BUDGET 2013 Please find below my speech : Mr Speaker Sir, this budget has been hailed in various quarters and in this August Assembly as embodying the vision of the Prime Minister. I’ve had a glimpse of that vision: we all have: It was a Sunday. 23 May 1999. The venue was Anjalay Stadium in Belle Vue. The final match on the final day of the first division football league between Fire Brigade and Scouts Club. Scouts club only needed to draw to be crowned champions. But they lost when Fire Brigade scored in the dying seconds of the match and won the championship. The referee was to say the least controversial having not once but twice denied goals by Scouts Club. The fans turned into hooligans and went on a rampage. Equipment and infrastructure of the stadium were damaged. Buses were ramshackled. Sugar cane fields were set on fire. Then the mob gathered in Plaine Verte and marched onto the office of the Mauritius Football Association. Simultaneously a crowd gathered in front of the L’Amical Gaming house and the building were burnt down. The arson caused 7 victims including a 2 year old and a six year old child and a pregnant lady. So many tears. So much suffering. Le pays en entire etait en deuil. A year later, 4 persons were sentenced to life imprisonment. They have always claimed to be innocent. They are still waiting for the Prime Minister to appoint the members of the Human Rights Division so that they may apply for a new trial. Their lawyers have written several letters to the Hon Prime Minister asking him to appoint the members. I have solemnly asked the Hon Prime Minister through a PQ to appoint members of the human rights division. Unfortunately this does not seem to be a priority on the agenda of the Prime Minister. Mr Speaker Sir, the last time there was a competitive football match played between two traditional clubs in this country, there was riot, arson and death? How can this government forget what happened on that fatal day? Hasn’t this government learnt anything from the death of the 7 innocents who perished in the arson? Is this the vision of this Government and of this Hon Prime Minister? Riots? Arson? Setting alight sugar cane fields? Vandalising buses and shops? Why appeal to the most basic of all human instincts? Why raise the communal demon? In 1999, most players in Scouts clubs were not muslim. Yet several muslims identified themselves with Scouts club, just like many hindus supported cadets and creoles supported Fire Brigade. As far back as 1982, there were attempts to end communalism in football. Football clubs were forced to remove any reference to any community or religion in their names. But this was just a cosmetic change. The core supporters did not change. Traditional club still attracted supporters from specific groups, communities and religion. Reviving traditional clubs necessarily means reviving the supporters for these traditional clubs. So why revive the communal demons? The only reason given by the Hon Vice Prime Minister for this “bold decision”- a most dangerous decision in my opinion- is that we need traditional clubs to fill stadiums with cheering fans. Is the government in such a desperate need of gate money? Mr Speaker Sir, I’d rather see an empty stadium than have Mauritius go through another 23 May 1999. I’d rather see an empty stadium than have the nation burry another victim of hooliganism. I’d rather see an empty stadium than see our country torn apart. No, Mr Speaker Sir. Never again! Traditional clubs will inevitably revive the communal demon. We all know that! And the Hon. Prime Minister knows that better than anyone else in this House. Wasn’t he the one who when debating the Sports Bill in 1999 stated and I quote: “This legislation bears testimony to our unflinching commitment to shake off, once and for all, the communalist mindset in the practice of sports and in supporting sports teams. For too long, the scourge of communalism in sports has been gnawing at the fabric of our society. Regionalisation will create a new feeling of appurtenance. We are convinced that, over the years, this feeling will evolve and sustain a new fervour for sports, where teams will be supported by Mauritians and not by communities. I have said it on several occasions; we have built a country, we now need to build our nation. For regionalisation of sports, Mr Speaker, Sir, is not only about de-communalising sports, it is also about building our nation.” A decade ago, the Honourable Prime Minister was set to de-communalise sports and embark on nation building. What happened along the way? Has he been distracted by nou banistes? Is there a hidden agenda? Just a weak Prime Minister who would do anything to clingto power. That’s the harsh reality, Mr