2018: The Year in Review

Q1: Lepep Tram will not be biggest project ever. By-election hints at how return to 40 SMCs would make our democracy more vibrant. Error found in app of Electoral Commission. Reconstruction of great party cannot happen while he's there. Two Nobels didn't get Mauritius wrong. Sithanen toohrooh will grow by Rs300 billion if sanity not brought back to our tax structure. Mauritius turns 50. PJ announces resignation of President, latter has other plans. Calculation of Sithanen toohrooh explained. Road fatalities in Singapore fall by 14%. Next general election is going to be a lot more open.

Q2: Sound management explained. Chuttoo thinks Ivan wants to be kicked out government. The best Kreol dictionary in town. Why we shouldn't legalise pot. Is recruiting at the CEB biased? Recall elections are seriously overdue. More than 30% of World Bank reports never downloaded. Big electoral imbalances almost never last. 24/7 water for all should happen within five years. Putin begins last term with brand new car. Why creating the URA was a mistake. Wasn't 2018 supposed to be the year of the second 'economic miracle'? Some days are way better to present the budget. SEG has at least two more flaws. Another budget to nowhere. Only idiots will love Mars.

Q3: Water is a great role model. When will NASA go to the moon again? Weighing an elephant is no easy task. Sadhguru explains how India is different. Politician taking us for morons. Looks like something is brewing. That sugar has no future has been obvious for more than a decade. 10,000 Yankees died from cocaine addiction in 2016. Sharks want appointment with Minister. World listens as story of Chagos told at the ICJ. Road fatalities may hit all-time record this year. PM makes URA redundant. A framework to analyse decolonisation.

Q4: Pravind al lapes rekin ek enn lapipi danzere. Canada rejects proportional representation. Marx at 200. Shelina eksplik kuma fer zasar lisu. How important is ethnicity in deciding elections? Our roads killed 6,716 in 50 years. Although it promised several one referendum would be a great start. Mauritian voters are quite mature. Why politicians want a dose of PR. Why we lost two decades on electoral reform. Division of votes should become standard parliamentary practice. Doing Business is a misnomer. PM presses ahead with plan to make us a banana republic. Worse than termites.

What's Worse Than Termites?

Why Division of Votes Should Become Standard Parliamentary Practice

And available in a spreadsheet on the website of our National Assembly. Simple. So we can know how each MP voted on each bill or motion. This will help us understand what the representatives we send to parliament stand for. And if her speeches are consistent with her voting pattern. This is useful information before getting in an election booth or deciding whether to trigger a recall election. See, who wouldn't want to know who was for the negative income tax, rise in old age pension and the ICT 'annoyance' law to name just a few?

Why Electoral Reform Got Sidetracked For a Couple of Decades

The first reason is that the really smart politicians who understood the dangers of proportional representation (PR) passed away thirty or more years ago and were not replaced by a crop of a similar calibre. SKJ and SSR died in 1985 while Renganaden Seeneevassen who was one of the fiercest critic of PR was gone even earlier – he died in the middle of 1958. The only politician of that generation who is still active is SAJ which would explain why he dubbed PR a komeraz. But then again he doesn't seem to fully understand all the risks of PR. This is reflected in the dangerous bill on electoral reform before parliament. It has failed to address the problems with government formation countries encounter when they add a dose of PR to a first-past-the-post (FPTP) system. And we definitely cannot count on Navin Ramgoolam and today's Labour Party to bring wisdom to the debate. They're deeply mired in trickle-down economics and bean-counting.

The second reason is terms of reference (TOR) that were too narrow. From Sachs to Sithanen only PR solutions were considered although better non-PR solutions exists. There was even a brief attached (see screenshot) by the MMM to the TOR of the Sachs commission. It's fine to raise an eyebrow. The big plus of course is the internet. Ideas can spread a lot faster than before in our hyperconnected world.

The Real Reason Politicians Want Dose of PR

It's not because they want more women in parliament. Legislation can be passed within our current first-past-the-post (FPTP) system to have female candidates represent at least one-third of the candidates. It's not to remove the obligation for candidates to categorise themselves into one of the four categories of the best loser system (BLS) either as we just need to chop this section off our constitution to do that. Besides the BLS is not subsumable. It's not to specifically correct the big imbalances that were generated in four of the last 11 general elections because these can be handled in a way that doesn't take away any of the huge benefits of the FPTP. Plus we need to remember that three of the four lopsided results collapsed before 21 months.

So what's the reason for a dose of PR and increasing the size of a parliament that voters across party lines already find way too big? Easy. To create a class of MPs that's a lot more difficult to remove in a general election as shown in the chart above.

Make sure your MP knows you don't want this. 

How You Know the BLS is Not Subsumable

That's easy. Just check the democracy-shrinking bill on electoral reform that the PM will be bringing to parliament tomorrow. If a party doesn't line up at least 1/3 of women or men (see p6) it will lose its party status and will therefore not get any proportional representation (PR) seats. If a PR-MP crosses the floor his or her seat may be declared vacant under certain conditions. Clearly these are sanctions. But look for one if you don't line up candidates from more than one community and you will find none. Are there sanctions if names on the party lists don't reflect some of our diversity? Nope. Any sanctions if the best loser seats as defined in the dangerous proposal are attributed to members of one community? Ziltch.

We know that the BLS has deprived us of some really good oppositions. And that 50 years of progress is enough proof to do away with it because the best protection for any minority is policies that makes sense: progressive taxation, respect for the environment and solving national problems. But that's not what happening. Attempts are being made to fool us into believing that an autocracy will make us a united country. This is also what Rezistans ek Alternativ has effectively been doing for several years.

How Mature Are Mauritian Voters?

Quite mature and increasingly so. We just need to look at the calm environment in which our elections take place. Plus voters have proceeded with five changes of government (see 1) with four of these happening in the past twenty-three years. These were made a lot easier by our FPTP system which produced clear winners immediately in ten out of eleven general elections – it took a tiny bit more time to form a government in 1976. And given how we massively rejected the wicked plan of a scheming trio in December 2014 it is natural that proposed changes to our electoral system be put to us in a referendum and not decided in parliament as it smacks of a conflict of interest. Especially when they will seriously blunt a weapon we've used to keep several politicians out of our National Assembly including the five who have been our PMs. And open the door for all kinds of additional abuse in these times of passport sale and ministerial eye-test.

6,716 Road Fatalities in 5 Decades

As the chart shows fatalities increased by about one-third as from the third decade and pretty much stayed at that level since then. Which roughly coincides with the time we've been stuck in the middle-income trap – half of which we've been in the flat-tax trap.

Lepep Had Promised Several Referendums

In its electoral manifesto (see p7). The PM should forget about several and instead organise one with some crucially important questions like in the chart below. I can't think of more important issues like tax structure and electoral reform. We know what the flat tax has done to the finances of our government and to the country. We are also aware how lucky we are to have such a good constitution. Hey, it has produced clear winners immediately after 10 out 11general elections and stable government after stable government. That's no small benefit for a SIDS like us. Plus we are very mature voters. We have handled five changes of government with four of these happening in the past 23 years. No small feat. So ask us what we think. And get our permission.

