A Champ de Mars Like No Other

The one we have in Port-Louis should have a little emphasis added to its name: Champ du 12 Mars. Because for so many of us it was on a twelfth of March that we experienced some of the most intense moments of our existence there.

The granddaddy of all being of course 12.3.68. Because when else do you witness so much heart-stopping drama? First, the Union Jack is lowered. That's enough to get your blood pump to beat irregularly. At least a few times. Then our own brand new flag is raised high. If you are still not dead by then you also -- as a bonus -- get to hear a massive crowd of all kinds of tear-eyed people very proudly singing. Or crying. Some of them uncontrollably. To a beautiful piece of music.

We need to hurry with this one for at least two reasons. One because independent Mauritius will turn 50 in a few years and the other to help us forget the ridiculously bland celebrations for the 40th (a year of ferocious bean-counting -- aka bumper crop) and 45th independence anniversaries (a year when we apparently didn't have enough money to have our own A380 land at Plaisance -- thanks PBB!).

Shouldn't be too hard to get this baby out for this year's celebration.

2011: The Year in Review (Q3)

July: Audit report confirms PBB is an eyewash. Jugnauth announces second miracle on its way. Minister loses son in accident. Hanoomanjee resigns followed by other MSM Ministers. Ramgoolam gets chance to measure up to the Gods of the Labour Party: do plenty with paper-thin majority. Mauritians experience their excellent constitution one more time.

August: US votes on debt deal hours before going into default. Seetaram crosses floor to give Ramgoolam breathing space. MSM leaves government without delivering new miracle. Mansoor wants Mauritius to pay for bean-counting mess, again. For Paul and Pravind it's still love at first sight. Our Parliament found already too big. Manou re-explains BOM's role to MEXA.

September: IMF confirms bean-counters indulged in Voodoo accounting. Jamaica 100m relay team too strong for world. Universe gets new Miss: Leila. Interest rate spreads hurting our competitiveness. Team-builder extraordinaire turns 111. Debt service to exceed education budget by 40% in 2013. Palestinians rejoice as Abbas requests UN membership. Sugar syndicate unhappy world not frozen.

Read the review for Q1, Q2, Q4.

IMF Confirms Bean-Counters Indulged in Voodoo Accounting

After carrying out a PEFA (Public Expenditure And Financial Accountability) Assessment at the request of our Government for 3 financial years ending 2009. In the report they are saying that about a quarter of the capital budgets for two fiscal years was not spent. Which is something we had already pinpointed a couple of years ago.

I also want to know who placed in this dumb request because we surely can put our public officers to better use than to duplicate work that the Audit Office does every year. Especially given that they seem to be already spending too much time -- and hence our tax rupees -- with that white elephant called -- PBB. And the bloody audit reports have been coming in with terrifying persistence.

Mansoor Wants Mauritius To Pay For Bean-Counting Mess, Again

That's what I conclude from skimming through his latest PBB circular No 7. In it, he is saying that the economy is not growing as fast as expected so that he now wants to introduce and/or raise user fees. Because, he adds, there is limited scope for raising taxes if we don't want to scare off private domestic investment and FDI. Well, we know for a fact that the Rs 40 billion of FDI we received after taxes were slashed by 50% didn't make a difference in the lives of a supermajority of Mauritians. For five straight years. So that's a spurious argument at best.

Also, the average growth rates of 4% he's expecting for the next three years is not that bad by itself but too low to get us out of the toxic debt dynamics his flat tax has thrown us into. And recall we were told back in 2005 that two years of belt-tightening combined with the potent new medicine of Dr Kontu would send us orbiting into economic nirvana. That did not happen either. In fact Mauritius missed one of the strongest world recovery last year and could miss more. A lot more.

The dismantling of our welfare state which incidentally established the reputation of our country worldwide by providing exceptional social mobility to countless thousands will also have severe repercussions on the political chessboard. Ramgoolam has already seen his majority dwindle from 38 at the the time of result proclamation in 2005 to a current 36 after best losers and turncoat. The stage could now be set to seriously frustrate his attempts to stay in power after 2015.

Audit Report Confirms PBB is An Eyewash

It's that period of the year again when the audit report affords us an opportunity to become totally outraged at how our tax rupees are wasted. And why bean-counters cannot hide under the cover of PBB to mask their miserable failure.

It's not getting better is it?

PBB Not Immune To GIGO

PBB means Programme-Based Budgeting while GIGO is the acronym you met when you started learning about programming or computers: Garbage In Garbage Out. PBB was supposed to help us manage public funds better and get our priorities right. I say was because we know from the audit reports that we didn't exactly make a big dent in the multi-billion rupee wastage. And because we still didn't realise that building another reservoir or sufficiently reducing leakages in our water system was a topmost priority. For five straight years.

In other words PBB will not make you any dumber than you already are and there is absolutely no need for bean-counters to raise it to the level of a God.

You can read the PBB manual used at our MOF if you haven't read some good fiction for a long time.

How the MOF Can Improve Productivity Right Away

By allowing citizens of our country the option to download all the Program-based budget estimates for 2011 and the indicative estimates for 2012 and 2013 in one large file instead of the close to 90 individual files.