Speaker Sir. And history will bear witness that the Prime Minister who is taking the so called bold decision of reviving traditional clubs, with all its communal undertone, is the very same Prime Minister who took the decision in 1999 to ban elite football in this country. Yes, Mr Speaker Sir, let us not forget that it is the very same Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam who banned “le sport roi”. And when he did so again he was applauded by his ministers. The then Minister of Sports Mrs Arouff Parfait even stated and I quote: “This is the first time that a Prime Minister has publicly come forward with such a courageous measure which deserves all our congratulations and an unflinching support”. “congratulations and an unflinching support”?! What an achievement! Quel exploit! They killed football and shamelessly bragged about it! For more than nineteen months, people stopped playing football in this country. For more than nineteen months, Mauritians could not even watch their national team play on our national soil. We had to play the home leg of international football matches outside of Mauritius. We had to go to places like Egypt and Reunion island for our home leg. We became football squatters: “sans domicile fixe”. We were a laughing stock to the international football community! What a legacy! Soccer players were denied the opportunity of earning their livelihood. Soccer fans were deprived of their national sport. Truly the darkest period in our football history thanks to the inability of the labour government led by Hon Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam to find a solution to end the football crisis. Intervening on the Sports Bill in 2000, Hon Dr Arvind Boolell tried to justify the decision to suspend football matches in the following terms and I quote: “Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are good reasons as to why for some time there was no elite soccer in Mauritius. Only over the weekend, had it not been for the intervention of the Police, there could have been a communal riot in this country.” “Communal riot in this country”. Yes , Mr Speaker Sir, These were the terms used by Dr Arvind Boolell to justify banning football. I wonder if he will now support those who will take the “bold” decision which may lead to communal riot in this country? Mr Speaker Sir, the historical truth is that we’ve had to wait for the MSM/MMM to come to power for the football league to resume. Hardly 2 months after the general elections in 2000, football kicked off again. The government provided the necessary funds to sport regions. And football prospered. On September 6, 2003, in a packed George V Stadium our national team won the Indian Ocean Island games beating Reunion Island 2-1. I was there and like me thousands of Mauritians felt proud our national team. 2003 Mr Speaker Sir, there were no traditional clubs then. Still we had a more than decent national football team. Under the MSM/MMM government Mauritius achieved its best ranking in the FIFA World Ranking namely 116. Last year we were 2002. What a shame? If our football is going down the drain, if our stadiums are empty, it’s not the fault of regionalisation. No. It is the inevitable result of the gross incompetency of this government and in its dealing with the Mauritius Football Association! Stadium will be filled when the level of our football is raised. Players should be financially rewarded for the strict diet, intensive training and discipline required for football de haut niveau. More funds should be provided to football teams. More funds should be allocated to local authorities, municipal council and district councils to promote football. Sponsors should be given fiscal rebate for all donation made to football clubs. So much can be done to raise the level of football teams and attract spectators. The solution is not and will never be the revival of traditional clubs. Mr Speaker Sir, in 1999 they killed football. We revived it. And now they are set to destroy the game again! Today, we take the pledge that we will spare no effort to prevent them from destroying our football and our national unity. Tomorrow in power we will usher a new golden era for our national sport, king football. Monsieur le Président, le budget est l’occasion pour le Grand Argentier de faire le bilan de l’année écoulée et d’annoncer les grandes lignes de sa politique économique et fiscale. C’est vraiment dommage de voir l’honorable ministre des finances se contenter d’une croissance économique de 3,2 pourcent pour 2013. Et ceux alors même que des milliards de roupies ont été injectées dans l’économie avec le paiement de la PRB. Il est regrettable que le ministre ait utilisé comme point de référence (benchmark) le