A Hidden Message from the Governor of the Bank of Mauritius?

[Extract of his speech at the annual dinner for economic actors - see last sentence]

Now let me turn to our economic prospects and our high aspirations.

We are living in troubled and testing times. Several questions arise. Will we be agile enough to meet the severe tests ahead? What kind of growth should we seek? Should it not be more inclusive? And more equitable? We are trying hard to move into niche markets but is this enough? What else must we do to escape the middle-income trap, to be amongst the best small economies, not just in Africa, but in the wider world where our main competitors are to be found?

We have seen the likes of Malta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Ireland and others raising the bar to achieve GDP per capita, adjusted for purchasing power, more than twice the levels we have achieved despite our continued economic growth. Can we make the breakthrough? Are we prepared to do what it takes to do so?

Personal Recommendation from the Team Behind We Love Mauritius

Do you want to protect your wealth and increase it in a time of low interest rates and high uncertainty?

The Mad Hatteea

Today’s joke is the Ombudsman, Mr S&M Hatteea, although one might say that the Office of the Ombudsman has been a joke since Independence. For those who don’t know, the purpose of the Ombudsman is to help a member of the public who has suffered injustice from any officer of any department of Government, the police or the prison service (somewhat topical). The only exclusions are the President, the Chief Justice and the Director of Public Prosecutions. He has powers of investigation equal to those of the Supreme Court. In other words, he is like ICAC on steroids.

At least that is the theory. In practice, the current Ombudsman is an old pussy cat who has lost his claws. Only when reminded of his Constitutional powers does he wake up from his slumber and actually do anything of any use except pass letters between the aggrieved party and his/her tormentors. We have been asking the Ombudsman for most of this year to sort out our approval with the committee of the CSR Fund. Please check our previous post for the details: When is an NGO not an NGO?

Privatising our patrimoine

In 2007, our “democratising the economy” Government introduced the Aquatic Business Activities Bill which would have paved the way for the privatisation of our coastal lands, lagoons and inshore waters. Our friends at Kalipso ferociously opposed this legislation and it was shelved. However, its essential elements were sneaked into law as part of the Finance Act 2008 (Miscellaneous Provisions). Finance Acts are supposed to be for annual budgetary measures, but this one amended the Fisheries and Marine Resources Act (2007) to permit vast tracts of sea to be leased for aquaculture.

The privatisation of our collective heritage continues apace with the construction of ever more hotels to chase the self-destructive dream of 2 million tourist arrivals per year. Our challenge to the Ministry of Tourism about this suicidal policy remains unanswered. First, the northern islets were leased at heavily discounted rates to concessionaires (who just happened to be the ruling parties’ political agents) and now they are being gifted with areas of public beach on the mainland.

Q: When is an NGO not an NGO?

A: When it is called We Love Mauritius (or WeLuvMu – to use our official name).

This seems to be the opinion of the “powers that be” in Mauritius. Despite the fact that, unlike the vast majority of NGOs, we are a fully registered charity, the following institutions have refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of our organisation:

• MACOSS
• NGO Trust Fund
• National Steering Committee of the UN Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (try saying that when you are dunk!)
• National Committee of the CSR Fund

What do all these institutions have in common? In our opinion, they are staffed by people who have relieved senior government officials of the need to use toilet paper. (We cannot deny that they are doing something to save the forests and hence protect the environment.) It seems that NGOs, in order to be approved, have to follow suit. Criticising policies and making fun of political blunders is a definite no-no. Oops!

Annual Review 2009

We Love Mauritius posts its Annual Review and Financial Statements on-line as past of its commitment to transparency and accountability. Is this the first Mauritian NGO to do so?

Exposing the Hidden Agenda Behind the CSR Fund

Having totally lost patience with the National CSR Committee (we did manage to last 5 months!) we have finally broken our silence on what we think of the policy that brought us the CSR Fund. You can find our views here: http://www.welovemauritius.org/node/29

Because We Love Mauritius has still not received a response to our application to be on the list of approved NGOs (made on 13 October 2009!), it is extremely difficult to obtain funding for our projects. This situation is unacceptable so we are starting to make waves about it.  As well as publishing our views on the CSR Fund we will be asking leading universities around the world for their assessment. We have made a complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman against Ali Mansoor, Rama Sithanen’s financial secretary, for failing to call the Committee to account.

We will keep you informed of future developments.