After the Fisheries minister’s many threats to withdraw from the government, prime minister Paul Bérenger finally gave him an honourable discharge. In his press overview the PM announced that Sylvio Michel would most probably leave the government.

He appeared however less irritated than the previous times. “My heart aches and I don’t want to dismiss him. I would prefer to give him the chance to do it himself.” The latter seems to have taken the cue as he resigned yesterday and has already vacated his office.

The situation had reached a point of no return for several months but neither the government nor the minister wanted to take the plunge. The government had even proposed a conciliation committee but minister Michel had stood his ground.

The main contention between the government and the leader of Les Verts is the compensation for descendants of slaves and indentured labourers, which Sylvio Michel thinks the government will never consider. Paul Bérenger insists that there have been attempts to solve the conflict. “We tried to make the situation develop positively. Pravind and I have gone out of our way to propose the setting up of a committee to solve the issue.”

But Sylvio Michel kept on threatening to leave the government. He even made a walkout from Parliament and had been absent from a few cabinet meetings to show his dissatisfaction. The prime minister has already said that he has an idea for the stand-in Fisheries minister. Although he didn’t give his name, he stated that it would most probably be a minister already in post.