Human behaviour is made up of some traits that are so instinctive that they become second nature to the way we operate on a daily basis. If we see an accident on the road, many people will slow down and gawp at the mangled mess and very few of us will actually stop and offer any help to the unfortunate victims. Our reluctance to help stems largely from the hope that better qualified people will soon be on the scene and their actions will be far more useful than anything we could offer.

But what happens when those we have chosen to act on our behalf in order to alleviate the difficulties that we all face turn out to be incompetent buffoons who have mastered the art of saying ?but what can I do?? in that nauseatingly plaintive tone of the irredeemably inept? There is nothing intrinsically wrong in being inept or incompetent provided you do not go around screaming to everyone how wonderful you are and how you are much better than your opponent at resolving the problems that we all face as a nation. Unfortunately, that is the fate that befalls the citizens of Paradise Island on any objective analysis of the calibre of the politicians who clamour for our votes every five years.

?Complaints of ?magouy? merely confirm the generally held belief that politics in Paradise Island and shameless hypocrisy are psychopathic twin brothers?

The rot set in a long time ago when politicians realised very quickly soon after independence that autonomous governance also included the real possibility of enriching yourself by stealing from the rest of us with absolute impunity; I distinctly remember my youthful revolutionary ardour blazing with raging intensity at the Bourdet Report in the early seventies pointing a convincingly accusatory finger at a minister for the disappearance of Rs 14 millions; and tens of thousands of us believing Bérenger in those heady days of leather coat and tinted glasses that he will bring the thief to justice. He has never mentioned Bourdet since, and one can only hope that during his current mega star tour as a self proclaimed historian he will eventually refer to the report?But there is as much chance of that happening as the Minister for Arts and Culture knowing the difference between a Picasso and a Pissarro! History will no doubt remind the historian that his political career is littered with a litany of allegations of corruption against his opponents without him ever doing anything to bring the thieves to justice. Even during his stint as Prime Minister (PM), he regularly made allegations of corruption (for example, he referred by name in the National Assembly to politicians who allegedly benefited from the MCB/NPF fraud) without ever using his enormous powers to ensure that the culprits were brought to justice.

But that is a separate issue; I have covered the topic of corruption ad nauseam and I do not intend to visit the scene of the crime again. Let us look at the issue of incompetence and self confessed powerlessness by those voted by us to positions of enormous power.

The Prime Minister, Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam, (this is how Bijaye Madhou, Fareed Jangeerkhan, and the androids at the MBC have been programmed to refer to the PM every time they come up for air after a prolonged dive in the sewer of obsequiousness and arse licking that seems to be part of the job description) has again asked for a three quarter majority and one can only ask, why? He had a huge majority in 1995-1997 and I do not recall the earth moving for us then. He did nothing to change the structure and mentality of a society that had been rendered impotent by the insidious actions of politicians concerned only with enriching themselves and appointing unreconstructed idiots to positions of authority in organisations that are subsequently doomed to a state of permanent malfunction.

Lately, the PM has taken to bemoaning the negative attitude of many of our citizens who are always badgering politicians for preferential treatment. Well, whose fault is that? If virtually every appointment or promotion in the public sector is subject to political interference, how else do you expect people with real responsibilities towards their families to behave? Does the individual do the eminently sensible thing towards his own perception of pride and self worth and treat the politicians with the contempt that they deserve or does he live up to his responsibilities towards his family, pinch his nose, and enter the fetid room of mephitical sycophancy in the hope that the politician will help him in the way that normal channels no longer do?

The Prime Minister complains about the caste system and the onerous problem of having to endure pressure from various groups for quotas of senior positions in every government department. And he then appoints people strictly in accordance with the caste system and quotas for every individual community! Nobody is going to convince me that Gowressoo, Tang, Bappoo, Seebun, Dullul, Bachoo, Dulloo and some of the others are in the cabinet because of their intellectual grandeur or visionary acuity; they have been put there simply to satisfy the very prejudices that Ramgoolam is now decrying rather unconvincingly. Sinatambou still deludes himself that the ability to be a human sponge in absorbing the syllabus and then squeezing it dry on the exam paper in order to become a laureate is the highest test of intelligence; so far his ministerial work has failed to reach even the low standards of that other highly intelligent laureate, Anil Gayan?

Is it really surprising that the CEB, CWA, Air Mauritius, and other para statal organisations are continually in financial trouble when those appointed to lead them would have great difficulty in running a market stall? Air Mauritius has recently gone into the red again and guess what the exorbitantly paid managing director has done to redress the situation? He has ?restructured? the company by simply renaming his management team as the ?leadership team? comprising 11 ?executive vice-presidents? instead of the 11 whatever they were called before! Don?t blink in case you miss the supersonic increase in profits as a result of this managerial masterpiece. The pedant amongst you would of course have noticed that there is no president for the 11 to act as the executive vice president to as the leader is a managing director?

If you want to know what corruption at its highest level is, imagine this situation: how would you feel if a junior member of average competence is suddenly promoted over the heads of many better qualified and more senior candidates to the post of director general of an essential service? And, to rub salt in this gaping injury, a few months later he is then made Director General of another essential service thus multiplying his original salary by a factor of at least 7, all within the space of a year. This is what Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam, the man who is now condemning the attitude of ?Tro magouy, enn ti bizin gaygn sa, lot inn gaygne,? is directly responsible for. Complaints of magouy merely confirm the generally held belief that politics in Paradise Island and shameless hypocrisy are psychopathic twin brothers sharing the same poisonous DNA.

You would be wrong to expect the opposition to be gushing like a broken water main with outrage at such a blatant act of corruption because they too have their underachievers straining at the leash for a promotion that they do not deserve.

L?Express interviewed Rama Sithanen on Monday and I was struck with his "J?ai de grandes inquiétudes quant à la situation budgétaire". I am not surprised he is worried. Apparently, interest payments on the national debt will increase this year from Rs 9.5 billions to Rs 12.5 billions, and this takes up a quarter of all government expenditure. Apart from telling us that he has ?de grandes inquiétudes?, he tells us nothing about the measures he proposes to take in order to rein in government expenditure.

Nothing about the obvious cut in waste at all levels; or a moratorium on all so called ?missions? apart from those approved by an independent committee as relevant to the needs of this country; or criminalizing the many activities by politicians using public money for manze boir; or helping the environment by increasing the price of petrol and diesel to a more realistic level and removing the abomination that exists nowhere else in the world known as duty free cars; or ensuring that teachers, doctors, lawyers, making absolute fortunes out of private practice follow rudimentary classes in filling tax returns; or ensuring that hotels earning enormous amounts of money on our land pay taxes commensurate with their vast profits, or at the very least make leasehold arrangements so that the State gets a share of the profits made on our land.

There are so many things that Sithanen could do to bridge the gap between income and expenditure; instead, we are left with the pitiable sight of the man in charge of our money wallowing in self pity and decrying the ?demagogic? attitude of the opposition! Well, what did he expect? Bérenger and Jugnauth to kiss him on the forehead and praise his actions?

Unfortunately, his attitude exemplifies the eunuch-like mentality of those who are never shy to put themselves forward as the leaders of this country. The eunuch knows his limitations and looks after the harem without showing any inclination to taste the goods on display; he knows his impotence prevents him from straying into a territory better left to people with the right equipment.

Our politicians claim to want to servi nou pei; unfortunately, they lack the equipment to work for the common good as their mindset is almost wholly consumed with the desire to do what is best for themselves in as short a time as possible. And despite their public display of bravado, they too are acutely aware of their intellectual impotence and powerlessness to do what nature always intended politicians to do: work for the common good.

R. A. J.