Anu Redemont En Argiman Bidon Ramgoolam

Depi en sertin letan li pe dir ki si pa ti repus laz ki kumans tus BRP a 65 an be BRP ti pu kut 100 milyar rupi an 2035. Mo ti tan sa promie fwa dan so diskur pu kongre 90em laniverser Ptr. Zordi mon truve ki ena usi sa palab la dan so steytmint le 17 Zin 2025 dan Parlman. E lin redir sa fek la. Se en argiman ki mo ti osi demoli dan Preokipasion Sitwayin, en liv ki ninport kisana kav dawnlod gratwitman. 

Be kuma tiart la montre si depans BRP pu pas de 55.3 milyar a 100 milyar dan 10 an se en ogmantasion de 80%. Me li bon kone ki dan le pase nun gayn ban ogmantasion lor 10 banane buku pli inportan ki sa. Par egzanp BRP ti ogmant par 540% ant 1987/88 ek 1997/98 e 170% ant 1997/98 ek 2007/08 ki inklir ban period kot Ramgoolam ti PM. E malgre sa ban ogmantasion buku pli inportan la zame BRP ti depas plis ki 2% GDP. Si li ti 7.8% GDP an Zin 2025 se akoz ti servi li kuma en zarm elektoral dan omwin 3 eleksion e sirtu akoz zame nu pan gayn krwasans mwayin de 8% ki Sithanen ti promet ek so flat tax 15%. Anfet de 2006 a 2025 mwayen krwasans ti selman 3.3% e sa fin fer an sort ki lekonomi apepre 2.5X pli tipti ki seki li ti bizin ete.

An pasan kifer u kwar zame Ramgoolam koz lor to krwasans mwayin depi 2006?

Sisters That Should Accompany Kreol Into Parliament

Bhojpuri which is spoken by more Mauritians than French and is used to convince voters in electoral campaigns. Mandarin and Hindi being the second and third most popular languages in the world according to Berlitz.com as well as the main languages of the countries which will have the two largest economies on Planet A for most of the remainder of the current century. And beyond.

There is basically no reason why an MP shouldn't also be able to speak in Telegu, Tamil, Marathi or Urdu in our National Assembly given that they are all languages that are spoken here. To be sure not all of them should be conferred the same status in parliament. Kreol, which is spoken by at least 170X more people in Mauritius than English should be given a place at least as important as the latter. This would mean making human translation into Kreol available during live transmissions of Parliament TV and a version of the Hansard in that language afterwards. That shouldn't require too big a staff given that most of us speak three languages fairly early in our lives or much money given that they can be redeployed in our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, embassies and at the MBC.

We should also make provision for speeches in Spanish and Arabic which are the most popular languages in about twenty countries each. And let us not forget Sanskrit about which forty years ago Briggs told AI Magazine "Among the accomplishments of the grammarians can be reckoned a method for paraphrasing Sanskrit in a manner that is identical not only in essence but in form with current work in Artificial Intelligence."

All of this can be done in two phases. The first one will take care of the first two paragraphs and the second the rest. But we should be able to make arrangements for the live translation of Parliamentary TV in Kreol and Bhojpuri almost immediately until relevant committees begin to keep minutes and lose hours.

Why Subron’s Mixing of Issues is Dangerous

I totally agree that we shouldn’t have to declare one of four communities to stand as a candidate. But where I definitely disagree with him is that we should include a dose of PR, go for double-candidacies and that 20 extra MPs is no big deal.

Adding a dose of PR will lead to chronic political instability, double candidacies will make it more difficult to keep really bad MPs out of parliament while our National Assembly is already too big and should be downsized, not enlarged.

No need to drag Krouink into the debate. This faux-patriotism shouldn’t fool anybody. 

How Big Should Our Parliament Be?

Certainly not larger than the 66-70 MPs it can have under the current system. Increasing it by 50% to over 100 or even by 11-15 as the PM would like to is out of the question. Justifying a bigger National Assembly (NA) because our population has doubled since 1968 is problematic for at least two reasons. One is that according to Google or an interpolation of decennial census figures the number of inhabitants in Mauritius has in fact increased by only 58%. Two is that the size of our NA rose by 75% between 1963 and 1967 while the number of citizens increased by a mere 9%. Interestingly using the 1963 as base year yields a parliament of 70 which is how big it is today. 

It's way better that we compare our population/MP ratio to those of other countries. On this yardstick we do very poorly – more than 140 parliaments out of 195 do better than us. This is precious information as we can use it to find an optimal size for our NA. That's done in the chart and we've highlighted Denmark because 40 is kind of a natural number for us as this is how many MPs we sent in 1959 and 1963 when we had single-member constituencies.

The number of electors is not a useful measure either as this can increase with policy decisions – like it did in 1975 when the legal age was reduced by three years. Plus we shouldn't forget that the number of Indian electors increased by half a billion from 1977 to 2014 without any increase in the number of MPs. Besides we definitely don't want more MPs when we look at their average output especially when we know that each one costs us at least Rs2.6 million per year. What we need instead are recall elections.

