Deepa BHOOKHUN

Power corrupts, says the adage.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

A subsection in small print has just been added to the saying; it reads «provided the courts do not find you guilty of corruption».

But poor, poor Ashock. Like me, many of you must have had mixed feelings when you first learnt of the Supreme Court judgment nullifying Ashock Jugnauth?s election in Constituency n° 8.

My mixed feelings at any rate had to do with the fact that I think he is a likeable chap but mostly ? and let?s face it ? he is not the first politician to have resorted to electoral bribery. But he is the first one against whom those allegations have been proved beyond reasonable doubt. And so, his election has been declared null and void «for having been obtained in breach of (?) the Representation of People Act.»

Let this judgment be a warning to all politicians and to all those who are particularly vulnerable to the arrogance that accompanies power.

The temptation at election time to do everything possible to come back, the arrogance that causes many to forget that laws must be respected, has just been checked.

Labour partisans should not rejoice. Neither should those of the MSM and MMM ? and least of all their leaders and members. This judgment is not just a reflection on Ashock Jugnauth, it is a reflection on them all. The fight against corruption has only just begun and it has just bitten the hand that fed it ? or rather the people that created it ? politicians. Public Officers should also beware. Their obsequiousness to those in power often makes them guilty of all sorts of corrupt practices, in the mistaken belief that they are immune to prosecution because they work for the powerful. They have just been reminded that it is not those they serve with such servility that administer the law. May they take heed. We have also learnt a lesson if we didn?t already know it; that the «vox dei» is also vulnerable to being corrupted. That ?free and fair? does not sound that attractive an option when there are otherwise more tempting material gains. But thank God for our courts ? they are doing us proud, it must be said.

They have just reminded us that «free and fair» will have to mean just that.