Friday, April 23, 2010

Political Leaders Show Little Respect For Our Democracy

Manifestos are still not out less than 12 days before Mauritius goes to vote. In 2005, I think Labour released it 9 days before July 3rd. Technically, they can still beat this poor record if it becomes available in the week-end. I don't think the MMM did any better.

And of course Ramgoolam and Berenger will not face off in any televised live debate and grilled by a discerning audience. Unlike what's going on in the UK these days.

8 comments:

citoyenne desesperee said...

have been busy at these political meetings. not a bad idea to eat pistaches and drink tea in front of free pictures- political meetings. the political rallies are fine so far they are concerned for the welfare of its citizens. agents getting beer, and briani free of cost. countrymen, come and join us for political meetings for free lunch and dinner. thats the best economy. both parties are bullying each other with majority of votes. win-win situation.
speaking of millions of rupees and reserve are of no concern to citizens, but who will come and properly manage this paradise lost island. we are living in a democratic country not communist. things would be different. coalitions, break ups just as in the film dallas. which is which?
political meetings or show off to fool citizens with powerful speeches to beg for votes? what a shame!

Kranti said...

Here is the Union de l'Avenir manifesto:

-Free transport for students maintained
-Old age pensions maintained and increased
-Free transport for senior citizens maintained
-Tax on interest reviewed not eliminated
-NRPT reviewed/eliminated
-10000 houses for medium class
-Poverty alleviation continued
-Pensions for civil servants with over 400 months contribution reviewed
-Income tax for small planters reviewed
-Duty free for planters re-introduced.

For Union du Coeur

Pareil!

Any doubt?

citoyenne desesperee said...

@kranti: kranti means revolution, right? what are you heading for as kranti? laymen sorry laywomen like me don't want to understand figures or tr ansparency. but we may run our household properly and educate our children, also to provide security to women who can barely walk with sense of peace. even wearing jewellery cause a sense of fear among women, to add to rape cases and others. even for young girls. is this generation free from a sick society where all social degradation prevail? our police officers are no less than puppets. some of them are even corrupted. people like late mr radhooaa can't be seen, he was exemplary but didn't shout aloud for the works he did. for me political leaders should lecture only on t.v not resort to political meetings conducive to more chaos between common citizens.
marchandises flattees par soi meme n'a pas de valeur, this is wat our politicians do. btw mauritius is still a paradise so far atomic bombs or other violent means are concerned. jai hind- east or west india is the best.

Kranti said...

@ citoyenne deseperee

Kranti means revolution. This word inspires me; often the way we fing things going on, we all feel we are "citoyens désespérés"; but when all "citoyens désespérés" come together, "kranti" can erupt. Can't you change into "krantiE"?

Agree, a lot of theories and bla bla bla do not help us in our daily lives; for us, common citizens, we need to have our bus on time, waiting time at hospitals is reasonable, basics are at affordable prices, heavy rain water does not accumulate inside and outside our houses, etc, etc.

akagugo said...

@ citoyenne desesperee
I can't believe you said you "don't want to understand figures or tr ansparency"

@ Kranti
I can't believe you said you "a lot of theories and bla bla bla do not help us in our daily lives"

Hey people, this is what we are actually doing here: we do not have executive powers to change things overnight, but at least, debating about theories and policies which ultimately end up influencing directly our daily lives: e.g. Rama fiddling with our economy ends up in having more of the poor / common people's puchasing power severely reduced despite his self-proclaimed success (bumper-crop, early-harvest), Rajesh's fiddling with importers ending up with "pénurie de tout" (pulses, cement, reinforcement...), you have more examples like that...
Don't play yourselves down by saying that you don't (want to) understand theories / figures / transparency / blabla. No. Pas de "paresse intellectuelle". Please do not fail to use your intelligent side to look closely at figures, analyse, compare and criticise. This is what is called dissent.
"Free lunch": non merci, i prefer working hard, earn enough money and starve if I can't get enough money, rather than "manger à tous les rateliers" like a sewer rat.

"our bus on time, waiting time at hospitals is reasonable, basics are at affordable prices, heavy rain water does not accumulate inside and outside our houses": all of this can be resolved if we choose leaders (not bosses who wail and then fail to use these as reminders to make-good) who recognise talent and appoint competent technicians where they are needed. E.g., don't appoint a civil engineer in a transport company (your bus company may be properly managed, but at the expense of a longer queueing time: that's the expertise of a mechanical/production engineer), not a layman as president of board of the sole electricity supplier of the country (no need to explain: only an electrical engineer or an equivalent professional can properly fill-in this post), no accountants to keep the reins taut on finances of civil engineering projects (for fear of budget overruns, that's why drains are so poorly designed, improperly supervised, not designed for future development, no proper long-term / flash-flood simulation etc.)
In summary, our Dodoland has great ambitions but systematically fails to invest in decent specialist services to ensure that the projects operational in the long-term: example: Eben cybercity - huge buildings, high concentration of white-collar jobs, but not even one decent bus-stop, pedestrian footpath and PARKING!!! And also, due to no maintenance policy, hideusement sale et crasseux!! This is what we are heading to...

What we need to keep doing, like you are doing here: keep alert on all issues affecting you and expressing yourselves, exposing yourselves to contradictory opinion and build up a sound judgement. This is my humble request to you "Citoyenne Désespérée" and "Kranti".

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

@akakugo: yep, the right person should be at the right place. And yes there should be a better link between effort and reward.

Looks like we've started our own little Kranti here.

Kranti said...

@akakugo

u took it literally. I meant theories ARE bla bla bla for the common man who should be leading a decent life in a decent environment at a reasonable cost.

I agree we can via our exchanges we can influence, or rather try to influence decision makers.

@all

Can we build a REALISTIC PRAGMATIC profile of a politician?

akagugo said...

Two coincidences that will further repel our people from participating fully in the basic human right of freedom of association.
In the meantime, only Rs 6 million are now sufficient to make foreigners eligible for permanent residence in Dodoland...
Clap, clap, clap... Bravo Lepep, bravo.