It is an undeniable fact that in politics, there is the rise and fall of many leaders, as well as of new and matured politicians. In the case of Navin Ramgoolam, losing at two consecutive general elections might have been extremely hard for him to digest. But the fact that we human beings live on hope permanently, we just have to give a spur to our vaulting ambitions to help us to forge ahead and struggle anew. Many weaknesses of potential politicians happen to stain their image as a political leader. But as human beings, we always happen to learn from our mistakes and try to avoid committing those blunders again. Some facts on which political parties must ponder over are as follows.
Putting People first
In the actual circumstances, life is not a bed of roses for people in general, due to Covid-19 and the war between Russia and Ukraine. Following this situation, a sluggish economic growth is noted in many sectors of our country. On top of it, the purchasing power of the people is going down the hill due to the economic crisis. Political parties need to know how to please people by giving due consideration to this subtle statement “l’example vient d’en haut”. According to a survey, it has been noted that our parliamentarians are “grassement payés”, compared to other countries like India, Russia and China, among others. What they need to do is to ramp up the purchasing power of people, tame inflation, and deal with drugs and corruption with an iron will and reduce salaries and other privileges of the parliamentarians reasonably. Remember well, fighting for parliamentarians’ interest in parliament is shunned by people at large.
Give Caesar what is Caesar’s
The BAI saga, an episode which exacerbated the life of 200,000 people in Mauritius, is not easy to forget soon. By the collapse of the BAI, nothing could ventilate the grievances of the large majority of the clients. Tribulation and lamentation had turned the situation into a dark moment. Finally, the N-Tan report proved clearly that there were no Ponzi schemes as such. But what was done could not be undone. People lost part of their hard earnings, while frail clients could not bear the shock and died out of sorrow. Once coming to power, the new elected PM better put the BAI case on his priority list by returning some assets which are still under state control. As the state was responsible for the collapse of the BAI, it is therefore the state’s responsibility to support Dawood Rawat to control his business with financial aids. Definitely, all the clients of the ex-BAI will agree regarding this wise decision.
From this scenario, it is crystal clear that political leaders must choose the right place and the right time to organize their “congrès nocturnes”. Things are given a communal dimension easily, and in this optic, they better organize such “grand meetings” in the villages with the right audiences. Sometimes, we are victim of our own success. Remember well, in a democracy you rule but do not reign. Therefore, absolute power, exaggerations and misuse of the power have a price to pay. The “cheval de bataille” for all political parties must repose on the following: battle against wastage, corruption, nepotism and drugs. Consequently, political parties must have recourse to campaigns based on these major triangular axes, reducing salaries of parliamentarians, the BAI saga, and waging war against corruption, wastage and drugs. Besides, the unemployment problem has to be dealt with seriously. Appropriate strategies to stop brain drain in our society must be applied comprehensively.
It is to be noted that small parties nourishing the hopes to catch maximum votes are tantamount to illusion. The masses present in some “congrès” are deceptive because past empirical evidences have shown it repeatedly. Maybe, by jumping on the bandwagon, some popular members of small parties will have the chance to get elected.
Big parties are blatantly talking about locomotive and wagon. Each political party is showing its “force de frappe” by organizing “congrès nocturnes”. We may soon come across the same scenario that is marriage, honeymoon and divorce. The question in the actual context is: who can lead the locomotive?
Cassam Tupsy
