● <B> Preamble </B>

We take the liberty of sharing with you our reflection, highlighting a few types of discrimination and inequity which, by their nature, when prevalent, are having disastrous results on the country?s spirit and work-wise leave a number of quite incapable people struggling with work they cannot do.

We do so because we care about our country, which has been subjected to such anomalies ever since independence, to varying degrees, by all Governments in power.

Today in these early years of the 21st century we appeal to you by stating that ?ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?, we hope for everyone?s sake that this critical endeavour to redress Mauritius will succeed, in time to catch the development opportunities that are fast arising, as well as being prepared for the hard times ahead.

This can only be achieved if all citizens are able to participate (each according to his or her capacity and willingness) in the development and democratisation of Mauritius.

Equally importantly, all are to benefit.

Where to start? Implement corrective, remedial actions now before it is too late!

As a first step, take courage, do your duty, formulate these concerns as questions to ?à qui de droit? in Parliament. Then, most importantly, with the support of the press and of caring citizens, your follow-up question(s) until results are obtained.

?In the ideal Republic, key posts are entrusted to the best available competencies and NOT to political nominees, who at times acquire the arrogance of being ?untouchable? and are often either inapt for the post or simply unprepared to work.?

● <B> Questions</B>

What changes in laws, regulations or even the Constitution do we need to prevent a Government in power from playing with peoples? jobs and lives for obscure political reasons, as for example the 1982 amendment to the Constitution which allows a Government to require officers to vacate their posts, with no compensation for loss of office? (an initiative from the Leader of the House to repeal this amendment and reinstate and correct the situation would, we are sure, be supported by leaders of all other parties in Parliament and go a long way to reinstating serenity and security amongst people).

What safeguards do we need to stop the practice of tailor-made requirements for vacancies (in particular those arising from specially created new posts) to suit given candidates selected in advance? As well as the situation where posts are left vacant when the selection process comes up with the best candidate, but who, ?unfortunately? has an ?incorrect? political profile or does not fit the particular decision-maker?s ?requirements?. Similarly for some tenders, vis-à-vis given firms, for development projects, purchases and rentals, importation and manufacture of essential products, building of monopolies, etc.

How prevalent is the practice of giving loans, small and recently big to very big, with no collateral, to selected people, which are not repaid and eventually are written- off?

In the ideal Republic, key posts are entrusted to the best available competencies and NOT to political nominees, who at times acquire the arrogance of being ?untouchable? and are often either inapt for the post or simply unprepared to work. Recall here several chairmanships of statutory bodies, D-G?s of high profile set-ups, etc. Since the loss to the country is immense if we do not fully utilise all our best competencies for such obscure reasons, are we all prepared to fight this chronic cronyism?

In the ideal Republic, manipulatory readjustments in laws and regulations (relating to land ownership, finance, development permits, etc) designed to penalise given groups of the population have NO place. We as a peace-loving nation have not gone as far as what for instance Idi Amin did to the Indians or Apartheid South Africa did to the Africans, but are we all prepared to be only spectators, particularly with regard to taxes on land and property? (where for example extraordinary differences in treatment of some groups vis-à-vis others are being legalised which may result in some becoming landless as a result of Government policy).

In the ideal Republic there is no place for the official manipulation of information as was current, for example, in countries behind the Iron Curtain prior to 1989. Are your Parliamentarians and other representatives prepared to monitor MBC-News and take necessary measures to end any misuse of the national communication channel for party propaganda, giving the viewers and listeners mainly (or at times only) the Ministerial or Prime Ministerial view and little or none from other stakeholders, from concerned NGO?s or from the Opposition?

In the domain of law and order, there is a failure to maintain a police force which is representative of the population, knowing from experience elsewhere how crucial to the control of crime and violence, to the prevention of police brutality and to ensuring a fair deal to each citizen such representation is. As is balanced representation at the level of other such regulatory bodies. What corrective measures need to be applied?

Individuals from some minority sections of Mauritius being regularly left out of recruitments at all levels of Government services (through direct or indirect political interventions, to varying degrees, since independence, but much more so recently), with the resulting grave imbalance in these services and the dangers for society of systematic exclusion of sections of the population. What corrective measures need to be applied to fully re-establish these minority rights? In parallel, fortunately, other sections of the population hitherto left out of many key private enterprises have gradually gained access and created new enterprises so that now an equitable balance has been reached in much of the private sector.

● <B> Concluding remarks</B>

In no way are we saying that these inequities have been the norm since independence, but that such inequities (there are of course many others not mentioned here!) have existed and are widely in operation today, with all the consequent dangers of unethically and unjustly upsetting the very fabric of our society, our strength! The fact that such injustices can also be found to varying degrees in other developing and developed countries (fought and denounced by various means) is in no way a reason to accept them here! In any case, the braking effect on the development of the country is too serious to tolerate.

?Individuals from some minority sections of Mauritius being regularly left out of recruitments at all levels of Government services (...), with the resulting grave imbalance in these services and the dangers for society of systematic exclusion of sections of the population.?

We are like-minded and non-partisan thinkers who believe in your ability and in your powers to remedy and redress. We are ourselves ready to ?mettre la main à la pâte? and call upon other patriots to do so. The programme to reform and re-engineer Mauritius (including this present Government?s programme, broadly supported by the electorate in 2005), with the participation of all, for the benefit of all, is a long- term goal that concerns us all. Areas such as education, employment, health, law and order must be and remain beyond party politics.

<B> A group of old Royals and friends (ORAF) </B>

To

The presidents of the ?Aile féminine? of main parties,The mayors of TOWNS and of the CITY of Port- Louis, The presidents of District councils.