taux de croissance des pays tels que l’Inde, le Brésil et la Russie alors que l’économie de ces pays n’a rien de comparable avec la nôtre et ces pays font face à des problèmes conjoncturels avec notamment la dépréciation de leur monnaie. Voyons plutôt se que nous prédit le bureau du fond monétaire internationale dans leur rapport rendu public le mois dernier : Le taux de croissance en moyenne dans les pays émergents et en développement : 4,5% en 2013 et 5,4% pour 2014. La moyenne pour l’Afrique Sub-saharienne est de 5% en 2013 et 6% pour 2014. Pour les pays en développement d’Asie on prévoit 6,3% en 2013 et 6,5% pour 2014, avec un taux de croissance de 7,6% pour la Chine en 2013 ! Monsieur le Président, les chiffres parlent d’eux-mêmes ! Il n’y a vraiment pas de quoi se vanter ! Nous connaissons un taux de croissance en deçà des autres pays en développement. Pire, Monsieur le Président. Le grand Argentier prévoit que notre taux de croissance en 2014 serait seulement de 3,8 à 4% ! Là aussi `en deçà de la moyenne des autres pays en développement. Quel aveu de taille ! Et on comprend mieux pourquoi le ministre des finances ne s’est pas aventuré à prédire le taux de chômage pour l’année prochaine. Un taux de chômage qui a atteint les 8,3% et qui en fait est bien plus conséquent si on tient en compte les milliers de diplômés recrutés temporairement sous le Youth Employment Programme. Avec un taux de croissance de 3,8 à 4% comment va –t –on combattre le chômage ? Quelle sont les mesures préconisées dans ce budget pour la création d’emploi et faciliter l’embauche ? Quels secteurs ont été identifies dans ce budget comme pour relancer l’économie et créer l’emploi? « Aviation hub » At paragraph 64 of the budget speech we are told that the government will develop a masterplan which will focus on 4 main segments including a cargo hub. And in the meantime Airports of Mauritius Ltd will expand cargo facilities at the airport for a total amount of Rs525 million over 72 hectares. The project is scheduled for completion in July 2014. According to the timetable for implementation of the measures announced in the 2014 budget speech which was circulated yesterday, the date limit for implementation of the masterplan to realise an aviation hub is June 2014. So the government will invest some Rs525million in a project before a masterplan for that very project is even developed! Yes, there is no masterplan yet. No feasibility study. No cost benefit analysis. Do we know how many additional flights are required to make the cargo hub economically viable, let alone profitable? How many airlines have indicated their willingness to increase the number of flights to Mauritius? Are we increasing the aircraft fleet of Air Mauritius? There is no masterplan, no feasibility study, and yet the government will spend hundreds of millions of rupees! Doesn’t that sound familiar? I get a strange feeling of déjà vu here? Tianli/Jin Fei? Hundred of millions of rupees down the drain for a ghost town with only goats enjoying water and electricity supply 24/7! Same thing for Neotown project. Hundreds of million of rupees in a ghost project. Hundred of millions of rupees down the drain. Job creation: zero. Same government, same Prime Minister. Same results! Hundreds of millions of rupees of tax payers money down the drain! Mr Speaker Sir, the problem of this government to paraphrase the former director of audit is that it simply does not trigger the thought process before it takes a decision. Spend now. Think later! They built an airport. No masterplan. Only the Master’s plan to give the best spots to copain copine. Next we are told that there will be big investments in the sea port. We’ve heard the same story so many times before. Billions of rupees were supposed to be invested by the Mauritius Ports Authority. The government was supposed to privatise the Cargo Handling Corporation. Dredging work were to be carried out to accommodate more vessels, bigger vessels. Millions of rupees have been spent on consultancy fees! Up to now, zero plombage! According to the implementation time table, its only in 2016 that the new terminal is likely to become operational! Mr Speaker Sir, the last time major dredging works were carried out by the Mauritius Ports Authority we all know what happened. Boskalis pleaded guilty to the charge of bribing officers at the Mauritius Ports Authority. And it is with utter disgust that Mauritians found out that the former adviser of the Prime Minister Mr Gilbert Philippe was given immunity against prosecution when there were clear evidence that he had received payments from Boskalis into his private bank account in Singapore. Shame! As my friend Mahen Jugroo rightly stated on Friday last, when it