Rama Sithanen should be lauded for attempting to evict the ghosts of profligacy, nepotism and incompetence from the insufferably bloated State machine where they so comfortably nestle. It should be noted though that certain measures proffered by the deputy prime minister and minister of Finance are stoking the flames of civil unrest. But I transgress. This column is not about the budget. It’s about nightclubs, live music, and most importantly, individual freedoms.

The government seems hell-bent on applying an arcane and ill-fitting piece of legislation that will make it illegal for nightclubs to remain open after three in the morning during the week-end. Bars, it is said, will have to shut at midnight.

Anyone who’s faintly familiar with the niceties of nightlife will instantly recognize just how ludicrous this premise really is. Apart from trying to impress fascist generals around the world, what exactly were honchos of the officialdom thinking when they decided to give a new meaning to the word draconian?

This attempt at social engineering is being justified by the recent episode of someone firing a gun in front of one of Grand-Baie’s nocturnal drinking holes. A sexually frustrated gun-wielding man is dangerous at the best of times. The fact that this one chose to vent his insufficiencies in front of the Buddha Bar is of no fault of the club’s nor its revelers.

Madmen with firearms have popped up in places of worship, fast food restaurants and even nursery schools all over the world. What are you going to do? Make people leave mass half-way through just in case some hormonally-imbalanced mentalist decides he’s one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Admittedly, some nightclubs are haunted by the most unsavoury fashion victims and others should be shot into space where the horrible music their DJs grind out would be better appreciated. But a progressive society owes its members the freedom to express themselves freely.

In the heart of Grand-Baie can be found one of the best possible showcases for local musical talents. On any given Saturday night, locals and tourists alike gather around a magnificent flamboyant tree to partake in the bliss of jazz, blues and rock music. But because no legislation exists for live music bars, this one falls in the same category as myriad other banal places.

This mainstay of quality entertainment recently had the dubious honour of welcoming in its midst a tide of law enforcers sporting batons and the type of hospitable attitude for which the sturmbahnfuhrers of the German SS are so fondly remembered. It’s crime? Having allowed the concert to go on beyond the, oh so scandalous, hour of midnight.

Rudyard Kipling once wrote, “If they question why we died, tell them, because our fathers lied”. I’m tempted to tinker with his formula in the following way, “If they question why we emigrated, tell them, because our fathers suffocated [us]”.