by Pauline ETIENNE

Rajesh Jeetah must feel people don?t like him much at the moment. Just like people might feel that he just doesn?t care about their fate and that of local companies. Minister Jeetah is no scapegoat but, as the minister of Trade, it is clear that he will have to shoulder the responsibilities for decisions taken under his term of office.

The iron bar market is reported to be facing hard times. Despite minister Jeetah?s denials last week in Parliament, the Association of Consumers of Mauritius confirmed that there is a shortage of iron bars on the market. And this has obviously led to the expected consequences in the building sector. Major building sites in one of the most flourishing sectors of the economy ? tourism ? had to stop because of a shortage of iron bars.

When the decision to close Desbro and make its 200 employees redundant was announced, a beginning of discontent or at least incomprehension started to be felt on the public?s part. It could just not understand why a compromise could not be found to try and prevent such a situation. But when the decision to reduce customs duties from 30 % to 15 % was announced ? just after Murray & Roberts announced its take-over of Desbro International, the outcry became palpable.

And now we learn that the Mauritius Audit Bureau had proved the request of Desbro International right when it made its request for a 30% rise on the price of its iron bars. While the government finally agreed to grant them a 20% rise at the time, the MAB has confirmed that Desbro?s demand was justified.

The minister of Trade recently said : " I am convinced that I have done what I had to do in the public interest." Why has he decided to liberalise the market of iron bars then? How can he explain that a shortage is taking place at the moment contrarily to all that he had said before?

But there may be some hope again. The ministry of Trade may have already drawn conclusions of the iron bars issue. It has agreed to grant importers of powdered milk an increase of 10% on the prices.

Minister Jeetah must be in good faith when he insists on not increasing the already heavy burden of the population. The cost of living has undeniably risen over the past years and he must feel he has to protect the most vulnerable members of society by taking such decisions ? especially if he promised that life would be easier under the Social Alliance during the electoral campaign. But, sooner or later, the market reality and factors coming from abroad catch up with what might be his convictions or electoral promises? And this is when he will be forced to apply increases.

Wouldn?t it be a better choice to let the economy ? and consequently the companies that run it ? work and make sure that there will be aid for the ones who really need it?