comes to people close to the government, ICAC trouve caillelousse. Creating a Marine Services Platform is a welcome initiative provided that all the necessary precaution is taken to ensure a fair and transparent allocation of contract. We don’t want any more unsolicited bids coming from relatives of ministers and other chamchas close to power. If we are going to liberalise the bunker trade, lets do it the proper way. Let’s give the same equal chance to each bidder. Let’s not have another Betamax. Let’s not have another Sarako. Let’s not have another LPG terminal scandal. Mr Speaker Sir, the new sectors identified by the Minister of Finance will not solve the unemployment issue in the short run. It will not create many jobs for graduates. In fact there is nothing in this budget that addresses the problem of high unemployment rate among the youth. The solution to the youth unemployement problems of this country seems to be the one advocated by Hon Minister Mohamed; Migration. The government is incapable of providing a decent job to the youth of this country and in particular to the graduates. This is why the government has waived the bond which laureates had to sign. There is no need to come back to Mauritius. We don’t need our elite! The irony Mr Speaker Sir is that at the same time as this government is dissuading Mauritians from coming back to Mauritius they are trying to attract foreigners to come to Mauritius. The Honorable Vice Prime minister in the budget speech stated at paragraph 183 and I quote: “ a pool of talent is a must in our economy if we want to build a better Mauritius for all” We already have such a pool of talent here. So you would have expected him to announce measures to keep this pool of talents here. No Mr Speaker Sir, no such measures. Instead he announced measures to attract more high calibre professional to Mauritius. We have thousands of graduer chomeur and the Hon Vice Prime Minister is targeting to bring in 5,000 professionals in the short term and 10,000 professionals in the medium terms. Is this how you are going to create employment for our Mauritian professionals? We have so many professionals in this country who are looking for jobs. I get CVs everyday. Do we need foreign accountants? Do we need foreign lawyers? Do we need foreign doctors? Soon we will get foreign ministers and MPs! When will this government start believing in its own people?! But then again Mr Speaker Sir, what can you expect from a Prime Minister who openly and repeatedly state that he does not trust his own ministers? Les judas! He does not trust those around him, how can we expect him to trust the ordinary Mauritian citizen! Cry my beloved country! Africa Mr Speaker Sir, I agree with the Honourable Vice Prime Minister that we need to support and empower our enterprises to do business in Africa. Mauritius should become the gateway to Africa. Our long term destiny is linked to this continent which is slowly awakening. A land of opportunity. A continent rich in minerals and precious metals which has struck oil and gas. But what happened to government’s decision to make us a travelling hub to Africa? Africa is at our door step but it still takes hours if not days to access by air. When will Air Mauritius increase its fleet of aircraft to ensure regular daily flights to the emerging African countries? The Hon vice Prime minister did not even talked about Africa when he referred to improved air services! That’s says it all. We were supposed to have two ambassadors for Africa. What happened to them? Did they get the necessary budget? Do they have a proper office and staff? Last time I heard, the lady appointed as our ambassador for Africa landed in Moscow! There seems to be more film actors in Russia than in Africa! Mr Speaker Sir we welcome the idea of a Mauritius Africa Fund. But Mr Speaker Sir I could not prevent myself from giggling when I heard the Hon Vice Prime Minister state that this Mauritius Africa Fund “will offer fee paying consultancy services on the continent to Government and public sector entities” What a joke! So we are good enough to provide “fee paying consultancy services” to African government. But when it comes to providing consultancy services to our motherland, then we are not good enough. We need foreigners. We need foreign professionals. We need Singapore. To advise on the Identity cards, the national computer board and our ITC professionals are not good enough. We need to get Singaporeans. And what did the Singaporeans do when they were awarded the contract? They sub contracted it! There are flash floods; who do we call? Singapore! There is a water management problem; who do we call? Singapore We need an adviser for the Light Rail Transit System. Who do