The much heralded sanzman has brought about some expensive additions to the provisions of the welfare state. Free public transport for the elderly and handicapped is a commendable achievement and will improve greatly the social lives of our senior citizens who, too often, find retirement a one way ticket to isolation and social neglect. The jury is still out on free transport for students and I believe this will turn out to be a very expensive way of increasing the level of truancy amongst the student population.

The idea is right in principle but its fundamental lack of control and supervision in its implementation will inevitably enhance the attractiveness of shopping arcades and the seaside and reduce the desire to attend classes. The restoration of the principle of universality in pension provisions is simply a stupid and short-sighted manoeuvre for political gain and is a very expensive way to make rich people richer.

?The principle of universality pension provision is a stupid and short sighted manoeuvre for political gain.?

So what other sanzman have we witnessed? Satish Faugoo is trying to implement some much needed changes in the administration of our hospitals but is constantly frustrated by the bureaucracy; doctors waltz in after 9.30 a.m. and then heave a sigh of despair at the queues that have lengthened during the time when they should have been on duty; there is a hotline to the hospital but nobody knows the phone number; an eminently sensible proposal that medicines should be placed in carrier bags is stymied because apparently a requisition for carrier bags has to be sent to the Ministry of Health where it will receive the undivided attention of some overpaid and underworked pen pusher in a few months time before the stamp commissar exercises his wrist muscles in the final act of approval. Remember how Ashok Jugnauth used to always claim to be angry following every visit to a hospital? As we all know, he hardly achieved anything worthwhile as minister of Health and let us hope that Satish Faugoo will be able to accompany his feelings of anger with some tangible achievements in the health services.

Indira Seebun continues to show commendable levels of empathy with victims of crime and Sheila Bappoo knows how to pull the heartstrings whenever another atrocious crime hits the headlines. Words of comfort are fine but we are still waiting to see some concrete measures to tackle the problems of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, domestic violence, and crime in general.

Someone must have convinced Rama Valayden and James Burty David that they are photogenic and they now believe that our lives would be miserably empty if we fail to see at least five minutes of their terribly handsome faces every night on the TV national news. Nevertheless, this is marginally better than having to endure the torment of watching Showkutally Soodhun, Rajesh Bhagwan, Sam Lauthan, Choonee and his stupid grin, Jayen Cuttaree and his air miles telling us night after night for five long, boring, and expensive years what a wonderful job they were doing for us.

So what else has changed? Instead of having Ramgoolam and Sithanen telling us for the last five years that we are heading towards financial meltdown, we now have a trendily tie-less Pravind Jugnauth constantly reminding us that we are heading for the brizans whilst conveniently forgetting that it was his incompetent stewardship of the economy that has brought our nation to this sorry state.

It is really quite distasteful to hear him every week moaning about and almost wishing, in a sort of pre orgasmic frenzy, the terrible financial fate that is soon to befall us. He is behaving in a manner that suggests that he has apparently realised that his only way back to power is for the economy and the country to be in a bigger mess than when we booted him out of office.

We have a different opposition now telling a different government that it is dominer and abusing our national TV station; we have new ministers who are abusing the trappings of office and travelling in the same chauffeur driven limousines that they found so morally repugnant when in opposition; we have a minister?s wife who delays a flight departure because those horrible check-in people won?t upgrade her to the first class status that she believes is her right now that we have voted her husband to servi nou ? apparently her fat arse deserves something roomier and more padded than us mere mortals have to contend with. Why does our so called free press treat this megalomaniac so gingerly and refuse to name her? I, for one, would love to know her identity so that I can laugh myself silly should I have the misfortune of seeing her in public.

The Ferney scandal descends into farce the longer we ignore the contents of the notorious contract and find out the name of the idiot who signed such punitive conditions; but perhaps it has nothing to do with financial penalties but rather with commissions that have already been cashed... The N?Tan Report remains safely under lock and key and Navin Beekarry walks away with Rs 4 millions for giving the fight against corruption a bad name? people are sacked and replaced by arse lickers as heads of useless organisations on salaries and conditions that make Europeans drool with envy?

So, apart from free transport and pensions for all, not much has changed. Governments come and governments go, but the underlying mentality remains as insular and self serving as usual. The wave of sackings in the first hundred days is an example of the sheer pettifogging spite and the cowardice of the bully that has been the hallmark of every government since independence. Elections have become like the battlefields of old where the winners share the spoils amongst themselves and are the antithesis of the very democracy they are supposed to strengthen.

What was the point in sacking Soorya Gayan from the MGI?

Was she useless at her job? Didn?t she have the right qualifications?

We know that she was proficient at her job because the cowards who sacked her have neither had the decency nor the moral backbone to explain the reasons behind such a gross abuse of their power. She would recognise Edvard Munch?s ?The scream? as a masterpiece as opposed to some ministers who would probably pass it off as the latest pop song or perhaps the latest addition to Happy World?s splendid collection of ice creams.

Their actions betray a fundamental contradiction in their mindsets and put to shame the mindless actions of the schoolground bully. They are impotent towards the one person who abused her position and campaigned shamelessly during the last elections; she is still living in glorious splendour in Reduit and the restoration of her old age state pension is in lurid contrast with the callous way this government keeps sacking people. There can be only one reason for the removal of Mrs Gayan from office and it relates to the fact that her husband used to be part of the last government; he was pretty useless as a minister and the electorate rightly rejected him at the last election.

?The tragedy of Mauritian politics has always been the pettymindedness and venality of those we vote to power.?

That has not stopped him from making some insipid, rather stupid comments which only proves that a career in politics was probably not a wise choice. If the government is feeling vindictive, by all means have a go at him; picking on his wife is undignified, unjust, and totally against the macho posturings that our politicians love to adopt. The childish baiting in the National Assembly of Si to ene zom, sorti deor has presumably been now replaced by si to ene zom, mo pou rod la guerre ar to fam. A clear case of masculinity gone berserk!

Where is the logic or justice in this seemingly endless cycle of sacking people who applied for and obtained jobs through the proper channels? Putting people first is a nice slogan but means nothing if the only employment policy so far has resulted in Putting their people first in the unemployment queue. It is cruelly vindictive and dishonest to constantly harp on about the other lot sacking people when they came to power and to use that as justification for shattering people?s hopes and finances now. It is immoral and demeans the whole political process of a country that likes to think it is more advanced than its African neighbours.

The tragedy of Mauritian politics has always been the pettymindedness and venality of those we vote to power. Our political parties are like different branches of the Mafia and the mentality remains the same irrespective of which branch takes power. Berenger and Jugnauth have no credibility when they protest about these sackings as mere mention of Indira Manrakan?s name is guaranteed to shut them up. Ramgoolam is in the unique position of enjoying enormous goodwill from the electorate and, faced with a weak opposition, has every chance to leave a permanently positive mark on the country?s history. He needs to stop this vindictive policy of sacking people as he is in danger of gaining a reputation for leading a government of whim and trivia. He needs to get on with the job that matters most to all of us: address our terrible financial situation. Sacking Mrs Gayan because her husband is from a party which, in any case, is dying a natural death is stupid and politically naive as public sympathy will inevitably be on Mrs Gayan?s side.

Ramgoolam should stop worrying about the approval of his friends; Mauritian politics is littered with fair weather friends who will jump ship at the first sign of trouble. He should worry instead about his current enemies because they might become useful in future when his friends decide to make life difficult for him. He should perhaps adopt the motto of Don Corleone from The Godfather as his principle for the turbulent waters ahead: Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.

R.A.J.