The leadership qualities of Pravind Jugnauth are being put to the test by the population. In fairness, the problems that exist have nothing to do with his leadership but are related to the incompetence of certain members of Parliament of his party. Besides, there is a constant lack of discipline in the party where some of its members do not toe the line. As a result, this has created a negative impression of Mr Jugnauth’s leadership.

On the other hand, public perception plays an important role in any election because the public reckon that our elected representatives in Parliament should be above suspicion and of exemplary character. For instance, such a perception has already condemned MPs in both the MSM and Labour for their affiliation with castes. In other civilized countries, if ever such a similar matter took place, such members would be disqualified for life as candidates for any election be it general or local. In the Mauritian context, this tends to be ignored. What would Pravind Jugnauth do in such circumstances ? This is what the public wants to know and this is where his leadership is being put to the test !

Pravind Jugnauth has a long road ahead and so far he has not encountered any real political obstacles but the danger is that he could face lots of problems if he keeps protecting certain members of his political party who have sat long enough in Parliament but have badly dented the structure of his party. Unless Mr Jugnauth gets rid of those few “black sheep” MPs, his leadership will always be questionable by the electorate.

There is nothing wrong with young Jugnauth’s leadership. His political approach towards his audience is far better than certain political leaders. He is far from being a communalist and his messages are normally given consideration by his audience although they may not be acceptable most of the time. What he should do is to strengthen the value of his party with intellectuals who have vision and political aspirations. A man like Prakash Maunthrooa, the administrative secretary of the party is no doubt a great asset for the MSM, but the party needs more intellectuals like him to keep it going.

On the other hand, the quality of Pravind Jugnauth’s leadership is being watched constantly, not to say monitored closely and, on his performance, will depend his popularity. Given the chance, Pravind Jugnauth could in time become one of the best political leaders the country has ever had. Mr Jugnauth has already proved his political abilities in both Agriculture and Finance but sadly he tends to shy away from the problems of ordinary people, especially the working class and the pensioners.

As it stands today, we only have to see the composition of the Central Committee of the MSM where the names of most intellectuals have been either struck off or these intellectuals have left due to disappointments with the attitudes of certain members of its politburo without the knowledge of the leader of the MSM.

Under its present administrative secretary, the MSM party is perceived by many as being quite able to get back its popularity in areas where once it completely failed. There was even talk from genuine officials of the MSM that the party was in serious trouble and was in great danger of splitting up but today this is no longer the case under its indefatigable administrative secretary who has done his utmost to reform it. Time will tell whether the MSM will continue to survive or not.

The party needs its die-hard activists of long ago who have left because of a lack of solidarity with certain MPs of the MSM . Nowadays most of its activists from central and regional committees are not bona fide MSM oriented simply because of a general lack of communication. Certain MPs go as far as soliciting the help of their own religious organizations in order to promote their own political images.

Pravind Jugnauth needs to work twice as hard to rehabilitate his party by being more involved and taking into consideration vital information from the grass-roots level. There should be more attention given to the problems of the working class of the nation. Proximity between the party leader and the working class is an exercise that brings political dividends.

Politics in Mauritius is just based on the self-interest of politicians first and foremost and the rest is optional and this is why in Mauritius many citizens don’t bother to vote unless our political leaders have certain good qualities in them. In other developed countries, any party is judged by its leaders, but here it is pre-judged and judged by the actions of its members. In Mauritius politics is also next to communalism. How far are these practices condoned or condemned by the leaders? It’s always the same old game in the political system of this country. This is how a leader of some credibility can go down the drain if he does not only condemn communalism in all shapes and forms but keeps harbouring such kinds of politicians who nurse communalism. So young Jugnauth needs to take good note of constructive criticism if he intends to be a model leader!

Ahmad MACKY