THREE COURSES of actions to be taken by the new Government of CHANGE
BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF A 60/0. The choice a Cabinet of Ministers of 24 from 60 gives the PM a huge choice of competencies, prospective hard work and imagination/initiative to put in practice the Government Manifesto. And possible achieving even more. Unlike that choice of 24 from about 35/40 for the previous 2014 and 2019 Cabinets.
The competencies of ministers being a key factor in the success of a Government, we deplore the below standard level of some ministers of the previous Cabinet, hence the deficiency in actions and achievements. As well as the wide possibility to change ministers who, after a quarter or so are assessed as not delivering. The Government can also constitute a number of Select
Committees to advance specific subjects of legislation, of reform or of projects.
Beneficial as well is that a majority government is assured of having its legislation, reforms including constitutional reforms, passed and does have to fear being defeated in parliament.
We see THREE COURSES of actions to be taken by the new
Government of CHANGE to precisely make Mauritius a place“où il fait bon vivre”.
1. Recognise, accept and therefore continue to support positive actions taken by the previous Government of 2019-24, in infrastructure, health, social services, housing, tourism etc. Just take one example to illustrate: the building and operation of Mediclinics in different parts of the island.
2. Correct negative, partial decisions and noubannism actions by previous Government, a process already started with changes at the head of the Police, MBC, Central Bank, Secretary to Cabinet, Attorney General, and others, with as motto “the best person in the right place” (Navin Ramgoolam)
3. Implementation, from now and over the next 5 years, of the programme of Alliance du Changements as fully approved by the population. In particular meritocracy, combat drug trade and abuse, cost of living, food and energy self-sufficiency,
In the above process, especially 1 and 2 above, the Government should and must listen to the population (citizens groups, unions, press, religions and others). DWM amongst other groups offers to continue as watchdog to simply help in keeping Government actions in line and positive as they proposed and engaged themselves to do.
On item 2 above (corrective actions) the reversal of attempts by PSEA to take over control of all private and confessional secondary schools is in urgent need to be addressed. The PSEA, supported by the previous Minister, embarked on this ‘destruction’ of initiative and independence of these colleges for reasons unknown, using the power of the law (The PSEA ACT) to do so. The strength of our secondary educational sector is precisely in its diversity: confessional colleges, private colleges, state colleges + a small number of feepaying international colleges. Such diversity must be respected.
The people have spoken. Their voice has been crystal clear. Not the least ambiguity.
They have massively voted against despotism, nepotism, bad governance corruption and various forms of abuse of power and authority. They have voted for complete redress and a new start based on firm democratic and good governance principles.
The new Prime Minister has publicly pledged that his government is committed to bring forth strong measures to detect and prosecute the offenders along with the long awaited reforms in the education, health sectors, electoral system, freedom of information, financing of political parties and accountability in all spheres. Many of the changes will require Constitutional amendments and this is why the electorate has not hesitated to give an overwhelming majority to the new government to go full steam with the various institutional reforms.
The people have given the government a period of five years to implement, with an appropriate calendar, all the measures contained in the political manifesto in order to restore their confidence in both public and private institutions .They expect the government to deliver in a timely manner, without any excuse.
Furthermore, they expect the government not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Therefore, the Prime Minister and his Ministers will be constantly under the lens of the population. If they perform diligently in full regard for the laws of the land, they can expect to be rewarded with another mandate .But, if they fail they will be booted out mercilessly. The new government has a clear choice: Perform or Perish.
Democracy Watch has over the last decade drawn the attention of the government to its numerous misdeeds and excesses while offering solutions for redress. Unfortunately, the outgoing Prime Minister simply ignored all such proposals. Hence, we are not the least surprised at the full determination of the people expressed on Polling Day to move for a clean sweep in the hope for well thought out policies to inter alia to transform our economy ,better our social programmes ,eliminate corruption, combat drug trafficking, re-engineer our institutions and prevent the brain drain.
There is a lot of work ahead for the government and indeed all of us. Democracy Watch is hopeful that, with renewed confidence, we can succeed in this new chapter of our history and see a bright future on the horizon for us and the coming generations.
DWM Team