we call? Singapore. We need to change a bulb in the office of the Prime Minister. Who do we call? I hope not Singapore! But what is this obsession with Singapore? I worked several years in Singapore. Yes there are hard working intelligent people in Singapore. But we have equally intelligent and hard working people in Mauritius. So why rush to Singapore for everything? When will this government get rid of its inferiority complex! When will it start trusting us Mauritians? Mr Speaker Sir there was one area where we had a competitive edge over Singapore. One sector where Mauritius was preferred to Singapore. And that is for investment into India. But even here this grossly incompetent government was unable to maintain this competitive advantage. Today investors prefer to invest into India through Singapore rather than Mauritius. And who is to be blamed? No one else than this government. Only a few days ago the Times of India referred to an interview of the FSC Chief Executive Ms Clairette Ah-Hen where she said that some new investors were not exploring investment opportunities offered by Mauritius as a gateway to India due to tax pact-related concerns. They quoted Ms Ah Hen in the following terms: Because of this uncertainty, both India side and Mauritius side are losing, as we could have otherwise got the momentum. The funds would have been flowing (into India). But now you have a situation where investors wait and watch. So they will look for alternatives...That is where time is important (for revising the pact), Time is of the essence Mr Speaker Sir. Time is money. When will this government understand that! Au lieu d’adopter une politique de l’autruche, ils auraient du prendre le taureau par les cornes! Helas, il fut tout autre. Mr Speaker Sir, there is a total confusion in the sector. Where do we stand? Where are we heading to? What do we tell our clients? We don’t even know who is handling the file on the Double taxation treaty with India. Is it the Vice Prime Minister who are Minister of Finance should be responsible for financial services and taxation? But then why is he not invited to negotiations? Why is he sidelined in favour of Dr Arvind Boolell Minister of Foreign Affairs? Isn’t he good enough? Doesn’t the Prime Minister trust him? And why does he allow himself to suffer such humiliation! Mr Speaker Sir, the double taxation treaty with India should be above politics. The government should get its act together and take decisive actions. We are losing business. We are losing credibility. Management companies are laying off workers. Mr Speaker Sir, in the financial world where cut throat competition is the norm, we need to adapt or perish. There is only so much which the industry can do on its own. We need the support of the government. We welcome the initiative to set up a joint public private sector financial services promotion committee to implement targeted campaign in Africa. After killing the Financial Services Promotion Agency a few years ago which was doing precisely that, I am glad that the Vice Prime Minister is setting aside funds to promote our reputation as an international financial centre. But then why limit the campaign to Africa only? We need also to market our services where the investors are located. Where the money is. And the Rs50 million being set aside for these promotion campaign is a drop in the ocean compared to hundreds of millions being invested by our competitors to promote their jurisdiction. Mr Speaker Sir unfortunately Mauritius’ image as a well regulated financial centre has been badly affected by the string of ponzi schemes which were widely reported in the international press. The amount involved, the number of victims and the span of time over which the ponzi schemes uncovered the major shortcomings among regulators. Yet no sanctions were taken against any regulatory supervisors. 2 suspected transactions reports were filed with the Financial Intelligence Unit. They slept over it for more than 6 months. Banners and posters all over the place invited the population to invest in these unregulated schemes. The Financial Services Commission did nothing. The Bank of Mauritius received letters. But did not report the matter to the police. When the plot came to light. When the masks fell. To our dismay we found out that one of the main actor or actress should I say behind the scheme was no less than miss kaba, former counsellor of the labour party in Quatre Bornes who was already on Bail for an alleged case of corruption. And despite her infamous track record, despite being a serial offender, she was released on bail only a few days later while the police enquiry was still ongoing! And during that time on her web page she was telling victims to