I would like to congratulate the office of the President for having done the needful to restore the title of the President of the Republic. In a press communiqué which appeared on 21 January 2004, State House informed the public on the correct mode of addressing the President, namely Mr. President or The President of The Republic or the Right Honourable Sir Anerood Jugnauth, G.C.S.K., K.C.M.G, Q.C., President of The Republic, as the case may be.

Protocol demands that, whenever one is receiving an important dignitary in an official function, the correct address is used with regard to the personality. Adherence to strict protocol practices is the more so imperative whenever the function is attended by the Head of State, the President of Republic.

This practice has not been strictly adhered to ever since Sir Anerood Jugnauth was elevated to the office of Presidency in September 2003. Invitation cards coming from the ministries and parastatal bodies are issued highlighting the fact that he would be the chief guest but addressing him as ?Sir Anerood Jugnauth, President of the Republic?. I think it is a serious breach of etiquette, a grave impair, which could even be construed as a lack of respect towards the Head of State, the President of the Republic and the number one personality of the country.

It was on the occasion of the prize-giving ceremony and the presentation of the Hindi Samman on 29th October 2003 that I first raised the issue. In my welcoming speech as chairman of Mahatma Gandhi Institute, I addressed the chief guest of the function, the President of the Republic as His Excellency, The Right Honourable Sir Anerood Jugnauth. Drawing attention that I am addressing Sir Anerood Jugnauth as the Right Honourable Sir Anerood Jugnauth and pointing out that many people are, it would seem, under a serious misconception. It is commonly believed that the fact that Sir Anerood is no longer a Member of Parliament means that he is automatically deprived of his title ?Right Honourable?. Sir Anerood is a Privy Councillor and all Privy Councillors are Right Honourable for life.

Sir Anerood, just like Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, the first Prime Minister of independent Mauritius, was appointed to the Privy Council by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Privy Council, once a very important institution having the powers of the British Cabinet, emerged under the Norman Kings as a policy-making body and reached the zenith of its power during the Tudor period (1485-1603). Consigned to the decorative part of the British Constitution, the role of the Privy Council nowadays is purely ceremonial. It meets in full only on ceremonial occasions, for example, the intended marriage or proposed abdication of the monarch. All its members roughly 300, mostly former and presently serving British Cabinet Ministers, are appointed for life by the British Crown. The other members are senior British Judges and a few personalities who have distinguished themselves in public or political life. Prime Ministers of countries, members of the Commonwealth, which still keep the British Monarch as Head of State, are occasionally elevated to membership of the Privy Council.

The issue of the correct address for the President found its genesis when, shortly after Sir Anerood?s elevation to the presidency, I sent a congratulation card to His Excellency addressing him simply as Sir Anerood Jugnauth. I felt very uncomfortable regarding the address. After arguing the case with a couple of legal brains that, to my mind, the correct appellation should be ?The Right Honourable?, I was sharply reminded that Sir Anerood is no longer a member of Parliament and consequently cannot be addressed as Honourable, still less ?Right Honourable?.

It must have been a most unkind blow to Sir Anerood who was entitled to be addressed as Honourable Member of Parliament ever since he was elected in 1963-1967, 1976-1995, and 2000-2003, that is for roughly 26 years. Furthermore, during the period he was Prime Minister from 1982 to1995 and 2000 to 2003 he had been using the prefix of ?Right Honourable?. All of a sudden he found himself bereft of the prefix ?Right Honourable? on his elevation to the Office of the Presidency! It is tantamount to a demotion, protocol wise!

I thought differently and was determined to pursue the matter further. As a researcher and academic, I decided to probe further. I phoned the British High Commission and the Responsible Officer, after talking to the British High Commissioner himself, told me that he was 90% sure about the President of Republic keeping the title ?Right Honourable?. However his assurances were not adequate in meeting the exigencies of an academic. Accordingly, I e-mailed the highest authority on the matter, the Privy Council itself-requesting that office to advise me on the correct appellation. Needless to say that the e-mail received from the Privy Council confirmed my conviction. The rest, as they say, is history.

Visibly very pleased as was evident by the broad smile on his face and agreeably surprised by my speech, the President of the Republic in his address said that he came to confer ?samman? on hindi writers but, after listening to me, would seem he was getting a ?samman? as well! State House contacted me shortly after to thank me for my research and to inform me that they would contact the Privy Council officially before making any change. On Thursday 15th January I received a letter from State House informing me that the Privy Council has confirmed the information. After thanking me profusely for my personal initiative, State House informed me that a communiqué would be shortly issued regarding the correct address to be used with reference to the President.

The State House press communiqué, published on 21 January, has done the needful. I hope that the written press, the various radios of Mauritius and the MBC TV & Radio will take good note that the correct address of President Jugnauth is The Right Honourable Sir Anerood Jugnauth G.C.S.K, K.C.M.G, Q.C., President of the Republic. Perhaps it should also be noted that the P.C. after his name has been dropped, as recommended by the Privy Council, as it is used to denote Peers, Members of the House of Lords. The prefix Right Honourable is a sufficient indication of membership of the Privy Council.

Thus President Jugnauth?s title, ?The Right Honourable?, which had disappeared since September 2003, has now been rightfully restored.

by Hansraj mathur Chairman, Mahatma Gandhi Institute