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?

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 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.

By-Election Experience Makes Strong Case For Return To 40 SMCs

Like it was in 1959 and 1963. Because as we've seen in riding no. 18 recently when electors vote for only one candidate in a constituency – SMCs stand for single-member constituencies – political parties immediately understand the need to put good candidates. And this kind of setup makes it easier for better debates between candidates from many parties to happen.

Plus we know our parliament is too big just by comparing to other countries. We also know it's too big for a simple reason. A referendum should be organised to let the people decide.

Trust you've noticed that candidates in a by-election don't have to declare in which one of four 'ethnic groups' they fall into.

December 17 Likely To Be A Trailer For 2019

Voters are basically fed up with the traditional parties. They will not put Ramgoolam back in power simply because they're not happy with Lepep. Or Berenger for that matter. Nope, they're more likely to vote for good candidates. So expect to see Lindsey Collen and other candidates worthy of our votes in Parliament after the next general elections.

Of course Jack Bizlall might not have to wait that long given that he is the best option in the forthcoming by-election. No other candidate has anything that comes close to the breadth of his experience and his ability to bring back common sense to our Parliament. Indeed people who usually vote for one of the parties that spend a lot of money in an election agree: "Bizlall pu met enn bon lord dan Parlman. Kot inn arive la sa mem ki bizin." or "si dimunn servi zot lespri zot pu vot Bizlall". And "mo pu donn li mo vot parski linn defann dimunn tut long so lavi."

Hard to disagree when we see week after week how there's practically no dissent at all in our Parliament. Just way too many people who are in government or striving to be in it so they have the privilege of sinking Mauritius. Further. But after December 2014 when mountains of money and dumb simulations were not enough to push a wicked plan to turn our country into a banana republic down the throat of increasingly sophisticated voters we shouldn't be surprised to see Mr. Bizlall return to our National Assembly. In a few weeks.

FPTP is a Special Kind of PR System

One that comes with a majority prize. It's a great system as it generates stable government after stable government. This has enabled Mauritius to achieve what it has. Its disadvantage is that a few times the prize may get too big. As we've seen in 1982, 1991, 1995 and 2000. But on the first three of those occasions the alliances did not last very long: between nine and twenty-one months. Which means that our first-past-the-post (FPTP) system saved us from going to vote a number of times because it's not a system which is vote wise and outcome foolish. Plus there are smart ways of correcting the most extreme of its scenarios without resorting to totally undemocratic devices like party lists that would rob voters of an important weapon: the final word to dump a politician.

Adding PR seats to our FPTP setup is not an option as we've seen what happened in Rodrigues election after election. It will eat away the stability that the majority prize provides and which is necessary for governments to operate properly. Besides our parliament is already too big. 

A European joke captures well how lucky we are to have the FPTP system here:

What is European paradise?

British parliamentary system (FPTP)

German engineering

French cuisine

Italian romance

And European hell?
Italian parliamentary system (PR)
French engineering
British cuisine
German romance

Britain has had 20 governments in 100 years. Italy, 20 governments in 5 years.

In fact Italy has had 62 governments between 1946 and 2013. But you get the point.

Following Parliament Becomes More Interesting

You can now watch the business being done in our National Assembly live and direct. The other nice thing is that there is the agenda on the right. And it's scrollable. For instance the PNQ today is on the Metro Express. Plus the PM will answer questions on an anti-defection bill, electoral reforms and VIP lounge facilities. Ministers will be put questions on the water sector reform, reform of the universal pension, Air Asia and the biometric id card to name just a few.

Good.

What Will Municipal Voters Do?

Vote for the MMM because Lepep ended up with about 10 MPs more than what was necessary? Or stick with Lepep based on what they've achieved in the first five months of their mandate? The plus points are mostly the increase in pension payments and fully subsidising the SC/HSC exams. The appointment of Ms. Fakim as head of state is definitely a history-making event but that doesn't really change the lot of the victims of the neocons.

The main negatives are the significant depreciation of our rupee while the BOM supposedly waited for the budget to set the tone, the joke of the Finance Minister claiming that his bland budget was a no-tax one, not passing on the collapse of oil prices and of course the BAI affair. The latter has embroiled Government into a thick cloud of confusion and suspicion that is not going away any time soon. Indeed the BAI saga is so far looking more like a political vendetta than a ponzi scheme. That's especially evident when you consider the kind of help our Governments have dished out to hubris-infected companies in the past. There have also been surprising statements by the President of the Bar Council and many are not happy with how the biometric ID project has evolved.

We'll find out on Monday how voters weighed the facts.

