Zistwar Kadi

2010: The Year in Review (Q3)

July: Gyan's penalty hits the woodwork and denies Ghana opportunity to advance to the semi-finals. World expected to grow faster than Mauritius. Iker and Sara share tender moment with watching World. Flat tax spins public finances out of control. Mansoor doubles foreign debt in 3 short years. Free guide to abolition of private tuition published.

August: US to allow tax cuts for the rich expire. Democratisation of the economy to now take 1,000 years. What killed many IRS projects investigated.

September: Massive volunteer operation feeds 80,000 every day. Competition watchdog not happy with how insurance is bundled with loans. Mansoor circular found misleading nation.

Read the review for Q1, Q2, Q4.

Democratisation of the Economy Could Now Take At Least 1,000 Years

That's 2 centuries more than my October 2008 estimate which was based on what Cader Sayed-Hossen was saying and the speed at which he was going about it then.

I added 200 years because I think I may have somewhat overestimated his ability to change anything with his commission and to account for the brutal reverse democratisation of the economy that took place over the past five years.

Democratisation of the Economy: Cader vs. Kee Chong

I listened through most of that debate on Radio + this afternoon and thought Kee Chong scored many political points against Cader. The latter was his usual self beating around the bush. He had little to show given that he did almost nothing during the last five years. Guess he will definitely need those 800 years to get something done.

Kee Chong also kept insisting that Sithanen has been very unfairly treated. Is he thinking that Sithanen did a great job and should have kept his job?

That would be quite a change from what he said a short couple of months ago.

Not Exactly What Karl Had in Mind

A year after the power-sharing deal had ended in 2005 the poorest 20% households had 0.3% less while the top fifth saw their share of total income increase by 1.6%. Drill down the data and you will find that in fact the top 10% got 1.8% more. Drill it some more and it turns out that 1.6% is twice what the poorest 5% households got in 2006/07 as share of the national pie. Naturally, it's absolutely fine to view the above table while listening to Soldat Lalit Militant.

Poverty Analysis 101

Lutchmeenaraidoo managed to make Mauritius a bit more equal when the poorest 20% of households ended up with 6.4% of total income in 1991 which was a good 0.8% more than they had 5 years earlier. The top 20% also saw their share shrink by 0.7% in the same year.

Enter the bean-counter in 1991 and 5 years later the latter had a massive 2.7% more while the poorer group had 0.5% less. In fact with le p'tit cousin, the top-earning households got their biggest share of total income over the 15 years reviewed above while the lowest 20% saw their brightest days with cousin grande.

And finally, when Ramgoolam left he had managed to give 0.3% back to the lower-earning 20% while clawing back about half the reverse robinhoodness of Sithanen. See, I told you Navin's first government was mediocre but not toxic.

To be continued...

Etienne Doesn't Make the Grades

But Rashid Beebeejaun, who apparently did, reassured everybody when he said that Sinatambou is a bright guy. I found all of that kind of weird because I can't remember what Beebeejaun should be remembered for since he returned to power in 2005. As a matter of fact, I have an extremely hard time recalling what he achieved as a Minister between 1996 and 2000.

If my math is as good as yours that's a full eight years in the cabinet (1/5 of the time since the Union Jack was lowered if you prefer fractions). Granted he did not literally transform his ministerial responsibilities into a job search as one globe-trotting MSM-MMM Minister did. But then again, the latter performance hardly qualifies as a benchmark.

In a similar vein you get the impression by looking at how they work and what they say that Nita Deerpalsing and Cader Sayed-Hossen need at least 800 years each to finally achieve some tangible democratisation of the economy. And of course there is Navinchandra: 8 years as Prime Minister and all that he's achieved in the top job of the land fit comfortably on a stamp.