Organising a referendum will also bring two major advantages to Lepep. The first one is to avoid a catastrophe in a year by getting precious feedback from voters now for an immediate course-correct. The second one is to be the first government to organise a referendum. That's some bragging rights. If the questions are genuine that is.

Eski Etnisite Pli Gro Fakter Dan Eleksyon Zeneral?

Dan enn interviu an Fevriye 2014 dan Mauritius Times Sithanen dir ki etnisite eksplik ant 65% a 70% rezilta sak eleksyon an mwayenn ek li finn al ziska 85% trwa fwa ek ant 50% ek 55% pu de 60-0. Li ti osi dir ki sa zame pu sanze. Nu rapel usi ki li ti prevwar ki Ptr/MMM ti pu gayne par 60-0 parski "40% + 40% = 80%". Pa bliye ki li ti sanz sirkonskripsyon. Li ti kit nimero 18 kot li ti for pu al dan nimero 13. Si linn buz dan nimero 13 se sirma pu bann rezon etnik parski samem fakter pli inportan dapre li. Amwin li kwar ki dimunn laba pa kone ki li ti fer ar lintere labank. Ek se sirman pu bann mem rezon etnik ki li ti poz dan nimero 18 plizir fwa.

Be kuma li eksplike ki linn tronp li par 47 siez pu Desam 2014, ki li mem finn perdi so siez ek ki Ramgoolam ek Boolell pa finn eli alor ki zot ti eli dan zot sirkonskripsyon sinq ek sis fwa dafile? Lot zafer se kifer li pann poz so kandida dan nimero 18 an Desam 2017? Drol usi ki pann truv li lor lestrad Ptr ant 2015 ek preske lafin 2017 non? Ek kifer li pann gayn tiket an 2010 uswa poze kuma indepandan swa dan nimero 18 ubyen dan nimero 13? Anfet li ti dekrir sa bayantaz la kuma pli gran trayizon politik (lol!). Be si sa ti vre li ti kav prezant li divan lelektora ek nu ti va gete si pa li ti pu fer enn top skor kuma Dayal an 2000 (Dayal ki ti perdi so job kuma komiser lapolis ti pu eli si mwins ki 300 dimunn ti vot li olye Daureeawoo).

Bon se vre ki se pa promye fwa ki li ti pe montre ki li pa tro for dan analiz. Pa limem ti dir nu pu gayn krwasans 8% si bes taks kuma linn fer a partir 2006 (mank omwin 300 milyar rupi dan lakes guvernman par rapor a so previzyon)? Apre nunn truv so reform elektoral: enn veritab galimatia danzere. Sa zafer etnik la se enn diversyon pu ki zot kav kontinye kul Moris ek bann politik ki favoriz zot ek zis enn ti ponye dimunn.

Zot pe gayn traka parksi dimunn zot lizye pe uver de plis an plis. Dernye de reklam se Desam 2014 ek Desam 2017. 

Strong Fingers Needed

Galbraith At 110

The first time I heard about him was when I saw my dad showing a couple of the books of the great economist to some people in his study – which also served as living room. I was probably watching Spiderman – thank you Stan Lee – but kept an eye on what they were doing. You know just in case the massive personal library did have some cartoon books somewhere. It looked like he was a fan. How could he not be? They were both curious writers, sharp observers, had designed policies and even spent a fair amount of time in India.

I think the first JKG book I read from cover to cover was The Great Crash and funnily enough I read it in 1987 a year in which the Dow Jones collapsed by 508 points in a single day. It didn't take long to like the guy and learn plenty of stuff. For example it is in one of his books that I learned that we owe the sentence the survival of the fittest not to Charles Darwin but to Herbert Spencer. Elsewhere that trickle-down economics aka supply-side economics was in fact the horse and sparrow theory of the 1890s. It was obvious that Ken had read an extremely large amount of stuff. And it is important to read him to get the big picture, avoid groupthink and develop enough of self-preserving wit.

I always wondered if my dad and Galbraith had met. Thanks to Assange I found out that he was trying to get him to visit Mauritius back in 1974. They probably have. When I feel nostalgic about JKG I go read this obituary to be reminded that it takes several versions for a text to feel right and that spontaneity doesn't arrive before the fourth day. November 15 also turns out to be the birthday of another great: Guy Rozemont.

Waters Squeezes in Perfectly Legal Message

Last night in Curitiba, Brazil. See, it was unlawful to campaign after 22h00 so at 21h58 a multi-part message appears on the concert screen to remind fans of this fact and to urge them to prevent fascism from taking over their country in the general election today. Also included in the message was the slogan used to motivate the movement against seeing Bolsonaro occupying the Planalto in the coming days: Ele Não! (Not Him!). Not too sure that this attempt of the 75-year old rockstar will be enough though as the right-wing candidate still has a double-digit lead over his rival, Mr. Haddad. Indeed the fact that Brazil has just been in one of its worst recession ever and the law and order situation seemed to have got out hand – 17 of the 50 cities with the worst crime rates are in the huge South-American nation – doesn't favour the election of candidate of Lula's party.

Marine Le Pen must be watching all of this and thinking she'll be calling the shots in about three and half years. And blessing failed policies.

What do you think the flat tax is eventually going to make happen in Mauritius?

Les Shelina Montre U Kuma Fer Zasar Lisu

Monn seye ena inpe letan. Pa ti mal ditu. U kav aste zepis zasar fini prepare si u pale kraz lor ros kari u dan graynder. Mo prefer long pima ver ek mo met li an dernye pu li res ferm ek li fer mwa kone li la ler mo manz mo dipin zasar. Enn lot ti zafer ki u kav fer se azut enn ti kuyer delwil mutard pu aranz so gu ankor plis.

Getting a Handle On Electoral Reform Has Never Been Easier

Understanding the issues of electoral reform is very important because it sets the rules of the political game. But just like with anything else there is a minimum investment of energy and time required to figure them out. That can be more difficult than it should have been when you have a biased media putting intellectually dishonest politicians with a giant skills-mismatch like Sithanen on a pedestal. It doesn't help either that the Labour Party is currently in the darkest phase of its history.

So the above table will be quite handy to bring a maximum of voters up to speed with the three principal options. Both the Sithanen (RS/NR/PB) and the Pravind Jugnauth proposals would have increased the number of additional MPs we had over the last eleven general elections by over one hundred – the actual numbers would be between 124 and 168. They would also have made government formation a lot more difficult and led to unstable governments and to more governments with much shorter durations – you can bet we would have ended up with a lot more than 11 of them. These proposals would basically turn the plutocracy we're in into an autocracy afflicted with a perpetual political crisis. 

