By David B.LINGIAH, GLASGOW

At his last press conference of 2005, our prime minister said: ?Notre pays fait face à de graves problèmes, non seulement économiques, mais aussi sociaux.? He added ?la conjoncture exigera de chacun d?entre nous un esprit d?efforts et de sacrifices pour relever tous les défis? ; and, so, ?We should not be fatalistic in the face of adversity. We need to adopt a can-do attitude.? It is very good for him to realise the grave situation we are in and ask the citizens to work together to get us out of these deep holes.

However, there seems to have an element of conflict in his statements. He calls upon the Mauritians to work hard in unity and sacrifice to make of our island a great progressive nation while at the same time he gives the impression these very citizens are unable to solve the local problems. He said: ?Nous allons faire des professionnels venir travailler ici.?

Why can?t our own many experts and specialists be organised to examine our problems and seek solutions? There is no scarcity of human resource on the island. Why do we always have to call upon overseas expertise to offer solutions to our economic or social problems? We did this before Independence and we continue to do this even now to the neglect of local knowledge. We should not become so dependent on these other countries for such assistance. Is our prime minister unable to govern the island with the cabinet ministers around him and the rest of the educated masses? Does he not trust them? He speaks of the right attitude ; he needs to think twice before he offends the nation. Each prime minister has invited Mauritians abroad to return and invest in the island, bringing their skills and finance to develop the country. Now he speaks of inviting foreign experts to assist us.

Raj Meetarbhan (l?express, éditorial 3.1.06) makes this very pertinent observation in this context: ?De même, il ne sera pas facile de faire accepter l?arrivée massive d?ingénieurs ou d?informaticiens étrangers après la campagne xénophobe menée par les travaillistes dans l?opposition. D?ailleurs le Premier ministre n?a pas paru très convaincant quand il a parlé de transformer Maurice en un ?pôle de l?intelligence? grâce à ces cerveaux importés de l?étranger. Pourtant, c?est bien l?une des actions qui peut le mieux aider notre économie à retrouver sa vitalité. Si le PTr entend adopter une approche moderne face à la nouvelle conjoncture, il doit perdre ses complexes concernant le recrutement des étrangers.?

Already England, France and India among others have a massive presence on the island. We became independent in name only ; the outsiders are still in control of this island under the garb of our invitation. It is high time we adopt a different attitude and approach to our local problems. Our doors have been open to many outside influences so much so that today we are reaping the bitter fruits of our social fabrics in the forms of violence, drugs, AIDS/HIV. There are sufficient far-sighted workers on the island who are already doing their very best and still prepared to do much more to save the paradise island from impending catastrophes. I appeal to the current political leaders to make full use of the skills and experience of our local citizens to rise to the situation that challenges us at this very hour in our history.