An Act of Parliament is nothing more than the will of the Legislative Body to enact a law regarding a specific matter. Even after it is passed by Parliament and promulgated with the assent of the president, it still only remains an empty khoklah intention without life in it. What makes it alive and effective is the regulations, the putting into practice, the implementation of the theory-content of the Act.

This applies to all legislation, including the much mediatised Equal Opportunity Act (EOA). It is all very well - and very praiseworthy - for the government to come forward with a law that gives equal chances to one and all. In theory. But what about the practice? How does the government propose to implement the substance of the law in the day-to-day actions and activities of about 1.5m of our population? Do the PM and his minister believe that the Act would put on the same footing X, enfant de cité ou d’un village perdu, the son of a poor nobody , and Y, son/ nephew/ relative of some super-minister or some other gros-paletot - when both are equally qualified and equally competent?

Will the EOA apply equally in every sphere of our life? In political parties and in Parliament? Will the Labour leader not be biased by casteist, communal, rich/poor, and other copain-copain considerations when allocating tickets for the next general election? Will he see in the aspiring candidate only a Mauritian, not a Ravived or a Vaish, a Ti-Creole or a Blanc, not his bank balance or whether he’s a free-mason, not his/her sex or his/her sexual preferences? Will his ultimate choice be dictated solely by the competence of the candidate? Will the PM see to it that his Cabinet is composed of 18 able and competent Mauritians, even if it results in 18 women or 18 gays or 18 Muslims or 18 Chinese; and not be a casteist/communal/sexist quota-allocated charade, irrespective of the mediocrities of its ministers?

Can we one day see a Madame Poulé from Agalega as commissioner of Police? Or a Monsieur Roussety from Rodrigues as chief justice? Or a Rajput as prime minister ? Or an atheist as president of our Republic? This should be possible with an effective Equal Opportunity Act. But is our society mature enough, our system developed enough, to accept it ?

In the private sector, will equal opportunities be given to everyone to climb up the ladder? Will the father to son hierarchy be abandoned in favour of competence and ability? How does the government intend to see the strict application of the law in this sector?

In the public sector will the present criteria of caste, colour and creed and copinage for appointment and promotion effectively give way to competency and meritocracy? What garde-fou, apart from noble intents contained in the Act, will be provided to see to its practical implementation ?

Will every little Mauritian have the same opportunities for learning and education? Does not the Gokhool Reform include some aspects that contradict this intent?

That there are groups and minority groups claiming that their respective “members” are not getting a fair deal, shows how backward our society is. The zako protez so montagn mentality is very much alive, and seems unlikely to change - with or without the EOA !

It is sad to say so, but the EOA risks becoming one more law, though full of good intent, doomed to be inapplicable and completely ineffective. That is, unless we, the whole society, change our way of thinking, our outdated communal/casteist mentality.

<B>Jagdish Seebaruth

[email protected]</B>