The last proposal is one which I've worked on for the past eight years with most of the interesting work done in the past four. It starts with our current system and makes use of the important insight that the problem of large imbalances between vote share and number of MPs in the FPTP system can be recast as one of an opposition that's below a minimum size. Which is why unlike PR-based systems it allocates additional seats only to candidates that are not in the winning alliance and only when there's not enough MPs in the opposition. It also recommends three tools to deepen our democracy. Find out more about these and its other features.

Karl At 200

So he got the boom and bust cycles and inequality right but missed the ability of capitalism to reform itself and the establishment of welfare states which boosted upward social mobility and improved lives. He didn't foresee Marxist regimes killing people on a horrendous scale either. After ideology had become an opium or tool of deception for too many of his followers. But the most interesting thing about Marx was the healthy dose of scepticism he kept about ideas including his own (read with a free subscription). He was relatively unknown during his life with between nine and eleven people attending his funeral.

The MMM started out as a Marxist-Leninist party. Would you believe this? While a recent breakaway faction with interesting initials wants to privatise water.

Trudeau Rejects Proportional Representation

Just like voters here did in December 2014. And several decades before that. The Canadian PM says he understands that PR would harm his country. Basically what the Labour Party before 1982 understood.

Our Constituencies Should Be Unpaired Back

To how they were in 1959 and 1963. That is 40 single-member constituencies (SMC) for Mauritius – we should add two for Rodrigues. It's ok for now that some are much larger than others. That's not a national priority. What is is to have very competitive elections in every riding and move away from such nonsense as "si zot anvi minis vot 3-0" and God knows what. We've seen how interesting the last by-election in no. 18 was. Plenty of good debates and surprising results. Let's face it, voters are becoming smarter every day. For example I was surprised to see that many people now fully understand that the flat tax had already caused a gigantic shortfall – a toohrooh of more than a trillion rupees at the end of last year. This is very promising for the quality of our debates.

Given that voters look set to connect a lot more dots – two are more casinos in city-centres = more drugs in school and elsewhere – the Electoral Boundaries Commission should do the spadework to allow a reversion to our setup of SMCs because they're coming back. Sooner than we think. The other big advantage of having 40-odd SMCs is that they would enable same-day results – with a likely winner announced on national TV around 8pm – as there would be three times less votes to count. This would cut the overall cost of a general election substantially.

So What Has Bernard Giraudeau Been Up To?

I am watching a movie about a week ago and the French actor who was quite popular as from the late 1970s is in it – I had also grown up reading stories about him in Paris Match. So I google him up. I immediately find out that he died eight years ago. How could I have missed that? I keep reading and discover that he died from cancer and that the latter had made him understand life and himself better. This reminded me of Steve Jobs qualifying death as very likely life's single best invention. Which he probably got from his Zen-Buddhism explorations. This is another way of saying that we have only the present moment.

Guess we can't keep tabs on everyone who's dying. Like Vinod Khanna – a prominent and magnetic actor in Bollywood – about whose passing I found out a few months after. He died of bladder cancer. Smoking doubles the risk of getting this type of cancer. A bladder isn't designed to handle toxins present in a cigarette. Smoking will also expose you to at least 10 other cancers.

Let's return to Giraudeau and listen how he managed the last stage of his life.

PJ Could Top Grim Table By Year-End

The one for ten years of biggest road fatalities. A word of caution though. In two years – 1995 and 2000 – there was a change of PM so the corresponding numbers don't entirely 'belong' to the PMs listed for them. We allocated the full year to the PM who was in office for more than half of the year.

PJ who is already in the list along with three former PMs – Bérenger's first entry of 144 for 2004 is at the 17th spot – is likely to see his number for 2018 go all the way to the top under three scenarios. The first two are if the last third of this year relative to the first two is like those for 2016 and 2014. The third if we extrapolate the total of 115 deaths reached at the end of August. Another entry might go in the middle of the table if 2018 is more like 2015. Of course all four entries would bump his entry for 2017 – his first year as PM – out of this ranking.

We haven't made good progress in road safety for way too long. And in the last thirteen years the economy-breaking Sithanen flat tax and other indecent fiscal exemptions have ensured that we didn't have enough money to bring road deaths down in a significant and persistent manner. Unlike say Singapore which has seen road fatalities decline in every one of the past ten years except two – here they have been increasing for each of the last three years with Bodha as Minister – reducing them literally by half. The type of tax structure you have determines the number of people who die on roads. So this makes the flat tax akin to a drone assassination programme. And exposes the absurdity of calls to transform the revenues of the dead sugar industry into a guaranteed fixed-deposit.

Kuma Fin Dekoloniz Moris

Ek trwa zafer. Nu sistem elektoral FPTP, taksasion progresif e sutenab ek talan. Sa li ti vre promye 37 banane apre lindepandans – ladan 14 an ti top parski nun regle ban problem difisil kuma bom demografik ek fin mont welfer steyt. Me depi 2005 nun rant dan en period de rekolonizasion ek flat tax Sithanen kin kas nu lekonomi. La ena enn deziem tantativ pu ranplas FPTP ek en sistem otokrasi ki pwena PR ek la lwa anti-transfiz ek si pa ki lot gonaz. Fer tan u lavwa. Ek diman en referandum lor sa zafer fondamantal la kuma Lepep ti mete dan pwin nimero 9 kontra de konfians dan so manifes elekroral – tiek paz 7. 

Vivekananda's Chicago Speech Turns 125

You must have heard about that famous speech he delivered at the Parliament of the World's Religions on September 11, 1893. Here's the text/video version which has been stripped of the standing ovation you can hear a bit better in this one. 'The cyclonic mock' was a disciple of Ramakrishna – a friend had explained this to me several years ago but I didn't pay that much attention – and considered the rockstar in that Chicago meeting.

I came across Vivekananda in some recent readings. More on this later.

Pink Floyd Frontman Blasts MSM for Hiding Reality

MSM here is short for mainstream media. Good time to listen to this and to wonder if it hadn't inspired the greatest ever TV ad.

Serbi Kalifye Deportasyon Sagosyen Kuma Enn Krim Kont Limanite

Taler la divan ICJ. Tayland usi ti fer enn prezantasyon byen interesan. So reprezantan ti pe dir ki byen ki zot pa ti kolonize zot finn peye enn pri elve pu pa vinn enn koloni. Vanwatu finn sulve bann pwin byen pertinan. Zot finn dir par ekzanp ki pa fasil pu enn ti pei fer Nasyon Ini dimann ICJ so lavi lor enn zafer. De dimunn kinn koz pu Vanwatu ti byen Zen. Mari agreab ekut zot.

Res zis Zanbi ek Linyon Afrikin. Swiv sa bann diskur la dernye kat zur fer nu konpran la lwa internasyonal, listwar ek enn ta lezot zafer pli byen dan enn mari ti letan.