63% of Poll Say Ramgoolam's Side Won't Take More Than 30 Seats

4.6% think they will get a 60-0. While 31.6% say SAJ's party will grab at least 40 seats. Only 14.3% predict LP/MMM will get a 3/4 supermajority to screw up our excellent Constitution and system of Government. The scenario with the most votes -- and a 1/4 chance of happening -- is Ramgoolam/Bérenger ending up with between 21 and 25 seats. The next most popular pick is them getting five seats less.

Let's see. 

92% of Poll Say We Don't Need More MPs

Only 6% think we need more. Really?

While You Were Sleeping

Suren Dayal was nominated as Minister of Education when Vasant Bunwaree resigned. This happened of course thanks to our excellent Constitution which makes these kinds of changes take place seamlessly.

It's not the first time we're experiencing our excellent Constitution. And definitely not the last. And if our Constitution is so good it's because a number of great and selfless minds have poured over various drafts of it and have iterated to yield something that's literally timeless. For sure we started from a very good base: the British version of a Parliamentary democracy.

Which makes it very different from what one clown has proposed.

Aren't you happy you're voting soon?

Gulbul Confirms Sithanen Proposal is Constitutional Galimatia

If you listen carefully to what he said on radio this week. Given that they are proposing to shift the power to dissolve Parliament to an elected President this changes the nature of our democratic system and will therefore require a referendum where a supermajority -- 75% -- of voters give the nod as well as a unanimous vote in Parliament. He has cited Privy Council interpretations of section 1 of our Constitution as basis for his analysis. He joins two colleagues who have promised to go to court if leaders start choosing MPs.

See I told you the bean-counter had no business on one committee. It also shows that collectively Mauritians are very smart. Which would explain why the bill hasn't been released yet. They know it's amateurish at best. And don't want to look silly again. After it is thrashed unceremoniously.

Parliament Dissolved in Trivial Manner

The people of Mauritius learned about it by way of communique Monday afternoon. It didn't look any more serious on that evening's JT: it took the newscaster a mere 10 seconds. People not familiar with the importance of elections in a democracy might argue that it would have been perfectly ok to make the announcement somewhere in the weather report. Maybe before telling us how much rain Mon Loisir Rouillard got in the last 24 hours.

It's the first time Ramgoolam didn't do a press point to formally announce it to us. But we have to understand. 2014 has been a very heavy year for our MPs. And it's already the third term that our PM is completing. Well sort of.

I guess dissolving Parliament is the right thing to do as there are no major problems in the country. That can be solved by our Parliament by January 14, 2015. Which is 100 days -- time it takes to apparently change lives -- from now. Or by April 24, 2015. 200 days from now. Or enough time to apparently change lives two times. And less than five years since the last time we went to vote. Everything is going swimmingly.

Constitution Temporary Provisions Bill Published

Yep. Government has published the temporary provision bill which will be debated and possibly adopted in our Parliament next Friday. The latter will be exceptionally open for the occasion. And given how tired the few MPs who will speak on that day will be our august Assembly will enter another indefinite period of prorogation. Right after.

As everybody knows no pressing national problem should get in the way of a well-earned rest.

Happy Christmas!!!

Prorogation of Parliament is Telling Sign Process is Poor

The process of modernising our electoral system that is. First Government takes literally forever to publish a white paper and when it does we are surprised -- or not -- that it's essentially the perverse 2012 Sithanen report. Second, it gives the very smart people of Mauritius a little over a month to send its submissions. Third, it throws Parliament into holidays because it has received many submissions -- so it says -- and needs time to analyse them. Really? Fourth, dramatic koz koze begins at Clarisse House between Ramgoolam and Berenger and we learn that they are also discussing about electoral alliance and a second republic. Hmm, so you need to put our Parliament into holidays to review all the submissions you have received but you then start discussing another complex -- and frankly unnecessary -- issue as modifying our system of government. Who do you think you are kidding?

The other thing that may lead you to conclude that we're still living in the middle ages is that submissions had to be sent by e-mail to Government. That's dumb for at least two reasons. First it is an opaque process. The second it deprives us from another live platform of efficient debating. It would have been a lot simpler for Government to have a blog on electoral reform.

But the good news is that there has been many interesting propositions that have appeared in the press and elsewhere. So all is not lost.

Why Berenger's Electoral Reform Proposal is A Dangerous Flop

He wants to increase the number of MPs in our Parliament by more than 45%. That's totally ridiculous because anyone with an internet connection knows that our Parliament is already too big. By one yardstick we shouldn't have more than 12 MPs. We already have 5 times more than that. That's more than enough.

Berenger wants the bulk of that increase -- 20 out of 28 -- on a party list. That's dangerous and quite perverse. The Economist recently reminded us that party lists shift MP loyalty from voters to party leaders. Given the performance of our political actors over the past several years the last thing we want to do is to ask them to stop being accountable to us.

The MMM leader has been in the political landscape for 45 years. It's time for him to retire. And allow something that his party has been bereft of for a very long time to make a much needed comeback: fresh bold ideas.