<B>Goodbye to a symbolic figure of the tourist sector!</B>

Patrick Leal, the manager of Mauritours, died last Wednesday in South Africa. He was there for treatment for medical complications but he did not survive surgery. As manager of one of the major inbound tourism companies of Mauritius, he contributed a lot to the tourist sector during his career. Profits from Mauritours have allowed him to invest on a regional level. In Rodrigues first where he opened three hotels, Les Cocotiers, Le Tamaris and Pointe Venus. Then, he also opened a branch in Madagascar, Tropic Tours and Travel. The government decorated him with the Grand Officer of the Order of the star and key of the Indian Ocean.

<B>No real consensus over MRA bill</B>

The Mauritius Revenue Authority Bill will be debated in Parliament today although trade unions are still reluctant about this new authority. Section 28 has been subject to more changes. There are now three different categories of staff and recruitment will be done in a different way for each of them. The top management, including 50 executives, will be employed on a contractual basis and will be on probation for one year. They will not be subject to automatic transfer. The middle management will not have to go through automatic transfer either. They will not be submitted to any contract nor will be on probation. Recruits will join the MRA like other members of the staff. The latter will be employed on a permanent basis and will not be on probation. Although trade unions recognise that the government has made some progress on the issue, they are still not satisfied with the MRA bill as it was proposed by the deputy prime minister and minister of Finance, Pravind Jugnauth. “The minister does not tackle the whole problem. He uses tricks to try and divide civil servants. There are still many questions pending on the issue,” Tulsiraj Benydin, the president of the federation of civil servants, says.