Wai dekolonizasyon se enn size byen konplex. Bizin plizir variab pu analiz li byen.

Inside the International Court of Justice

So we should be expecting to hear from the ICJ within four to six months.

De Zafer Ki Bizin Fer Pu Rant Dan Palestinn

Rekin Pe Rod Randevu Ek Minis

Komye rekin bizin mor avan ki nu konpran ki ferm akwakol pe koz enn debalansman la natir? Ki nu pu fer kan rekin kumans atak dimunn lor enn frekans ki nu pankor truve? Nu pwavoy SMF elimin zot kuma nu ti fer ek sovsuri san ki sa regle nanyin?

Apre kifer nu bizin la ferm akwakol kan nu zonn maritim de milyon kilomet kare ek kominote peser lokal inn pare pwal lapes dan Nazareth ek Saya de Malha? Ki nu piatan pu donn zot kudme ki bizin?

Cocaine Killed 10,000 Americans in 2016

But synthetics opiods – excluding Methadone which caused more than 3,000 deaths – killed twice as much. And two times more than it did in 2015. What do the stats look like here given how weak we are in picking up patterns?

An 2007 Ti Deza Evidan Ki Kann Pena Lavenir

Ek mem avan. Aster an 2018 vomye pa koze.

Kuma Parti Lalit Diferan

Wadire Enn Tsunami Politik Pe Vini Biento

Desam 2014 tienn rezilta sok kot elekter pa finn ule ditu ki vinn ranplas zot sistem elektoral ek zot styl guvernman par gonaz pu pa dir lot zafer. Trwa zan apre nun truv enn lot zafer interesan. Pu promye fwa dan enn parsyel kat elekter lor sink pa finn vot pu kandida kinn eli. Anfet ler nu get bann rezilta bann parsyel pli an detay nu truv enn zafer extraordiner – get tiart lao. Pu promye fwa dan enn parsyel bizin azut vot sis promye kandida pu ariv enn total vot 90% u plis. Zame pann arive avan sa. Avan ti zis bizin de u trwa kandida. Ek ler u azut sa ek sa turnout pli feb ki nun gayne dan enn parsyel la sa konfirm omwin de zafer: enn ki elekter inn plin ar bann parti tradisyonel ki pena oken bon solisyon pu Moris – zot pe plito prese pu kul nu pei – ek de ki zot nepli ezite pu vot pu bann 'ti' parti. 

Eski u realize ki Bizlall finn gayn 11.5% dan sa parsyel la ek linn sort katriyem? Se mem skor ki li ti fer an Desam 2014. Sof ki sa ti enn eleksyon zeneral kot dimunn ena trwa vot. Dan parsyel Belroz-Katborn zot tiena enn sel vot. Ek MMM pa finn fer mem 3% plis ki Jack. Donk wadire elekter pe kraz enn bon masala lor ros kari.

Sa post la pe pibliye 14h20 pu enn rezon. Promye post lor Kozelidir usi ti paret sa ler la. An 2008.

Non Arvin, Kann Se Pa Nu Serengeti

Non, non, non. Kann se pa nu Serengeti. Li dan Serengeti. Mo fek truv li. Alalila.

Sadhguru Explains How India is Different

Meet One More Gigantic Flaw of the SEG

Last June we exposed another huge flaw of the SEG (Sithanen Electoral Galimatia) namely that government formation could take a lot more time to happen – we'd move from a few days to several months and we might even have to go vote again. But that proposal which was dumped by voters in December 2014 also ignores the important fact that the biggest imbalances that our FPTP produced didn't last that long. As Table 2 shows three out of the four broke down by the 21st month and I know that a large number of MPs shifted into the opposition in at least two of them. 

Now given that the SEG would have allocated all 20 PR seats to the losing alliance in 1995 and that the winning one had distributed the electoral tickets 35 to 25 Ramgoolam's government would not have survived a motion of no-confidence if at least 22 MPs shifted into the opposition when the alliance collapsed. And this can happen to government after government.  

Naturally these flaws and the others we've discussed before are likely to combine to poison the political atmosphere of our country. Essentially doing what the Sithanen flat tax has done to the Mauritian economy.

How to Weigh a Baby Elephant

Si Rapor Komisyon Ladrog Fini Deor

Ankor ek sa lavites la, be sa rapor la bank mondyal lor afermaz CWA la pa kav pa vinn piblik deswit.

Why NASA Hasn't Been to the Moon Again

Be Like Bruce

And be like water. So you can express yourself honestly. Mr. Lee died 45 years today. That was such a shocking death. There was no gradual degradation as in the case of Steve Jobs that would have made you see it coming. Indeed the SF-born founder of Jeet Kune Do – roughly the BMW of martial arts – was only 32 when he breathed his last in Hong Kong. He basically did for martial arts what his airness did for basket-ball.

1973 was also quite an interesting year. Indeed the first oil crisis happened just a few months after Bruce passed away.

Give the Ball to Kevin!

Such a treat to watch him play. Was a strong contender to win the PFA player of the year award but then Mo Salah started to score one magical goal after the other. He was not his usual self against France and Belgium missed the World Cup final by a hair's breadth. But we'll see him on Saturday and on August 12 when City visits Arsenal for their first game of the 2018/19 season.

Cavani Goals Are Not Taken Lightly

What's Not Happening During the Russian World Cup

The loss of the pre-eminent position of Uruguay as a football powerhouse. At two World Cups for a population of 3.5m it has won almost 24 times more of these tournaments per capita than Brazil. Italy, its closest rival which won the trophy four times but which didn't qualify for Russia 2018, has 0.066 cup per million inhabitants. That's 8.6 times less than the homeland of Luis Suarez. The Mannschaft is in third place with four victories but would not have overtaken the Italians even if they had not crashed out of the group stage and gone all the way to get the prize from Vlamidir Putin on July 15. Blame it on its population which is more than a third larger.

This doesn't mean that there can't be any movement in the rankings. Indeed six of the countries who are in the knockout stage and have not won the World Cup yet have populations of less than 12m. That's small enough for any of them to take Italy's spot. Plus two of these countries, Croatia and Sweden, are the teams which have impressed the most so far. A sixth title for the Selecao – the favourite at the bookies – will not improve their fifth position. They will just get a bit closer to Argentina which they might meet in the semis.

As for Uruguay should it grab its third title it will increase its cup to population ratio to almost the level it was when it shocked Brazil in the Maracana in 1950. Finally it's been eight years since a new country last added its name to the select list of World Cup winners – the newest member of the eight-nation club joined twelve years after the seventh. That's not exactly the longest we've had to wait to see this group grow. 

Sithanen-like Budget Provides Plenty of Fuel for Fresh Voter Outrage

There's a couple of good things in the budget like the probationary driving licence and larger fines to roll back the sloppiness that had put us on a trajectory of record road fatalities – though it's better that the fines are a share of income to remove the regressiveness – but there's also plenty of stuff that's simply not acceptable. Seriously the Lepep government now plans to sell our citizenship to attract more non-productive FDI which has been defacing Mauritius for more than a decade? 

