Why the Dutch Are Smart

What Do You Know About the Sachs Commission?

The one about electoral reform. It's mentioned so often by politicians. But as a thinking-person what have you taken away from it? How would you explain it to a friend in a couple of minutes. Incidentally there was also a select committee on electoral reform chaired by Ivan Collendavelloo in the early 2000s. Do you know what were its recommendations and if they make any sense to you?

2014: The Year in Review (Q4)

October: Parliament dissolved in trivial manner. Don't bet on Sithanen to eliminate poverty. June happy Pistorius gonna pay something. Mauritian democracy competitive again. Tackling unemployment: how do the zinkus stack up?

November: Indira's assassination: 30 years already. Suddenly, Labour/MMM to create 60k jobs. Something for you to sniff.

December: What voters want. 63% of poll says Ramgoolam not winning majority. Reform wasn't good for poor. Mauritius says no to wicked plan. Claudette's visit turns 35. Manou's dismissal is inelegant and silly.

Read the review for Q1, Q2 and Q3.

A Woman At Le Reduit, Finally

Tomorrow Ameena Gurib-Fakim will make history by ending a long streak of male Presidents. Ramgoolam of course had three chances of putting a woman as head of state. But he didn't. Maybe it's because he was too busy turning our vibrant democracy into a plutocracy. Maybe he was suffering from a really bad case of kotomilitis. 

But women still have to grab the following important posts:

1. Prime Minister
2. Minister of Finance
3. Chief Justice
4. Commissioner of Police
5. Commander (SMF)
6. Governor, Bank of Mauritius
7. Postmaster General
8. Financial Secretary (doesn't matter if she's from another planet)
9. Electoral Commissioner
10. Leadership of major political parties
11. Chief Executive Officer of our largest corporations

Go Women! Go!

Electoral Reform Tailor-Made For Three

One is Navin Ramgoolam who has been PM for already too long and who seems to want to breathe his last playing with a new toy. The second one, Paul Berenger, who absolutely wants to be 'PM' and has been the MMM strongman for as long a period as two Soviet leaders -- Stalin and Brezhnev -- have headed the USSR combined. The third is Rama Sithanen who sees his proposal of an electoral galimatia that suits the personal interest of these two leaders as probably the only way he can ever get into parliament again.

The infamous bean-counter has strongly denied he is doing all of this for personal interest but this has not convinced a lot of people. See, why would you want to be remembered as the guy who screwed up the economy so badly that you were the first outgoing Finance Minister to be denied a ticket and the same guy who organised a gang rape of our democracy.

Drafting of Bill Not Exactly Difficult

Which is why the first draft of the constitution amendment bill is already ready. In fact the State Law Office has a draft person that does precisely that and getting help from Victor Glover -- the former Chief Justice and not the astronaut candidate -- surely must not hurt.

Drafting a bill is an entirely mechanical process as Victor Glover reminded us twice. The first as recently as a week when he said all that he needed are drafting instructions. So if the political sweethearts of River Walk -- Ramgoolam and Berenger -- want him to draft laws that will throw us into some kind of a plutocracy he'll happily do it. For a fee. Doesn't mean that he agrees with the consequences -- it's like the PBB of that guy from the other planet -- of what he is being asked to help draft. But he will do it. And he can do it pretty fast. The second time was about a year ago when he told us that he had pronounced the death penalty in his previous manifestation as a judge on two occasions. Despite being personally against this type of sentence. See a judge doesn't make the laws, he just applies them.

The snag of course is that a bill has to be consistent with the supreme law of the land: our constitution. Otherwise some or all of it can be declared void. Which is what two experienced lawyers are saying: if leaders start picking MPs we're not a democracy anymore and hence the word democracy has to be removed from article 1 of our constitution. And probably replaced by plutocracy
or autocracy.

Laws can be made consistent with the constitution but that doesn't make them right. Like during apartheid in South Africa.