wait for her return to get back their money!Even the brother of a minister was arrested in this saga. Pressure is now being placed on victims not to come forward. They are told that they will be prosecuted if they come forward. They are told that their money were not clean in the first place! Nearly a year after hundreds of Mauritians have lost more than a billion of rupees the government is coming forward with measures to combat financial crime. But we already had good legislations. Ponzi schemes are already illegal. Providing financial services without a licence is already an offence. Swindling is already an offence. But what do you do when those supposed to enforce the law are party to the scheme? What do you do when you hear about the involvement of police officers and ICAC officers in the scheme? To whom does a victim turn to? Where is the ombudsperson for financial services that was promised in last year’s budget? Mr Speaker Sir we should not be over zealous either. The Hon Vice Prime Minister has announced certain measures which has sent a chill down the spine of operators in the financial sectors and lawyers. Regulators should now not be given so much power as to become a threat to the proper running of the sector. Regulators should not be allowed to go on a fishing expedition . Uncontrolled powers may lead to abuse and undermine confidence in the system. And when it comes to the offshore sector, appearances matters. We need to keep the protection afford by the judge of chambers. Regulators should not bypass a judge in chambers’ order to search, seize and disseminate confidential information. Privileged communication between a lawyer and his clients including emails should not be lightly tampered with. I urged the Hon Vice Prime Minister to consult stakeholders of the industry before taking any drastic measure. Mr Speaker Sir, the erosion of household’s purchasing power is a major concern. A growing number of household can’t make ends meet. Prices of basic commodities have plummeted over the past few years. In the budget the Hon Vice Prime Minister states at paragraph 503 that “the most sustainable way to improve purchasing power and therefore the standard of living is by improving earning capacity and creating opportunities for more and higher productivity jobs.” This may be a laudable statement or cliché but will do little improve the lot of ordinary Mauritian nor increase their purchasing power in the sort and medium term. The government could have reduce the price of petroleum product. This would have had a cascading effect on prices. It has the means to do so. When the price of petroleum products was increased in March 2013, the reference price for Mogas and gas oil were significantly lower than what they currently are today on the world market. But the price structure was adjusted by adding Rs2.2462 for Mogas and Rs1.4280 under the item “adjustment”. The price of petroleum product could and should have been reduced. Instead we will be charge Rs1 levy to finance the acquisition of new bus for private bus companies! Du jamais vu. Direct subsidisation. People who don’t use the bus will have to pay bus companies to change their fleet! This is the new Robinhood: take from poor consumers and give to the rich bus owners! And it is not the first time that this government is looking after his capitalist friends. Who has forgotten about the stimulus package? Fat cheques to the close adviser to the Prime Minister? Even fatter check to a former MP for labour party. The money was meant to save jobs! But both Infinity BPO and RS Denim group all went bust. Yet the owners are still emjoying their lavish lifestyle. Putting our copain copine first. The government criticised MSM-MMM government to have increased VAT to 15%? Why didn’t they reduce it? Once again the budget deficit will be financed largely through VAT. But Mr Speaker Sir, what am I talking about? They did remove 15% VAT…on photovoltaic panels . Jackpot once again? The immediate beneficiary of this generosity will no doubt be Sarako PV Co Ltd a company owned by the brother of the minister. Mr Speaker Sir one thing that we will always remember this Prime Minster for is his generosity towards the family members of his cabinet. .Answering to a PNQ earlier this year the Hon Deputy Prime Minister informed the house that following an unsolicited bid Sarako PV co ltd was awarded a contract to supply 15MW of electricity for the next 20 years at a premium price of Rs6.06! Unsolicited bid. And we all know that the European Union has refused to finance any project which has not gone through a competitive tender process. But know cares. As long as our people our family is the beneficiary. We learnt that a sum of Rs37 million rupee