Government needs cash for sure. But that is easy to obtain. It can add a few brackets at the top of the tax structure and things will start improving as public finances will regain a firmer footing and government won't have to spend that much time getting creative about budgetary numbers. It is also ridiculous to increase the custom duty on sugar more than five times to try to shelter that dead industry and at the same time make it easier for our greatest asset, our people, to see their human capital under-utilised or worse totally go to waste by 'opening-up' our labour markets in the most irresponsible manner.

Nice try fooling the middle-class people with the small tax break. But they know very well that they have already paid for it with abusive petrol and electricity prices for so many years. They can also compute our GDP growth in USD to refine their estimate of the bean-counting that has been going on and pause to think which pressing problems have been solved during the past three and a half years. They will surely realise that Ramgoolam, a neoliberal just like XLD and Berenger, would not have done any better. And remember that they will be voting soon.

SEG Found to Have At Least Two More Giant Flaws

SEG stands for the Sithanen Electoral Galimatia and the first giant flaw is that government formation could take a lot more time after the polls reveal their secrets. How much more time? Well you can look at some of the recent experiences of countries where the electoral setup is either a proportional representation (PR) system or a mixture of PR and First Past The Post (FPTP). This is summarised in the table below. So including a dose of PR might leave us without a new government for as long as six months. This compares pretty unfavourably to the seven days it took us here in 2014.

And there is worse. If no government is able to emerge from a general election for a given period of time we may need to vote again as it's going to happen in Italy soon. Plus I believe the cost of a general election is in the neighbourhood of Rs300m. The cost is even greater for sticking with a caretaker government in the meantime as it would not feel it has popular support to carry out important work. Mauritius cannot afford so much uncertainty. That's for sure. God bless our FPTP system.

What about at least another giant flaw? Stay tuned.

Dis Top Zur Pu Prezant Bidze

No. 10. Uvertir kup di mond

No. 9. Dimans Pak

No 8. Maha Sivaratri

No. 7. La Nwel

No. 6. Fet de mor

No. 5. Divali

No 4. Zur kot ena deliz

No 3. Le 31 Desam

No 2. Zur kot ena siklonn klas kat

Ek pli top zur pu prezant bidze se

No 1. Le 12 Mars

No Shakira Song For The Russian World Cup

It's instead going to be Nicky Jam with Will Smith and Era Istrefi. A bit sad about that? No problem. Here are the three contributions of the Colombian mega star which you massively enjoyed: Germany 2006; South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014.

The other good news is that she has recovered from a vascular lesion and is now making good on her promise to enjoy every single night. Hmm, this reminds me of something I heard a while ago.

No Better Day To Ban Plastic Bottles

We know drinking from them is no good for our health. Or for mother earth. A cheaper and healthier alternative is to use old glass bottles at home to store boiled water. It tastes better too. You can even label it with your name. That's a much better decision as a citizen of a country of 1.3 million people and about nine amputations every week than to have a personalised can of soda. You can also buy a container and carry water with you when you go play.

Little things like this will make us more respectful of the environment and make spaceship Earth last a lot longer. Unless you are in a hurry to go live indoors on Mars forever. Like an idiot.

Why Did Zidane Leave Real?

Kind of surprising to see him go as all we heard him say on the topic of quitting after winning the Champions League (CL) was that he didn't think CR7 would leave Madrid. Now that Zinedine has left one might recall that Bale said he needs to play every week. We might add the two facts together and think he was shown the door because the owners of the club probably value Bale and Ronaldo more than the manager. But there are reports that Christiano is devasted by the decision of his coach. But it's true that devastations come in all kinds of stripes.

For sure winning three CL in a row had never been done before but Real grabbed only one La Liga title in the last four seasons – the other three went to its arch-rival, the Barça. And they finished third in the last season. Plus they did look quite vulnerable against Juventus and not very impressive in the final before Mo was brought down. These big clubs don't tolerate dips in performance for too long. 

How Jurgen Plans To Tackle Real's Experience Advantage

Liverpool was never supposed to be in this final. Definitely not after we saw the kind of out-of-this-world football that Man City was playing. Still the Reds beat them in both legs of the CL quarter-final. And then we beat Roma, another very strong side. Plus it is great that Solanke and Robertson scored their first EPL goal in the last game of the 2017/8 season.

Kyiv is in 55 hours.

Go Liverpool! Go!

Things Meghan Won't Do From Now On

Diri Basmati Ki U Manze La Ki Dir?

Parski minister pu kontrol komers sa diri la inpe pli byen. Se drol parski depi ase lontan ena sa problem la. Par ekzamp an novam 2010 Cabinet ti desid pu promilge bann regilasyon pu anfors enn bann standard MSB.

Antuka depi 2 banane par la monn remarke ki diri basmati ki mo servi nepli parey kuma avan. Mwespere pwena laman pu sa bann inportater san skripil la.

Lepep Seems To Have A Serious Problem With Trees

First they destroy the unique Promenade Roland Armand for a tram that will not solve the traffic frankenstein. Now we hear that 63 acres of forest are going to be cleared so potatoes can be be grown on them. And let's not forget what happened to our flying fox – a species that was red-listed by the IUCN.

It would have been a lot better to follow some good advice. Which would have provided us with some interesting bragging rights. Instead of granting an indecent amount of exemptions to smart cities.

Decision-makers seem to have forgotten why trees are important. And why nature needs to be respected. But this shouldn't come as a surprise.

Pa Tigit Zordir Nun Tande Lor CWA

Collendavelloo ti truve ki bizin privatiz CWA parski li pa kontan so hotline. Apre lin dir striktir CWA ki pa bon. Lerla lin dir ki lin konpran ki bizin labank mondial pu develop nu sekter delo. Pa komik sa? En pake pei fin remet an kestyon striktir labank mondial depi si pa komie banane. An plis se en institision ki an deklin – an 2011 Lasin ti pe deza don plis lohn Lafrik ki labank mondial.

En lot so ban argiman bidon se ki person pa pu perdi travay. Lol! En mari dialog sa. Be eski nu pu privatiz ADSU ek lakur siprem osi lontan ki person pa pu perdi zot plas? Mo sir pwena dimun interese zer sa de institision la. Sof ki gran mazorite sitwayin pa pu dakor. Parey kuma person pa dakor pu mont pri dilo uswa zet en ta nu kas dan en kontra afermaz debil.

Why the Utility Regulatory Authority Should Be Scrapped

Given the size of our island prices of energy sources can and should be determined by Cabinet after some analysis is done at the Ministry of Finance. The more so that the link between international energy prices and what we pay for them here has been severed for almost a decade to finance a flat tax which has broken our economy. Even some back-of-envelope calculations would be a big improvement. This is especially true in a global environment where clean energy is becoming increasingly cheap and abundant as storage options expand.

