I do not always understand very well some decisions taken by the government. While it was in the opposition before 3rd July, the social alliance took advantage of every single weakness of the government to try and win the majority of votes. This is how the increase of the purchasing power and a better living for all have been some of the promises made to voters. And I believe this is fair enough.

As soon as the social alliance got to power, it seemed eager to show that it could and would keep its promises – at any cost. Free transport and universal pension will cost the mere sum of Rs 700 million to the State, unless we, the people, are the ones who will be paying for these presents. But let’s hope minister Sithanen knows what he is doing and has estimated such expenses.

There is one certainty: the Rs 105 billion representing public debt will have to be paid at some point in time and the PM may have started to realise this… This could be why the exemption from income tax for all those earning Rs 25,000 or less looks compromised or indefinitely postponed. He might be wondering how the government will be able to keep such a promise considering the extremely precarious state of our economy.

Paul Bérenger knows this and has taken advantage of the situation. By making this the topic of his private notice question in Parliament last Tuesday, the opposition leader wanted to corner Navin Ramgoolam. Yet, we could not be angry with the government if it decided to cancel his project; after all, the PM would only be cautious if he didn’t go forward with his – how popular ! – measure.

But there was another commitment made by Ramgoolam during the campaign – and even after: the conservation of Ferney Valley. I do not intend to take a stand in favour of the protection of the environment. This is not my concern here. It is just a matter of principle.

After criticising the former PM, who said he had no other solution than to sacrifice a section of the forest to build the South Eastern Highway, Ramgoolam seems now ready to sacrifice the endemic plants of Ferney.

Even though Bérenger did not miss an opportunity to say that the former government (that is Labour) committed itself with the African Bank of Development, Ramgoolam had always said he would stop the works if he came to power.

Even after being appointed as head of the government, he was quick to reiterate his promise that the forest would not be destroyed – without hesitating to discredit his deputy PM who had said the contrary. He even has a personal meeting with the president of Nature Watch to give him guarantees that the forest would be spared. The naive guy even said he was touched by the move.

And now, hardly a few weeks later, during a chance visit on the site, the NGO realises that bulldozers are at each corner of the forest. That there is little time before the machines start eating the forest. “They want to put us before a fait accompli,” shout the environmentalists.

Backbiters have started saying that this is not the first promise that the government will never keep… that Navin Ramgoolam “has not changed”! I will not go as far as that. But I consider that the government could have, at least, been honest with the population and explained the move. Because it is only when Nature Watch went on site that they saw the impending disaster. The only hope is that the bulldozers do not intend to touch the forest…