annually has been earmarked from the Mauritius Ile Durable Fund for the Sarako project. We were also told that Sarako has been granted a lease of 80A in bamboo when we know that the norm is 2A per Megawatt. Now that VAT is being waived I hope that the CEB will renegotiate the price for the purchase of electricity downwards. Jackpot. And its not the first time. Have we forgotten how the inlaws of another minister won the Prime Minister’s lottery with Betamax and Red Eagle. Billions of rupees to be paid to them over the next 15 years. By these standards the dozens of millions of VAT exemption granted to Appollo Hospital seems peanuts. Mr Speaker, Sir, there is no better symbolic example of the gross incompetence of this Government than in the way it has managed or rather mismanaged our water supply. In February and March of this year, we have had flash floods. Several people perished in those incidents. Now, barely 6 months later we are having water supply issues! Every year, we vote hundreds of millions of rupees to replace old pipes. Every year when we go through Committee Stage we find out that the money has been underspent. A bunch of under achievers! That is what we have! So much so that one bailleur de fonds has had to cancel his line of credit. In the meantime, we are suffering. Water is a necessity and it is criminal to play with our water supply. What happened to Bagatelle Dam? Is the Government going ahead or not? How much money has already been spent on the project to date? At least, if you have decided to stop it, have the decency to come publicly and do your own mea culpa and while you are at it, I will be interested to know what the hon. Deputy Prime Minister as Minister responsible for the Central Water Authority thinks about the gentleman in Balfour who got CWA to fill his swimming pool in August of this year! It is sad, Mr Speaker, Sir, that I heard the hon. Prime Minister yesterday try to defend l’indéfendable and try to argue that there were no water shortage at that time. I will give him the benefit of doubt. I am sure that he did not want to, in any way, mislead the House. But let me quote from a few newspapers around that time. First, “Le Matinal”, hardly a newspaper close to the Opposition, “Le Matinal” of 23 August 2013 – « La situation de l’eau dans le pays est préoccupante. C’est la raison pour laquelle la Central Water Authority prévoit des coupures un peu partout à travers le pays dans les jours à venir. Une décision rendue nécessaire par le fait que la pluviométrie entre mai et août montre un déficit de 50%. » On the eve, I quote l’Express - « La CWA tire déjà la sonnette d’alarme. Le pays est déficitaire en eau d’au moins 50% durant cette période. Résultat : de nouveaux horaires de coupure d’eau sont à venir à travers l’île, sauf dans le sud. » But, the cherry on the cake, Mr Speaker, Sir, le Défi Media, on the very fatidique day, on the eve Saturday 17 August, and I quote - «Toutefois ces deux derniers jours à Beau Bassin… » Meaning around that time, the time when the hon. gentleman was filling his swimming pool with dozens of camions citernes. « Ces deux derniers jours à Beau Bassin, la fourniture avait été interrompue. Les techniciens ont déjà réparé une valve obstruée à deux endroits différents et la situation revenue à la normal vendredi après-midi, affirme (…)» And then gives the name. «La CWA compte sur la collaboration de la population (…)» And, I quote - «Nous lançons un appel aux publiques pour utiliser l’eau à bon escient.»‘ ‘Utiliser l’eau à bon escient’; a cry from the heart of the CWA before the hon. gentleman filling his swimming pool. L’exemple vient d’en haut. It all bodes down to leadership or lack of it. You see, people are inspired, motivated and driven by leaders. A good captain can uplift a whole football team. We have seen it yesterday when we watched football, how a captain of a national team can uplift the whole team. A leader leads by example, but if the leader is weak, corrupt and unjust, automatically, the society will lack bearing and not proper. Today, this Government is reaping the rotten fruit of evil seeds of division which it has sown. They nurtured ‘rodeur boute’ and tried to buy by the conscience of many. Mr Speaker, Sir, it is not because we are surrounded by beautiful beaches that we should bury our head in the sand and ignore the distress, the poverty and the suffering of these people. This Budget was, to say the least, décevant, but I take comfort, Mr Speaker, Sir, in knowing that like me all Mauritians in this country know that this is the last Budget of this outgoing Government. Thank you.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 10:23:38 +0000
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