We certainly cannot consider the price of water in isolation – the CEB and the CWA regularly clip an annual combined surplus of around Rs2 billion – especially when we've been ripped off with uncompetitive electricity prices because of abusive and confidential contracts or Ministers who don't know what they are doing. The argument that the CEB produces less than 50% of our electricity and therefore disqualifies it as the one who sets its price is ridiculous because it is an institution that belongs to every Mauritian even those that are shareholders in the IPPs.

Vladimir Gets New Car For Last Term

It looks like a cross between a Rolls and a Benz. Man, those corridors.

24/7 Water For All Should Happen in 2023

If the rate of progress achieved between 2015 and 2017 – see chart – is maintained. Earlier probably as the big Bagatelle Dam will go live soon. Or if more money is pumped into our network. All of this has been achieved with the existing structure and people in place and without any dumb affermage contract as recommended by an international loan shark. And despite the continuous bad-mouthing from a massively incompetent Minister. Recall elections are seriously overdue.

Why Mauritius Is Not Ready To Go Easy On Pot

Because we've been regressing so much over the past decade or so. Which means that we have a lot of basic problems to solve before we even start thinking about what to do with marijuana. For example take the dark smoke that comes out of way too many buses. Inhaling that stuff will eventually make you stupid. Combine this with rote learning and nine amputations a week. And road fatalities that should reach a 50-year high this year and up about 25% to 30% from 2017. Should we talk about the horrendous inequality brought about by the flat tax and financed partly with the beautiful idea of three casinos per town and village?

Just imagine what would happen if stupid drivers were now stoned. Glory to thee...

Did 36% of The New CEB Recruits Come From Rose-Hill?

This is what MP Osman Mahomed essentially wanted to know from our DPM on Tuesday. He actually requested four pieces of information on each recruit that joined the utility since January 2015. One of these was their residential address. Collendavelloo replied that it would be unlawful for the data controller who keeps this information to release it. He also mentioned the numbers per district had already been given in reply to a previous question by the same MP.

Residential addresses might indeed be the wrong information to ask. What could instead have been asked is the size of the smallest radius of the area from which most if not all of the 103 recruits – out of 290 – came from. In fact the data should be sliced in any which way and any bias should be flagged and reported to the relevant authorities for further action.

Kifer Mo Diksyoner Kreol Preske Zame Kit Letazer

Parski ena enn alternativ buku pli efikas: diksyoner online Lalit. Bon se avek enn gran lintere ki mo tiaste deziem edisyon diksyoner Carpooran. Ek ti mari bonn feyte li. Me tiek bann mo al pli vit ek enn suri ki ek enn gro liv. Pa bizin dir. Ena osi bann lot ti diferans ant sa de diksyoner la. Diksyoner papye la li servi 'o' wadire pomdamur. Versyon Lalit pli minimalist ek paret plis otantik. Par ekzamp li pu ekrir busabus alor ki dan travay Carpooran li bousabous.

Li normal ki ena sa bann diferans la etan done ki ekrir kreol se enn zafer relativman nuvo. Bann harmonizasyon pu vini apre par zot mem.

Chuttoo Panse Collendavelloo Pe Rod Enn Kudpye Onorab

Parski li kone ki li pa pu dan prosin lalyans Lepep. Se pa inposib etan done ki Collendavelloo finn enn bann minis pli inkonpetan ki nun gayne. An plis li lider enn mari ti parti kot ena manb finn konpar zurnalis a femel lisyen. Jayen Chellum ki ti usi lor plato inn poz enn kestyon interesan: eski labank mondyal se bondye sa?

Bann lezot pwin interesan ki sa de la finn suleve inklir ki nu finn deza kontribye par milyar a traver Build Mauritius Fund pu sanz tiyo, ki reveni CWA pu ogmante a mezir plis dimunn gayn delo pandan plis letan tulezur, ki sa fu si delo inpe bon marse parski nu gayne telma lapli ek ki ti bizin reget bann water rights.

Prem Saddul, enn ansyen Chairman CWA truve ki ti bizin ogmant delo par 10% sak lane parksi nwena linflasyon ek li pur enn partner strategik. Dan lansanb so bann argiman byen byen feb sirtu pu enn ansyen Chairman.

Radhakrishna Sadien osi ti tenir enn pwin de pres kot linn dimand PM pran kont bann azisman bann manb so guvernman ki pe pratik enn politik neoliberal. Sadien finn osi dimand la popilasyon lev zot lavwa aster lamem. Tiena enn zoli poster dan sa pwin de pres la: "kare kare agent la banque mondial".

What The PM Should Do About The CWA

Put the names of his deputy, the chairman of the CWA, the other board members and that of the General Manager on little pieces of paper in a jar. Then every week take a couple out of the jar and immediately fire and/or replace them. Then listen carefully to the kind of sounds that comes out from the new board and the parent ministry in the following few days. If common sense is back – that is the unpatriotic and stupid ideas of raising the price of water and paying for its management by a private firm are cancelled – stop pulling out new names. If it is not take out a few more.

There is of course no reason why the whole process cannot be completed in a few hours. 

Selecao Ends Winning Streak of Mannschaft in Berlin

With a header from Jesus. The player. The Canarinhos were looking a lot better on Tuesday night unlike the thumping they received in Belo Horizonte four years ago when they conceded five goals in nineteen minutes. This time they were pressing non-stop, marking every German player and the front players were systematically going back to beef up the defence. Definitely a pleasant match to watch.

The 32 teams participating in the World Cup in Russia will keep on fine-tuning their games in a number of friendlies between May 18 and June 13 or one day before the big show starts. Germany may meet Brazil as soon as the group stage ends if both teams qualify for the knockout rounds but one of them doesn't come out on top.

Road Fatalities in Singapore Fall By 13.5%

In 2017. It was the sixth consecutive year that the number of people dying on the roads there was smaller than the previous one. It's been falling so much that it reached a 37-year low. In fact so much progress has been made in the city-state that more people have been dying on Mauritian koltar for two straight years although Singapore has about four and half times more people.

With one road fatality every 48 hours here since the beginning of year you not only have to expect the Southeast Asian Tiger to have fewer road fatalities for a third year in a row – they had 22 for the first two months of 2018 – but more worrying is that if the remaining nine months are going to be like the first three we should be hitting a 39-year high with about 183 deaths. This would come after four straight years of increase in road fatalities.

Until a few years back the chart above might have been branded unfair to Singapore because of its much larger population. Not anymore after smart policy-makers have understood that recent improvements in policy tools make it possible to save a lot more lives. And that too a lot faster. At a minimum we could drastically increase the number of random and not so random breath tests when and where it matters most. This would not be the stupidest idea we've ever had and make ansam pa les koltar tuy nu fami ring a bit less hollow than having the SMF help destroy Promenade Roland Armand for a tram which is not going to be there for long.

