Their lawyers call them the unwitting victims of “ping-pong politics” whereas the minister of Health, Satish Faugoo, asserts that their recruitment constitutes an “electoral bribe” and is thus null and void. At a press conference last week, Satish Faugoo confirmed the annulment of the appointment of the 388 health care assistants (HCAs) and announced that they would receive a month’s salary in lieu of notice. He also said that all appointments made after the dissolution of Parliament in April would be subjected to close scrutiny.

The HCAs saga thus continued afresh last week and seems unlikely to disappear during the coming one. The 388 HCAs who, after receiving their letters, turned up to discover their appointments had been “frozen” by the new government, seem reluctant to abandon hope even if they did stop their five-day old hunger strike last Tuesday. Their lawyers, Samad Goolamaully, Raouf Gulbul, Ashley Hurangee and Kailash Trilochun, explained to them that their case was in court and that a prolonged hunger strike would only exert pressure on the judiciary, a tactic that could prove counter-productive.

Requests for an injunction and a judicial review have indeed been lodged. The first could soon be concluded whereas the second might take months. Few could blame them for this doggedness as most of the aspiring HCAs left their jobs to secure a post in the sacrosanct public service.

<B>Request for by-election</B>

Their lawyers even upped the ante last Friday by sending a letter to minister Faugoo asking him to substantiate his claim that the HCAs’ appointment was tantamount to an electoral bribe in front of the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC). The minister having failed to do this by 14 h 00 yesterday, the HCAs’ legal team will acoompany two of the group’s representatives to the ICAC this morning. Furthermore, the letter asked the minister to immediately reinstate the HCAs if he could not prove that the appointments were in fact an electoral bribe.

Finally, the legal quartet demanded that a by-election be held in constituency n° 8 where former Health minister, Ashok Jugnauth, was reelected. They consider that, if indeed Ashok Jugnauth had distributed posts to his constituents, his reelection should be made null and void on the grounds of malpractice.

The HCAs have also decided to organize “protest meetings across the island”. Their spokesperson, Ravin Kalachand, who became involved when he discovered his daughter’s appointment had been frozen, explained to l’express that they have to “fight against this injustice”.

This fight thus seems set to continue this week and even beyond. The determination of the HCAs and their lawyers will continue to be a thorn in the new government’s side and the latter seems bent on removing it the hard way.