Still Think Ramgoolam is Not Made For Politics?

Or you might be in the mood for that dumb fairy tale that his dad had said he should never dab into politics. The way he's been controlling the local political chessboard for the past 10 or so years should be ample proof that he simply has no match for now. It's not that he's invincible. Rather his opponents are painfully too weak.

Granted the PM has matured quite a bit: he's been understanding the importance of monetary policy for a while now; foreign policy has become more skillful (the opposition simply cannot deliver this kind of performance) and the toxic bean-counting duet has been neutered. Yet, he still doesn't have a legacy that will not be sneezed at. After three terms.

That could change in a few weeks when he presents his first -- and much awaited -- budget.

How Not to Double the Number of Women in Parliament

That would be counting on our macho politicians to make it happen. Women should instead create a new party with a credible plan for Mauritius and have enough good female candidates stand in the forthcoming elections. Or takeover an existing one.

I don't understand what's stopping them from doing so.

Happy International Women's Day!

Guarantees in Politics

They are as likely to be honoured as hyenas promising one morning to become vegetarians or Nosferatu suddenly announcing that he prefers soya milk to haemoglobin. It is funny that the last time such a guarantee was offered the political landscape was almost identical: Ramgoolam was PM and he was made to believe that Federation I was dead. The person offering the guarantee was to get to hole up at Le Reduit had Labour won the 2000 elections.

Surprisingly, Ramgoolam's strategy at that time didn't include some basic scenario planning that would have allowed him to carry on with his mediocre style of leadership for another 5 years. I am not too sure he has gotten any wiser since then. Anybody for some game theory?

Labour Party's Easy Options

Here's what Ramgoolam can do to immediately make sure that he'll have to clear his Prime Minister's desk in 2010: present Rama Sithanen as his Minister of Finance again. Also, keeping him as Finance Minister until 2010 without announcing anything will be the equivalent of Navinchandra having to shoot himself in the foot a few times everyday. That could be quite painful for him given that the huge MK and STC bullets comfortably attended the National Prayer Service in Washington beneath his socks. Ouch!

Here's what he could have done two years ago to keep the odds of him staying in the top job for at least another mandate pretty high: 1) sack Rama Sithanen when the latter took the whole country hostage with his resignation-cum-blackmail charade for a whole week after having screwed up the country for 19 months and 2) deliver the kind of mediocre-but-not-toxic performance he did when he was around the first time.

Sacking Sithanen within a few hours of reading this post could certainly help to clear the political air a little bit but will not be enough. Ramgoolam still has to make an about turn in terms of economic policy. The good news is that that's fairly easy to do and he's got enough time to do it. The bad news is that he has surrounded himself with an impressive number of incompetent Judas. And the incompetent Judas will now do what incompetent Judas know best.