PM May Need A New Communications Team

Can you believe this? Ok, it's true there has been a policy breakdown for a while now. Still...

How To Calculate The Sithanen Toohrooh

I am writing this following a suggestion to talk a bit more on the infamous Sithanen toohrooh. A good idea given that it is the product of the worse thing that has happened to us after slavery: the Sithanen flat tax. I started posting about the toohrooh almost seven years ago. And I can't think of a better way than to explain how I estimated it. So people can play with the numbers and understand how we've been taken for a destructive ride.

Actually you need very little data to compute the toohrooh: real GDP growth and nominal GDP. That's it. These are in the 2nd and 3rd columns. We'll show the computations for 2006 but bear in mind your numbers may be slightly off because of rounding error. Nominal GDP growth is computed from nominal GDP numbers of adjacent years. For example the 11.52% is obtained from 213,444/191,393. Implied deflator is a measure of inflation and is the ratio of the nominal GDP growth to the real GDP growth. That is we got the 5.61% from 1.1152 / 1.056 – a more precise calculation than simply subtracting real GDP growth from nominal GDP growth.

Growth needed is the robust 8% real growth promised by Sithanen for slashing our already low taxes grossed up by the implied deflator. We have to do this because GDP and government revenue numbers are computed in nominal terms. So far so good? So growth needed for 2006 is 14.06% (1.08 x 1.0561). With the last number we can get the nominal GDP compatible with an 8% real growth rate. This turns out to be 218,295 or 14.06% higher than the 2005 number. This is 4.851 billions more than the actual nominal GDP of 213,444 and it produces close to a billion rupees of revenue shortfall for our government for 2006 alone if we assume a very conservative government revenue to GDP ratio of 20%.

The numbers for the other years are calculated in a similar fashion. And we've added two cumulative columns to show how the size of the toohrooh has been growing for the past 12 years. As you can see the toohrooh closed 2017 at Rs1.2 trillion and will grow by another Rs300bn this year. You will surely realise that the cumulative revenue shortfall at the end of 2015 was already about enough for Mauritius to get herself a heavy metro system not the junk that's bludgeoning the Promenade Roland Armand.

On dit merci qui?

Choice in 2019 Not Between Pravind and Navin

As Ramgoolam has framed the issue. Where our country is right now there's little else we can do than to vote for 60 good candidates and then see what happens. People are less shy about voting for smaller parties now. We saw that recently in the by-election in Belle-Rose – Quatre-Bornes last December. For the first time it took the vote shares of six candidates to reach 90% of the votes casted. Until now all you had to do to get nine-tenths of the votes in a by-election was to add the votes of the top two or three candidates. This is a tectonic shift. That too after voters expressed their feelings about the wicked scheme of three politicians in December 2014.

Ramgoolam is a neoliberal who doesn't give two hoots about Mauritius. We've seen this in his last two mandates. Maybe the 70-year old politician considers Mauritius as a piece of disposable paper. Or something that shouldn't exist after he breathes his last. All that he looks able of dreaming for our country is a bigger safe and carte blanche to that Paglanomist to sink our nation further.

Pravind is not any better. He's a neoliberal too and has been slashing taxes which will speed up the rotting process. As for the MMM the best it can hope is to sign an 'akor a la palestinyenn' as minority partner with Parti Malin.

Can't wait to see us voters flush the ML whose leader – one of our worst ministers ever – found bliss when he looked in the eyes of an Angolan.

Fakim Digs Heels In, Sues Barclays For Half A Billion Rupees

Not only she didn't resign as PJ had announced but the President has made a couple of fast moves. The first one is to sue Barclays Bank for Rs500m. Fair enough, statements of her infamous credit card were printed in a daily. We learned today that she has instituted a Commission of Inquiry to essentially investigate how Sobrinho got his licences and if she had not behaved properly.

It feels kind of strange for Fakim to ask for a commission to investigate her. What is even weirder is that a President is empowered to appoint a Commission of Inquiry into "any matter of public interest or concern, or into any matter in which an inquiry would be for the public welfare" [see Paragraph 2.2]. Then why didn't she ask for one on the Metro Express and another one on the completely stupid and unpatriotic plan of Collendavelloo to privatise water? Should we also mention that the National Assembly can advise her to revoke the Commission she just appointed [see Paragraph 3.4]?

All eyes are now on the Prime Minister who may use article 30 of our Constitution to institute a tribunal to investigate AGF and suspend her in the meantime with the support of the opposition. 

Hawking Lives 50 Years More Than Expected

He was given a few years after being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. Ended up doing a lot of important work including popularising science.

50 Years Ago, A Magical Moment

Ipipip! Wai!

Tiger @50

Did that super fast today. So basically we defused the demographic bomb, diversified our economy and became a Republic. We did a terrific job planning and implementing things at least between 1968-82. We should be thankful to our excellent constitution and FPTP system which have provided the stability necessary to have a fair chance of being a lot more than a country without a future.

Things have deteriorated significantly as from 2005 when a flat tax was introduced using three lies. This has caused everything to slow down and attracted the wrong FDI and people. Poverty and inequality have increased tremendously. The other big risk we're facing now is that there are attempts to turn our Republic into an autocracy with undemocratic devices such as a second republic, party lists and double candidacies.

Let's take our beautiful country back!

P.S. Click on the pic to see it better. Consider it as work in progress. And please note that the 30% for sugar in 1968 is an estimate.

Bizin Gard Sa Bug La Andeor Parlman Ankor Sink An

Li promye lider travayis ki pur PR. Be se normal li pur parski li pa enn travayis. Li enn neoliberal. Akoz sa mem so guvernman finn vinn ek enn flat tax ki zafer pli retrograd kinn ariv moris apard lesklavaz.

Ki sa fu ki finn ena 7 rapor lor reform elektoral. Dernye rapor la twa kinn ekrir? Tonn fer resers? Ah bon? Kuma tonn fer sa resers la? Ek Sithanen dan to godi?

Pa sa ve dir nu revot sa bann faner ki pe diriz nu la. Non. Nu rod 62 kandida serye nu vote lane prosen.

Go Ahead, Show Your True Colours

Friday Earworm

Ase Fer Bandar

Sinon nu pu fini kuma Banda Aceh. 

A More Relevant Talk By Malene Rydahl

Than the one I bumped into. I wonder if she has been briefed about what has been going on in Mauritius for more than a decade now. For sure Denmark does a lot of things right. But the 'happiest' people on Earth don't have the lowest suicide rate in the world. Good points to take from this presentation. It will remind you a bit of Ken.

Sithanen Toohrooh To Increase By Over Rs300 Billion in 2018

That's based on the 8% growth he promised back in 2006 before flattening our tax structure. We never got the 8% in any of the 12 years since he started breaking the economy with so much dedication. In fact we didn't get half of that rate in eight of these years and we haven't clocked 4% in the last seven consecutive years. It's true that he had also promised to make poverty history by 2015 back in 2007 only to recently push back this date to 2026 or 2031. I know people who have started to believe in astrology after listening to his forecasts. Mind you that was before he predicted a 60-0 for the general elections of December 2014.