Rape of Democracy Unnecessary For Labour-MMM Alliance

Our Westminsterian system of government doesn't prevent our two biggest parties of getting together for the next general elections. They've done it already in 1995. They might want to do it again out of exasperation: tired of seeing the small tail wag the big dog.

But there is absolutely no need to rape our democracy with party lists and double-candidacies -- which will only bring us closer to a plutocracy -- for this alliance to happen. Let alone change the system of government. We've seen how much progress we've made with the present setup. We've also seen how ugly it got at the top of the Republic two years ago. Just imagine what would have happened if the President had more powers.

Mauritius To Soon Run Out of Sanatogen

I mean it's almost a year since the Prime Minister has promised the imminent publication of a white paper on electoral reform. He has also given us the impression he's struggling intellectually with it. Which has made me wonder over the past twelve months if his efforts were in the same league as when Andre Wiles finally solved Fermat's Last Problem. But he doesn't have to wreck whatever brains he may have. All he has to do is to put a few very broad parameters in a document and place it on the web. Along with all relevant data. And let us Mauritians play with this puzzle.

With all the smart minds around -- of the non-TINA variety -- we should see many great ideas flowing in quickly. As we iterate to something better. Eminently thoughtful. To something that cannot be obliterated in a flash. Unlike that evil proposal which was so weak that it was completely demolished in a few minutes.

Why The MMM Wants To Get into Government

To consolidate our democracy, to get a new MBC, to fight corruption, to improve law and order, to boost the economy and to strengthen national unity. At least according to its leader.

Let's tackle a few of these reasons: consolidating democracy. The MMM doesn't need to be in government to deepen our democracy. Nope. They do that all the time. They lose a general election. The day after they say that general elections are imminent. Berenger then tries all permutations and combinations for its PM candidate. He even tries to get into an alliance with the Labour Party. He is then taken for a ride. He loses another general election. And the Nintendo starts anew.

Now let's look at boosting the economy. I am not convinced that the MMM will be able to do a better job than then the LP. Because they don't have the talent nor the will to deliver on such a promise. All they have is a pretty self-aggrandised view of themselves and of their place in history.

Finally insisting on keeping the BLS hardly qualifies as improving national unity.

How To Deepen Our Democracy

First we need to empower our MPs to raise the level of debate so that our representatives deliver better outcomes. We can do this by attaching a vigorously independent Parliamentary Policy Office (PPO) to our National Assembly modeled after the Congressional Budget Office in America. The PPO would analyse policies and issue informed and increasingly respected opinions. Check this sample report to get an idea.

Second we should make sure we always have a functional opposition. Given that our parliament is already too big we can do this by splitting back our 20 three-member constituencies to 40 one-member ones just like they were in 1959 and 1963. And then allocating a maximum of 8 additional seats -- on a non-ethnic basis --  to make sure our opposition has always a minimum of 8 MPs to keep our government on its toes. This would at the same time drastically reduce the unfairness of our FPTP system without compromising its stability.

Reverting to the 1959 set-up will also yield extra advantages including greater proximity between candidate and voters and getting election results a few hours after polling stations close as there would be two-thirds less votes to count.

We don't need to pass new laws to increase the number of women in parliament. There are already three times more women there than in 2000 and this should keep on rising. We certainly do not need any perverse recommendations like double candidacy because this denies citizens the basic privilege of vot ar lipie.

And finally our main parties should have their electoral manifestos released at least 3 weeks before election day. So that voters get an opportunity to sniff them out.

The Only Vote That Counts

That would be yours and mine. And in the final analysis the candidate who gets the most votes get elected and the party which gets more candidates elected will form the next government. Full stop.

Unlike what you heard Jocelyn Gregoire say the creole vote will not have more weight in this election. It will not carry less weight either. In fact it will carry the same weight as the weight of all the other components that make up our country. That's because the final outcome depends on the sum total of what each and everyone of us will do tomorrow.

It is a pity that not enough time was spent discussing the issues that really matter to us. But on the positive side many more progressive voices were heard. And they were heard steadily. We're not exactly talking about a whisper here.

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.