The hysteria over bird flu appears to have affected the vocabulary of our politicians to a great extent; a word that denotes inner calm and peace has been abused by people who should never reach that ideal level of rest and harmony that must surely be the prerogative of only those with a clear conscience. Everyone is ?serein? these days and our feathered friend, the ?serin?, must be absolutely livid at seeing its name desecrated by these mediocre individuals.

Accuse any politician of corruption and you can bet your last rupee that his only defence will be a statement of his mood : ?Je suis serein?, he will intone with the tedious inevitability that afflicts people in positions of power every time their competence, integrity, and behaviour is questioned.

When Vishnu Bundhun was found guilty of corruption, he solemnly proclaimed that he was ?serein?. Pravind Jugnauth remains ?serein? every time his behaviour triggers the departure of another member of his party, and he will no doubt continue to be ?serein? even when he ultimately finds himself in an empty room; Choonee was ?serein? when he was accused of corruption and those teeth glistened even brighter when the charges were dropped only because of a legal technicality.

Bérenger has been ?serein? ever since the Director of Public Prosecutions with apparently munificent abandon declared one of his nolle prosequi to prevent the revolutionary socialist from defending a charge of helping a fugitive from justice. Gérard Tyack must be sublimely ?serein? as, despite exhausting all the legal procedures, he still has yet to serve even one day of the two year sentence of imprisonment imposed by the Privy Council some ten days ago.

One can only hope that, perhaps out of courtesy and decency, he will himself go and knock on the door of the prison, as it seems unrealistic in this Etat de droit to expect the police to arrest convicted criminals and make them serve their sentence of imprisonment in prison.

104 acres of land needed

Asraf Dulull returned from mission (?Another mission??, I hear you loudly scream. Come on, give the man a break; what is the point of being minister if you can?t go swanning around the world at other people?s expense?) and proclaimed : ?Je suis serein?. Yes, you have guessed right: allegations of corruption have been made against him and, as usual, the poor bird is deployed to convince us of his innocence. I am reliably informed by Celador, the producers of the game show ?Who wants to be a millionaire?, that ?Je suis serein? will be one of the four possible answers to the question ?what is the best defence when accused of corruption?? in the Mauritian version.

There is the obvious danger that career criminals (or ?politicians?, as the tautology is so obvious) will soon dispense of the expensive services of solicitors and barristers and grasp the mystical value of that statement in the belief that mere utterance of serenity is a declaration of innocence that cannot be refuted. Do not be surprised if we soon find defendants in Courts proclaiming smugly ? Je suis serein? when asked to enter a plea!

But let us get back to the latest allegations of corruption which would worry any normal person but somehow brings feelings of serenity in a suspiciously serendipitous manner in politicians. Bel Air Sugar Estate (BASE) wanted 104 acres of state land to build hotels and other tourist amenities and the application was considered by the Fast Track Committee in November 2005, a meeting which was chaired by the Prime Minister. At the end of that month, the minister of Lands and Housing, Asraf Dulull undertook a site visit together with Ministry officials and two local members of the Legislative Assembly. So far, so good.

For some obscure reason, a friend of the minister, Rafiq Peermamode, then became directly involved with this application, although he is neither an employee of BASE nor is he a civil servant; he is not employed in any capacity by either of the two parties in this application and therefore should have as much say in the processing of this application as you and me. i.e. none. But this is where the waters get very muddied and we all await with eager anticipation Dulull?s explanation for his friend to have been given such a prominent role.

BASE now claims that Rafiq Peermamode told them that the application will be processed only if they give Rs 50 millions to Asraf Dulull. The veracity of these allegations is now being investigated by the police and it would be wrong to assume at this stage that Dulull did ask for that fantastic sum of money. He should and must benefit from the presumption of innocence and until the matter is resolved completely, he must be considered an innocent man.

But this in no way means that we cannot question his judgement. Nobody is disputing the fact that Rafiq Peermamode was directly involved in the negotiations regarding this application, and this in itself is sufficient reason to question Dulull?s suitability for a ministerial position. Peermamode had as much right to be involved in State matters as the local dholl puri seller and, as such, should have never been invited or encouraged to meddle in matters that were strictly within the ambit of the Government and BASE.

Ramgoolam stated explicitly at the beginning of his current mandate that he would have no truck with any minister who behaved corruptly or whose behaviour gave the appearance of corruption. As I said above, it is not for me to say whether Dulull indeed asked for a Rs 50 million bribe; that is something for authorities that like calling themselves competent to decide. But the evidence so far shows clearly that Peermamode can only have been allowed to be brought into the negotiating process by his friend, Dulull. That, to me, is the crucial point and such negligence and carelessness in high office demands that the person responsible for that decision is removed from that office.

The icing on the cake

Dulull?s tenure of the Ministry for lands and Housing is remarkable for the amount of gossip that surrounds the activities of his department. The last MMM-MSM government, carved up State lands at Melville, Rivière-du-Rempart, and distributed them to various people. The present government has cancelled those leases and is now apparently giving new leases to other people. The same thing has happened to Les Salines Koenig? where plots of State land of 3 acres each have recently changed hands. In this wonderful democracy of ours, where the word ?transparency? is used by politicians as often as they change their underpants, none of us knows how much these plots are going for nor the identity of the recipients.

Behind the market at Quatre-Bornes, there is a substantial portion of State land which is normally not for lease. I have it on authoritative source that an adviser to a minister is helping his brother in-law to grab this prime piece of land for his business interests.

It is to Ramgoolam?s credit that he asked the police to investigate this matter once he became aware of the allegations. It does him no good however to again criticize the press for reporting what by any standards is a newsworthy item. The ululating cries of ?Je suis serein? are clearly insufficient reasons for the press to keep quiet about something that is clearly in the public interest.

I was wrong to suggest in a previous paper that the last two letters in Dulull?s name should be made redundant in order to reflect his true potential as a politician. This man is not dull; far from it. Dulull has provided us with the icing on the cake in last week?s rich feast of political upheavals. Who could possibly have imagined that turning a Subaru dealer overnight into an expert in estates and lands was the most natural thing to do? Certainly, not a dull man.

The civil servants at the Ministry of housing and Land must all feel chuffed to bits that their expertise and experience count for nothing when compared with the smooth talking car salesman. Can they still retain any confidence in the man sent by us to lead that department?

If Ramgoolam is the man of integrity, the man of his words, that he often claims to be, he has no choice but to sack Dulull. Not for the Rs 50 million allegation but for bringing his friend into the corridors of power when he had absolutely no right to do so, nor for his friend to be there. If corruption is evil, the perception of corruption is worse because it taints the whole government and the putrid stench will take time to dissipate if the cause is not rooted out with alacrity and firmness.

R.A.J.