SAJ Drags Le Reduit into Partisan Politics

He held a half-an-hour press point from there to announce his resignation as President and to take large swipes at the government in general and at the Prime Minister in particular. He should simply have restricted himself to announcing that he is leaving and then say what he wanted to say -- only if he forgot that he has been our President for almost nine years -- from another location after his resignation becomes effective tomorrow.

And if he wants to help the country he can always babysit Pravind. In private. Presidents should not go back to partisan politics.

SAJ Expected To Resign on Friday

As President of the Republic. Mainstream media have announced that he will hold a press conference at Le Reduit at 10h30. SAJ is expected to lead an MSM/MMM alliance into the next general elections. But independent analysts see it more like a move to save his party from extinction.

He turns 82 tomorrow or roughly about the same age when SSR lost power 30 years ago.

Help Return The Chagossians Home

By signing the petition prepared by SPEAK. 19,728 signatures are still needed as I write this. So sign it. Now.

US Picks Dartmouth President For World Bank

He was nominated today by President Obama and given that the US has the greatest number of votes he should be succeeding Robert Zoellick. Developing countries who don't agree on nationality as criteria for the job have until today 18h00 EST to line up their candidates.

How We Ended Up in This Mess

Navin bags 38 seats in historical win by defeating the other two parties in 2005. But instead of immediately devoting his energy to solving problems that matter he starts by blaming voters for not giving him 45 seats. His government then indulges in the worst economic management our country has known: working at best for 1% of the population. Which produces the worst possible economic outcomes including driving the savings rate to a 30-year low. But these are brushed aside as external factors.

People get poorer with the toxic policies and it is increasingly clear that Labour winning in 2010 will not be an easy task. That's especially evident when the world economy rebounds without Mauritius. Odds would have improved substantially with an easily-done sea change in the economic policies but Ramgoolam prefers to focus on the political chessboard: SAJ is wooed with a second presidential mandate and Pravind is elected with Labour support before replacing Sithanen who is dumped unceremoniously.

Berenger fails to capitalise on Paglanomics and loses an election Ramgoolam was not supposed to win. Fifteen months later the MSM exits government and leaves Ramgoolam with a paper-thin majority. Berenger then drags the President into partisan politics. And things get ugly.

Things Getting Ugly Atop Republic

Speaking after the PM at the Hindu House this evening the President criticised the authorities namely for turning a blind eye to the alarming increase in substance abuse. He also stressed the important point that the struggle for independence was not the work of one man. An allusion no doubt to the spin that the current PM has been putting for a good many years on this and other events that have marked the history of our young country.

Prompted for comments afterwards, Navin Ramgoolam blamed senility for the President's speech and challenged him to come back into the political arena. Chances are these two personalities will not meet on Thursday...

Meet The Great Communicator

That's how the late Ronald Reagan was dubbed for being so good at getting his message across. Navin Ramgoolam is like that too. We saw that again on Saturday morning. He delivered another almost perfect press conference. For sure he does what great artists do. Still, his main opponents, Pravind and Paul, are not only light-years behind: listening to any of their press conferences could reduce your brain cells by half. And given that Berenger holds one every week no wonder then that the MMM has been brain-dead for so long. Which would also explain why it hasn't changed strongman in the last forty-three years. Despite having lost so many elections. Despite liking to brag about having a lot of talent within its ranks.

Ramgoolam of course cannot get a lot better talking to us. So that the only way he could be remembered as a better Prime Minister than SAJ is to end his seven-year old economic policies of putting 1% of the people first.

Wanted: 3 Leaders

1 kot MSM (Muvman Sinksu Morisyin) parski apre dis banane depi ki lin erit lidersip parti soley Pravind pe kont lor so papa pu fer en zafer ki en presidan pa sipoze fer: remont lor kes savon.

1 kot Ptr (Parti Transfiz Ramgoolam) parski Navin usi pe enkor kont tro buku lor so papa pu li kontinye gagn kat motosiklet divan loto ki nu don li pu al promne partu. Li pa interese et kon regle ban problem ki importan pu moris.

1 kot MMM (Muvman Manzer Mamba) parski telman Paul pe fer ban militan manz mamba semen apre semen ki ena militan fin aret ekut solda lalit militan: zot pe santi zot buku pli alez avek Mambo No. 5.

Leo Scores A Double, Then A Hat-trick

A week ago against Leverkusen. That's a Champions League record. And it was such a pleasure to see the guy's reaction after this extraordinary performance: happy but humble. Messi is second to none when it comes to not wasting energy on what's not important. Michael Jordan was like that too. His Airness kept all his power to stay in the air one more second than his opponents.

Bilbao too has shown some impressive football last week and I hear yesterday too. And tiny tiny team Apoel eliminated Lyon after demonstrating character on the field. All this reminded me of the excitement of watching the selecao play ages back.

MPC Undergoes Makeover

This follows the recent review of Sir Alan Budd and -- shall we point out? -- our modest suggestion. So from now on the Governor along with three officers of the bank he has picked plus five people selected by the Minister of Finance  -- after, and that's important, consultation with the Governor -- will constitute the MPC. The five people chosen by the Minister must have recognised and relevant experience.

It is interesting to note that three of the five members nominated by XLD are foreigners and that includes a woman.

PM Addresses Nation From Sitting Position

And the Speaker can't get mad because he was speaking to us from Clarisse House. For sure he had his political game face on. Which explains why he used his prerogative to postpone the resumption of parliament by 27 days.

He is probably worried that his paper-thin majority is in jeopardy. And he will try to close a deal on electoral reform with the MMM which would then seal an electoral alliance. Even if that means perverting our democracy. Even if that's not a priority.

I Love Mauritius

Should Foreign Military Parade on March 12?

Apparently French soldiers from FAZSOI are set to participate in our Independence celebrations at Champ de Mars.

What do you think?

MMM Votes To Compromise Presidency

Indeed on Saturday a supermajority of its central committee voted in favour of having Sir Aneerood Jugnauth lead an MSM/MMM alliance as Prime Ministerial candidate in the next general elections. The snag is that SAJ is our President and as everyone knows -- save 33 members of the central committee, Cassam Uteem and Jayen Cuttaree -- Presidents are not supposed to go back to partisan politics. That is we don't want to see them on a political platform again.

This vote also raises some serious questions about the strength of the leadership of Pravind Jugnauth who inherited the job almost a decade back. At the same time it confirms that the MMM badly needs a new leader. ASAP.

iPad 3 To Be Unveiled on Wednesday

At the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Fran. Faster processor and still better display expected while Apple is now worth more than half a trillion dollars.  How big is Steve's company? Well its net income is larger than Google's turnover. Not bad, eh?