The deputy prime minister and minister of Finance baffled the entire Mauritian nation by tendering his letter of resignation to the then acting PM instead of submitting the letter to the president of the Republic. He was not aware of this procedure supposedly.

Earlier this week he revealed that there was another ?skeleton? left by the MSM-MMM government. namely Rs 800 million to provide for the pensions of public officers forced to retire by the Mauritius Revenue Authority under Mr Sithanen. How can a government provide for pension funds when it (MSM MMM) has not yet put the MRA into operation?

Mr Sithanen has a short memory regarding the circumstances leading to the retirement of these civil servants posted in various financial depts like Customs, Income Tax, some of whom still in their forties with financial commitments such as expenses of children studying abroad, what a harsh and criminal decision taken by the regime to which Mr Sithanen belongs.

The MRA was instituted by Mr Sithanen in Parliament and the MRA subsequently decided to ask many public officers to retire because their services were no longer required. Let Mr Sithanen not forget that the majority of these officers asked to retire belong to the community which supported the Labour Party & the Alliance Sociale.

So if Mr Sithanen is honest towards himself & being given the MRA asked for the premature retirement of these civil servants, he should apologise to the nation for having given the impression that the MSM-MMM government asked these officers to retire & should have made the necessary arrangements for the payments of their pensions. It is Mr Sithanen who has to find Rs 800 million to meet the pension requirements, for the decision was taken under his authority.

On the contrary, Mr Sithanen should be grateful to the previous government for having initiated the Integrated Resort Schemes, to which he is referring everyday as a great success in bringing foreign direct investment. It is not your baby Mr Sithanen, IRS is the baby of the previous government.

<B>Danan</B>