Journalist Shows Big Bias

Against Nita Deerpalsing who was debating with Rajesh Bhagwan yesterday. Especially in the beginning when he seemed to want a Yes/No answer from the Labour MP to one of his questions. At a later point he took sides again when out of nowhere he quoted SAJ saying some people were scared of the former President's comeback into the political arena.

Bhagwan tried to destabilise Deerpalsing with some chauvinistic remarks. But she was unflappable.

2011: The Year in Review (Q2)

April: Bean-counting claims new victim: free distribution of laptops. 10 ways to solve water problems proposed. ECB hikes rates and hints more on the way while battling with a sovereign-debt crisis. Phase 2 of the Midlands Dam would have held more water than currently in Mare aux Vacoas. 82% of poll not happy with Government.

May: Policy blunders responsible for robust poverty. DSK taken off plane to face attempted rape charges. Presidential pause ruins Obama toast. Jaysen reaches roof of the world. World is playing football, Barca is playing something else.

June: Bhagwan asking whether contract of Financial Secretary should not be terminated. Mansoor says water problems date back before his arrival 5 years ago. World's longest passenger plane arrives in Paris. Bill Clinton has 14 ideas to cut US unemployment. Bad Economics made Mauritius a sad place. Deerpalsing wants planning unit under PMO. More Mauritians visit Blogger than any newspaper.

Read the review for Q1, Q3, Q4.

Ramgoolam Has A Challenge for MSM MPs: Resign From Parliament

So he said at a lengthy press conference which ended a little while ago. He did not think too much of their political weight either suggesting that they might have downgraded from a little party to bagasse.

The Prime Minister also said, in reply to a question about Ali Mansoor's controversial circular, that the Financial Secretary is a technical guy but that it's the politicians who craft policy because they consider more dimensions than the bean-counter. Really? Can he substantiate this?

Ramgoolam Should Mint New Ministers

And here's a suggestion from a comment on Kozelidir.

Nita D: Finance

Patrick A: Civil Service

Suren D: Tourism

Rihun H: Health

Looks good to me. And to you?

Deerpalsing Wants A Planning Unit Under PMO

Essentially for the same reason it's the PM who appoints the Governor of the Central Bank. If the latter produces too much inflation by giving in to the GLDs who love the worst enemy of the poor the former's political position may weaken. In fact that's the case with all positions of huge responsibility: we have seen how two bean-counters have squandered Ramgoolam's historic 2005 majority.

It's all about picking the right people and avoiding groupthink at all cost. Stuff that leaders should excel at.

Looks like we've regressed by half a century.

Labour MP Hits Where it Hurts: A Comment

In his reply to a statement made by MP Deerpalsing, Ali Mansoor said that our water problem is mostly a systemic problem of management and implementation instead of one of lack of funds. And that this problem dates back well before 2005 -- that is before his university buddy got him his current job.

I am having some trouble with this reply given that:

1. when our Midlands Dam came into operation in 2003 it added 25 million m3 to the water our reservoirs stored or another 40%. So it's not like nothing got implemented in our country before his arrival. Nope, the opening of the Midlands Dam was a watershed event in the history of that sector. But given that our economy has now grown by a third since then we were bound to crash into a wall if we didn't throw enough money in time to increase water storage -- like going for Phase 2 of the Midlands Dam (17 million m3). Which is what is happening now.

2. we were told back in 2005 that the stage was being set for robust growth so that plans should have been made to bring our water supply to a level commensurate with this higher intended growth path. This of course would have meant going beyond Phase 2 of the Midlands Dam. That is even more money should have been earmarked for this sector. Doable if you're not a bean-counter.

3. our country apparently experienced an early harvest (2007) followed by no less than a bumper crop (2008) and that almost immediately after the reforms started. Now, if you don't use a bumper crop to solve problems that can stall your economy and reduce national indebtedness, I wonder why you even want to have bumper crops.

By the way, if free laptops have not been distributed yet is it because Ministers are not in shape enough to hand them on TV? What about the HR guidelines? Implementation shortfall here too?

Hmm...

MPs Want Answers From Financial Secretary

About the Rs340 million of public funds that were injected into Infinity BPO via Sithanen's infamous stimulus package. See, BPO is a growth industry so technically it should be the last quarters from which request for government aid should have come from.

Which would explain why MP Deerpalsing has asked, albeit belatedly, for the monitoring committee of the ASP to explain how they've been... monitoring these significant public monies that were apparently invested to save... jobs.

When A Boycott is Not One

If you are being boycotted against but you don't happen to be the most read newspaper of the island. That's what you need to deduce from an observation that Rabin Bhujun made on his Face-a-face radio show on Monday. MP Nita Deerpalsing was his guest and he was her punching ball.

Deerpalsing also brought up a couple of interesting points: when an investigative magazine called Le Mag was facing a boycott in the 1990s Jean-Claude de L'Estrac happened to be no. 3 in the government and Le Matinal didn't receive any government advertising when Berenger was Prime Minister.

Make sure to listen to the last segment where you get some even smarter observations from Mr. Bhujun: boycotting one newspaper cannot be compared to boycotting a whole media group... and the boycott against Le Mag didn't last even a year and it was not the most read publication of the island at the time.

Guess Mr. Bhujun will find it perfectly ok to be discriminated against once La Sentinelle loses a couple of spots in the local media rankings.

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.