300 billions is our GDP for the whole of 2010. That's the equivalent of 15 Lepep Trams or very roughly two $5bn Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) systems – the heavy-duty underground. Given that the toohrooh was Rs1.2tn at the end of 2017 it will therefore hit a trillion-and-half rupees before we welcome an election year.

After Navin Leaves

The party which turns 82 today will have to go back and have a good look at its glorious past. Especially the one which ended in June 1982. The one which played the biggest role in improving the lot of the many by rolling out our welfare state. The party which was the driving force behind the independence movement. The one who proved Meade wrong. The great party who was against proportional representation and party lists. Or double candidacies.

But don't count on Arvin to do that. He's no different from Navin who not only actively revised the history of the LP when he was in power but invents new Party DNA when he's not. The LP might not be able to do this for some time. That's OK as voters are becoming increasingly sophisticated and they will eventually get what Mauritius needs.

Two Nobels Were Not Mistaken About Mauritius

Kot zot pu kav vo nu bann dirizan sa!

Camille Moutoo at a SELEX dinner

Certainly not James Meade who submitted his famous 1960 facts-based report a few months after visiting Mauritius. Incidentally he landed here exactly eight years before 12.3.68 and about ten days after a pretty little thing called Carol had spent five days checking us out. Start to read the clear report and it won't take you long to appreciate – if you'd been led to believe otherwise – how bad a hand we had been dealt five decades ago. You might even then be able to connect the dots and understand that he and his team were proved wrong by a group of exceptional men and women who saw far and loved this land of ours like nobody did since.

Likewise Vidia – the V in V.S. Naipaul – made some really sharp observations about Mauritius. The kind of insights that would make the day of any policy wonk whether it was in 1973 or forty-five years later. Don't like it too much that he called us an Overcrowded Barracoon? Well, we had one of the highest population densities in the world back then – we still do sitting at no. 007 – and you've surely not forgotten what are the two things Malcolm said we grow here. As a matter of fact it would be far too generous a compliment if someone used these two words to describe us today. Given how much we've regressed.

And then there is Stiglitz who found that everything was going on swimmingly in our island. His 2011 visit occurred a few years after a toxic bean-counter had done extensive damage to our economy and to the lives of thousands with his flat tax and reverse Midas touch. The massive irony of course is that Joe was part of the successful economic team of Bill Clinton who had reversed the harmful tax cuts of a bunch of Voodoo economists led by one Ronald Reagan and the first Bush President – this had caused US debt to balloon from $1tn to $4tn in twelve short years.

The least he could have done was to share his experience and recommend that we make an economic about turn. After all the Sithanen toohrooh had grown to Rs116bn by the end of 2010. A huge amount roughly equal to our GDP for the last six months of 2006 but only one tenth of the level it reached last December. But he didn't preferring to put his foot in his mouth and spraying us with excessive doses of flattery. I don't think this made him gain any new fans among those who had raised at least one eyebrow when he got that prize – which is as old as our independence – from the Swedish central bank.

MMM Siyn Enn Gran Lakor Elektoral

Pu eleksyon zeneral le 13 Septam 2024. Wi, MMM pu al ansam ek Party Malin dan enn lakor a la Palestinyenn dan lintere siperyer Moris. An efe, lider Party Malin finn anons sa a so promye konferans de pres trimestryel pu lane 2020 ansam ek lider MMM. Lider Party Malin pu PM pandan 4 an ek 51 semen ek lider MMM pu PM pandan leres letan. Lider MMM sir zot pu gayn tu bann siez – sirtu apre depar tu bann fos vre militan ek bann vre fos aktivis depi dan MMM – ek sa pu permet zot al de lavan ek zot proze fer Lil Morist vinn enn pei far.

Dimunn pa pe tro konpran kifir lider MMM pe kontan kumsa parski MMM inn gayn zis enn tiket ek enn pos kuma PPS dan enn evantyel guvernman PM-MMM. Bon se vre ki apre sa gro tranbleman de ter dan dernye eleksyon zeneral – elekter ti vot zis bann bon kandida ek ti donn bann seki gayn enn move bagratel enn kontra afermaz 99 banane dan karo kan – li paret ki MMM inn gayn enn ase bon deal. Par kont dimunn pe dimann zot si pe apel sa enn lakor Palestinyenn parski tu le de ti met enn keffiyeh.

Lider MMM finn avwe ki bann negosyasyon pa ti fasil. Inn pran lider Party Malin ek li trwa mwa pu resi tom dakor. Obstak prinsipal sete partaz post siprem. Lider MMM ti kumans propoz vinn PM pandan enn mwa me lider Party Malin ti pe dakor zis pu enn demi-zurne. Lider MMM finn salye zenerosite ek patriotism lider Party Malin.

Lepep Tram Unlikely Biggest Project Ever

Kind of obvious if you have listened carefully to some of the numbers used by Minister Bodha on the same day George Chung deemed that the controversial tram project was basically riskless. As you might not have the figures mentioned six months ago to show the savings over two projects – not exactly the same ones – that were initially promoted by the Labour Party are copied in the table below. 

Given that the road decongestion program (RDP) will spend about Rs3 billion every year for a handful of years and that it will not be the first time nor the last that billions will be wasted to fight the traffic Frankenstein – which is growing bigger thanks to policy-making which is very clumsy – it shouldn't take long before you hear Mr. Bodha's successors announce that the RDP has overtaken the tram project.

The thing is that these unnecessary projects – which constitute the silly response to problems caused by a growth in the car pool which has been left unchecked for way too long – will not only make Mauritius weaker but will also make her uglier. It will make her weaker because as Intel has reminded us a car stays idle over 90% of the time and that hardly makes it a productive investment. Especially when you consider all the other problems of having too many of them. This explains why Singapore has been shrinking her number of cars to levels not seen in eight years. Mind you we're talking here about a country which has nine people to every car and a GDP per capita more than five times ours. Here we have like six people to every car and foolishly think that we can handle more. And that too when heavy road-users already describe several parts of our road network as an overcrowded barracoon.

These projects will definitely make Mauritius less attractive. Just ask any of the 270 trees of the Promenade Roland Armand. That's too heavy a price to pay for things that don't qualify as smart development especially when we know that the Bus Rapid Transit is a much better alternative that will immediately bring much-needed relief to road users. We should also start to act as a middle-income country – and soon a fifty-year old – by protecting our world-famous views. Just like London has been doing for more than a century. Which explains why the Leadenhall Building had to be built like a cheese-grater.

The least Pravind Jugnauth can do is to organise a referendum on such an important national issue. Making good on one electoral pledge will not only deepen our democracy it will also help avoid total political disaster in the next general election.