By Pauline ETIENNE

The Prime minister is back. After more than a month outside the country, he realises that people have been grumbling the whole time he was away. And he has realised at the same time that the way the government has communicated on its budget so far may not have been effective. The cost of living is increasing and an increasingly large number of people must regret their choice on that fateful 3rd of July. And, ironically enough, the one that was elected at the top of the list must have realised this as well since he did not hesitate to tell people to ?forget Ramgoolam and think about the country. In four years, you will be able to go to the polls again and you will be able to brush Ramgoolam aside?.

Even though he might not mean a single word of what he said in his press conference, his comments were quite comforting to a population that is undeniably suffering from the recent measures taken. We must give him the benefit of the doubt when he says that he ?sympathises with all Mauritians? ? we might, however, be tempted not to believe in his words when he says that everyone (does this include him and other members of the government?) is suffering at the moment ? just like when he says that we should soon feel the benefits of the reforms.

The reason for this is simple. The minister of Finance, Rama Sithanen, introduced his budget to parliament less than four months ago. This budget is the first one of its kind, as it completely changes the way the economy has always been tackled in this country. By implementing such reforms, the government must have been perfectly aware that it was exposing itself to severe criticism.

The government has tried to avoid this by what they thought was a communicative campaign ? but there is no doubt that they have failed miserably in this task. The standard of living of the great majority of Mauritians has most probably undergone a major drop over the past year. The government, which committed to changing the citizens? lives for the better, is now seen as the one to knock them down. But is this judgment really fair?

Is it really fair to condemn the government?s performance while their first budget has not even had the time to be implemented fully? I would agree that some of the measures announced have taken much time to be implemented ? some are still waiting.

The PM acknowledged that ?some decisions are taking more time than we expected? ? hence, we may hope that he will do everything possible to accelerate the process. By doing so, the government would show its commitment to making the lives of each and every Mauritian better and this would probably instil some patience into them. If they have the reforms explained to them properly, if they are shown that some measures have already been implemented, then I am sure they would be more willing to wait for better times ahead.

Poverty and misery have undeniably increased over the past months. No one should turn a deaf ear or show a blind eye to the people?s distress. But if there were a guarantee that their lives would be much better in two years from now, wouldn?t they accept to make a sacrifice for the moment? This is what the government will have to demonstrate in the coming weeks if they do not want a popular uprising?