At the National Assembly a few weeks ago, the prime minister treated the parliamentary opposition as hypocrites, saying that when they were in Government they were in the pockets of the sugar barons. ?II (Paul Bérenger) s'est déclaré révolté par l'hypocrisie de l'opposition qui était dans les poches des barons sucriers jusqu?à aller danser ensemble à Albion?(Week-end, 29 August).

I think the prime minister is quite right in saying so, as this has indeed been the case for all governments since and even before the accession of the country to independence. But never has any government done so much in so short a space of time exclusively for the benefit of a small number of people, including the sugar industry, to the detriment of the masses and the country as a whole as this present one has ! Since the Budget Speech we have been subjected to all sorts of eulogies for Pravind and his supposedly ?budget social?. In reality it is as much a ?budget social? as Ronald Reagan was a communist.

Most of our legislations these days seem to be drafted not at Government House but at other places such as the Place d?Armes and this budget does not seem to be an exception.

This budget, just like others before, serves solely the interest of the sugar barons, (to use the prime minister?s terminology), and their agents, without any concern for the interest of the country and its people. At the moment, the main preoccupation of the sugar industry is to amass as much money as possible to go and invest in the newly discovered Eldorado of Madagascar and Mozambique and this budget reflects just that. The other preoccupation of the sugar industry at the moment is to complete the derocking of the maximum of land in Mauritius for full mechanisation, so that the industry runs by automation and thus get rid of most of its employees, in order to concentrate on the new horizon.

The sugar industry and our various governments, when negotiating for grants and soft loans, always put forward as the beneficiaries the small sugar cane ?farmers? as they call them in grant application forms, but when they receive the grants, all of it goes directly to Plantation House. This seems to be the case for Grants obtained from the European Fund for derocking purposes, which amounted to well over Rs 77m for grants alone. The small sugar cane ?farmers? (petits planteurs) had to pay to get their land derocked while the sugar industry used the grants for themselves and on top of that obtained loans taken and paid for by government, with the compliments of taxpayers, to do that job ! They, who do not appear to pay any corporate taxes ? most of the sugar factories seem to be declaring losses year on year in spite of extremely generous preferential treatment accorded by the EU over the last few decades.

?Abracadabra?

Having had all sorts of machinery free of charge to do the job, they just get on with it ? Only problem? what do you do with the rocks that you derock ! Yes, ok, the ?concasseuses? get the job to turn rocks into rock-sand, concrete blocks, aggregate, but there is a limit to the amount they can take and stock? they need to sell these!

Well, do not take my word for it, this is in substance what Bernard d?Arifat, field manager at Medine Sugar Estate said at the symposium organised by the Chamber of Agriculture to celebrate its 150th Anniversary : ?L?épierrage peut seulement se faire en fonction de la demande pour les roches, et ceci dépend de la demande pour la construction dans le pays.?

We also know that the various governments are also over enthusiastic when it comes to construction work since it provides a real manna to those building contractors who flock around politicians and it is a good source of commissions.

Now that you know the background, let us have a look at this budget. Well it budgets a deficit of over Rs 9 bn. For 2004-5? and guess why this budget deficit ! Yes, on capital investments alone ? building constructions here, there and everywhere !

Cooperative House, 5 agricultural centres, Government offices, Police District HQ, New Supreme Court Building, multi-purpose complex, creativity centre, youth centre, upgrading of 13 employment information centres, etc.

Notwithstanding what they had previously announced, such as 33 new social centres on top of the existing community centres!

But two budget items stand out ? first is school construction and the other is road construction.

Let us take school first : this is what our prime minister said in his 2003-4 Budget Speech : ?Over the last two years alone, capital expenditure on education reached a staggering figure of Rs 1.7 billion. In all, 33 additional State Secondary Schools have become operational through new construction, conversion or upgrading, while intake in Form I in public schools has more than doubled to reach 7 700. Never in living memory has so much been achieved in such a short time?.

Quite right too ! In that same budget just after saying the above, he went on to say : ?I am allocating Rs 720 million for completion of 13 State Secondary Schools (SSS), including two of MGI type, and for construction of six new SSS and one Form Six College?.

Well, at a time, when we have a massive budget deficit and indebted, you would have thought that we were done with schools construction, especially since the Prime Minister himself in that budget recognised the danger of having a massive debt such as we have.If you did think that, you were mistaken ! Here comes our Deputy PM with more schools.

?I am, therefore, providing Rs 40 million for the construction of two new State Secondary Schools at Vacoas and Plaine Verte. I am also allocating Rs 80 million for the completion of the second phase of five new secondary schools, two at Ebène and one each at Hollyrood, Colline Monneron and Rivière des Anguilles. Finally, Rs 480 million are earmarked for the completion of 17 State Secondary Schools, three of which are of the MGI type and four Form VI Colleges?.

New buildings to pull down

Where the heck will they get children to put in those schools and please do not use the argument that because education will become compulsory ? it just does not wash!

In a few years time we will have so many unutilised concrete buildings on this island that the building and construction industry would this time be given grants to buy demolition machinery to pull them down !

Now, with regards to the road construction ? well, if you recall this is what our prime minister said in 2002-3 budget, ?Government is committed to finding a long-term solution to the problem of traffic congestion and make public transport more congenial. Government has retained the Light Rail Transit (LRT) system as the preferred option for the alternative mode of transport along the Curepipe ? Port Louis corridor. A multi-criteria analysis has been undertaken which confirms the LRT option. The next step is to carry out a full feasibility study?.

Then in his 2003-4 budget he said, ?We have examined carefully various alternatives to resolve the traffic problem on the Port Louis ? Curepipe corridor. The Light Rail Transport (LTF) option is on the way of being confirmed? Traffic congestion has for too long imposed unnecessary costs on the economy in general and businesses in particular. We are determined to address this problem headlong. A detailed feasibility study will be carried out to confirm the LRT option?.

Then, comes our Deputy PM in his 2004-5 budget with? more road constructions ? but adds : ?The LRT project remains a solution for traffic decongestion in the long term. I am providing Rs 20 million for detailed studies on that project.?

Yes, more studies costing millions, I hear you say ! Not before having warned us, thus ?We have a choice to make between a quick solution that will put an unbearable burden on taxpayers and a measured and responsible phasing of solutions. We cannot but choose the latter. This means that we will continue with the more affordable option of expanding the road network to divert traffic from congested areas?.

Well, to be honest the most plausible explanation for the extensive road construction while waiting for the LRT is simple : find a way to make use of those rocks that some are turning into gold, which in turn soon be finding its way to Madagascar and Mozambique, while the country would be sitting on a massive debt and a lot of concrete for coming years.

One other thing that stands out in this budget to which no one has paid much attention to is the fact that in one swoop, the Minister of Finance has removed a pleasantly situated youth camp site used by many disadvantaged young people and put it into the hands of the private sector ? I am talking of the Pointe Jérôme Youth Camp ! Very ?sociale?.

Its not wonder that our prime minister thought that his Deputy and Minister of Finance deserved ?enn drink apre sa?.