<B>By Deepa BHOOKHUN</B>

Around 23h45 last Thursday, a few passers-by saw the left wing of Government House on fire. Probably excited that they were witnessing a historic moment, they gave the alarm that the heart of Mauritius was burning down.

The fire brigade, we are told, reacted promptly and managed to control and put out the fire in less than two hours. And Mauritius went back to sleep, a part of her forever lost. The whole incident was treated like one of these hazards bound to happen in the daily life of a country.

Except that it is not.

The prime minister was informed of the outbreak of fire the following morning. So was the police commissioner, we hear. I do not know how they came to know of that reprehensible fact. It would be ironic, wouldn?t it if both or one of them heard the news on the radio. Tragic? but ironic.

So the intelligence service of the amateurish Republic has failed yet again. Failed miserably, utterly and shamelessly. I guess that?s why the police commissioner had such a telling-off from the PM last Friday. Rightly so. But we didn?t get a chance to voice our feelings. Nor to ask a few questions. So we are putting them to you now, Mr. Golpalsing, in the hope that you?ll be kind enough to enlighten the public on what exactly went wrong.

Pray tell, Mr commissioner of police, how come the nerve centre of government is not under physical surveillance 24 hours a day? Shouldn?t the police or military on duty at Government house have given the alert the minute they realised something was wrong? Had things worked the way they should have in a country that has the ambition to be among the best, could the extent of the damage have been lessened? Does the fact that civilians informed the authorities of the fire mean that there was in actual fact no physical presence of the police or military at the material time at the material place?

Please enlighten us further as to what would have happened had no civilian walked past Government house at that material time? When would our most efficient police have learnt that the building was on fire? After the whole bloody thing had burned down?

I read somewhere that the police had discounted the possibility of the fire being of criminal nature because of the ?tight control of access to Government compound?. Control? What control? The almost dismissive way security is dealt with at Government house makes one wonder why so far no one has attempted to blow the place up or burn it down. Because I?ll tell you one thing Mr. Gopalsing: if anyone had a mind to create havoc and place a bomb in that place, it would be a piece of cake. That?s the kind of security we have at the heart of our country.

?This is the Mauritius of Navin Ramgoolam!? says the leader of the opposition in reaction. No, Mr Bérenger, this is our Mauritius, amateurish all the way, a direct result of our own amateurishness. Paul Bérenger, always out to gain political capital, seems intent on blaming ?Ramgoolam?s police? while taking the precaution of adding that he is not pointing his finger at the commissioner of police.

Well, we are. We would like some explanations and I see no one better to address my questions to than the man constitutionally empowered to lead and be responsible for the Police force.

The CP would no doubt understand our motivation for querying him thus and forgive us for being so impertinent. But he will also understand that we need to know where we are and where we are going. Can we continue to place our confidence in the police force to do what they are meant - and paid - to do?

So, pray tell, Mr. Commissioner, how in heaven?s name was Government House allowed to burn?