In Parliament yesterday, our dear Prime Minister, allowed himself to question the veracity of the reporting of l?express newspaper. Please allow me to intervene. You see, one of the great joys of living in a democracy, is that a simple citizen like myself has the right to question the man occupying the highest post in the country. So let?s proceed.

In most countries, a tragedy such as the one that befell the island over a week ago would be treated with respect. Those it befell, namely the citizens of the nation, would be treated with more respect. Where did the Prime Minister go wrong, you wonder? Allow me to enumerate.

While we went about our affairs in an utter state of shock, the PM visited the scene of the explosion for a few brief minutes and suggested to the nation to keep cool. How succinct! How neat! No one had even as much as set foot inside the building and we were being assured that, until proof of the contrary, the disaster was an accident. Would he like to share with us poor laymen how he allowed himself to make such a statement whilst he hadn?t the foggiest idea of the cause of the explosion?

Secondly, two FBI explosive specialists arrived in the country amidst great fanfare. A collective sigh of relief could be heard around the country. Specialists, everyone thought. This is one event that won?t be able to be botched or swept under the carpet. I mean no disrespect to our loyal forces of law and order, but no one really expected them to have the savoir-faire required to elucidate an affair of this magnitude. Instead of being given daily updates so as to keep those who really needed to know, namely the people, informed the investigation was conducted amidst silence and opacity.

The thing is, we the press weren?t about to accept what we were being fed. I personally spent hours around the site attempting to scrounge for the tiniest piece of information or indication. Instead, I was greeted by a very haughty, ?We are not authorized to speak to the press?. Despite these attempts to keep everyone in the dark, l?express took its responsibilities towards its readership seriously. We didn?t expect to be told what had been discovered. We only wanted to know what they were doing in the rubble and why. That?s not too much to ask, is it?

Faced by this, we were forced into a state of emergency. Fortunately, our extensive network of contacts informed us, behind closed doors, of the developments behind so that we, in turn, were able to inform the Mauritian population. If we didn?t rely on any official version it's because we weren?t given one. That?s not our job anyway. Our facts weren?t official but our sources were. We stick by them.

A word of advice: Check your sources next time you tell us to ?keep cool?. Oh, and don?t take cheap shots at the press.