The Labour Party is charming its electors. Either by castigating the government or by making promises for a better Mauritius, opposition leader Navin Ramgoolam has embarked on his quest to regain power. He wants the prime minister?s seat back and wants everyone to know it. At his latest rally in Montagne-Blanche, he made it clear that he would win the elections and would bring changes as soon as he gets back to power.

His main criticisms were about the economy: all the money goes to one category of people and the others ? those who really need this money ? work for practically nothing. According to the opposition leader, the government has caused 40,000 people to lose their jobs, thus contributing to making them even poorer than they were. On the other hand, the wealthiest people are getting even wealthier.

He also highlighted the waste of public funds with the payment of huge wages to expatriates working in companies where the government has its word. He also denounced the Rs 6 million paid to government?s advisers every month, his specific target being Jean Mée Desvaux, the PM?s adviser.

The Labour Party is accusing government of manipulating some key economic indicators to portray good perfor- mance figures. Rama Sithanen, Labour?s spokesman on economic matters, held a press conference last Wednesday not only to criticise government?s handling of the economy but also to highlight the various ?colourable devices? used by the regime to ?distort? the truth behind figures.

For Rama Sithanen, the level of public debt is being artificially held to lower levels as compared to previous years through a change in the computation method. Government debt now excludes debt issued for the purpose of monetary management. Bills issued for managing liquidity are now being serviced by the Bank of Mauritius. The Labour Party has also been very critical of the way unemployment figures are being computed.

Navin Ramgoolam asserts that radical decisions will be made within the 100 first days of his return to power. He gave the guarantee that the economy will be fairer and that there will be less of a gap between poorest and wealthiest. ?I?m going to the next elections with the social alliance and we know we?re going to win. You?ve got the proof ? You just have to see the number of people present at the rally today.?