Our FPTP System Has a Built-in Recall Election

Kind of. But it happens only when there's a general election. Given that politicians can inflict significant damage to our economy or take totally unpatriotic and completely stupid decisions like privatising water a lot faster voters need to be able to boot them out of office anytime between two general elections. So our excellent FPTP system should be improved by equipping it with standard recall elections -- something which Lalit suggested in early 2014.

We also need referendum legislation so our elected governments can ask for our permission on matters of national interest. For example Lepep campaigned against the Metro Leger but it is now proceeding with essentially the same unnecessary project. It should have organised a referendum to ask for our green light first. Same thing for the idiotic idea of privatising the CWA. It's nowhere to be found in their electoral manifesto. We never voted for it. Lepep cannot go ahead with that project before asking us what we think. We are not children. As they found out in Barkly recently.

Of course you realise that party lists and double candidacies are totally incompatible with recall elections. These two contraptions prevent us from deciding which politicians -- some might be inclined to shoot others -- we want to keep out of parliament. It's like a football game without a red card. Or one where selected players show a brown card to the referee to stay on the pitch after being shown a red one. Not a bad idea to make a list of the parties who are in favour of double candidacies so we can avoid them like the plague. Plus there's a by-election soon. So let's start: Rezistans ek Alternativ, ...

Metro Express Shouldn't Have Been A Burden

At a cost of Rs18 billion. If we had grown at the 8% promised by one bean-counter for eliminating top tax brackets. As we've shown before the 11-year cumulative GDP shortfall at the end of 2016 was over Rs900 billion. If we assume government had reduced its revenues as a share of GDP to 15% -- there was no good reason to do that though as 20% is not high given the stage of development we were at back in 2006 -- then there's about Rs139 billion of government revenue missing. As the chart shows the revenue shortfall for our government between 2006 and 2010 -- which is roughly the second mandate of Ramgoolam -- was already enough to pay for the Metro Express. This assumes government kept these monies in a drawer instead of investing it. By the way we're talking 100% government financing here. 100% cash financing. 

The other things that the chart tell us is that we could have financed at least one Metro Express in each of the four years starting in 2013. And more than three since Lepep took over. Or if you will with the 139 billion missing in its till over the last eleven years because of the Sithanen flat tax government would have been able to finance close to 8 Metro Express. Or 4 Metro Leger of Ramgoolam vintage with enough money left to change 78% of the leaking pipes of the CWA.

Wake up Mauritius! We're not in the middle-income trap. We're in the flat tax trap! It's a lot worse but we can get out of it a lot faster.