provided in the CWA Act that the Minister appoints the Chairman of the Board and the General Manager on terms and conditions that he may think fit. He also approves the yearly estimates of income and expenditure. In relation to the exercise of the powers of the Authority, the Minister may give directions to the Authority, as he considers necessary in the public interest to which the CWA has to comply.\u201d (Source: CWA website)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

From the above, this gives the impression that the law has given too much leeway to the Minister of Energy and Public Utilities to decide on the running of the CWA. The minimum the Mauritian population can expect from the concerned authorities is that it they deliver the services they are being paid for. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

* Published in print edition on 13 May 2011<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By KRJ Yash<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":300,"featured_media":6560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25],"tags":[14458,6236,22174,814,49,9120,22719],"class_list":["post-998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-1er-mai","tag-central-water-authority","tag-krj-yash","tag-mmm","tag-paul-berenger","tag-water-resources-unit","tag-world-water-day"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/MT-Logokk.jpg?fit=1200%2C880&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8QzSF-g6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}