Return of the Jedi: Take 2

The Light shone in the Darkness and the Darkness said: “You’re Home early Honey!”

The Application below was delivered to the Supreme Court on Monday, the Fourth Day of February 2013. (Because Jeff Lingaya’s Life was at stake, We couldn’t wait until May 4th). It had been cleared by the Master of the Court and sworn in front of the Registrar. For about an hour, Court Officers sent Our Director was sent from pillar to post and back again around the Court buildings. He didn’t see any geese, wild or otherwise, but did become sufficiently enraged to start video recording the farce. Under threat of private  prosecution  for perverting the course of justice, the Judges’ Secretaries finally accepted the Application. However, after the Judge in Chambers had considered it for some length of time, the Application was rejected it for ”vice de procédure”. Let the public give its judgement on whether or not the Judge was just.

Say NO! to coal – And yes to what?

“BLACKOUTS!” This is the threat that some quarters are using to argue the case for more coal-fired electricity production, i.e. CT Power. Environmentalists and local residents are protesting against this but have yet to present viable alternatives. What is the real situation and do we have other options?

Electric Vehicles: Green Leaf vs. Black Coal

During MID week at the University of Mauritius in March 2009, Nissan presented its plan for our island to be the 7th nation in the world where the Leaf, their new electric car, would be available for sale. In February 2012, we became the first country in the southern hemisphere to have the vehicles delivered, so why does it appear that we might be the last place on earth where one is actually sold? Some say this is because the government cannot determine what import duty to levy on each car, but might this apparent confusion actually be the fruit of incoherent policies?

MID Life Crisis

When the Prime Minister announced that he and Joël de Rosnay had conceived Maurice Ile Durable during a brief encounter in Paris, did he imagine that the gestation period would last 3 years 9 months? Finally, the long-awaited MID Strategy is about to be born… Or is it?

At the MID workshop last Thursday, some participants were calling for delivery to be postponed for another year. Had they peeked at the baby and seen the 4 limbs, head and body that they had carefully constructed in the 6 Working Groups, stitched together like Frankenstein’s monster? Alas it is worse than that. One participant summarised the overall conclusion to a long round of applause: “For the moment, the strategy we have looks more like Mauritius Green Washing than Maurice Ile Durable.”

Feedback: Daft MID Strategy

Overview

MID was launched in 2008 in Paris and 2009 in Mauritius, promising to fundamentally change Mauritian society and its impact on Nature in four major spheres: economic, social, political and environmental. A visioning exercise was conducted in 2010 to capture the population’s dreams for the future of the Republic. However, the output has been ignored and this has been rightly criticised by the Truth and Justice Commission. Instead of a co-created, inspiring blue-print for the future, the MID Vision is a bland statement of a few generic elements of sustainable development within a framework that is far from comprehensive. There is little in the MID Vision that permits one to visualise the future and indeed there is nothing in it that is specific to Mauritius – it could just as easily apply to France.

MID – Maurice Ile Dépendante

The Empires Strike Back

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

A tiger-class merchant ship was making its way with the rest of the fleet towards the Golden Dawn of the New Age. Without the added weight of weaponry, it was one of the fastest craft around, it’s path illuminated by a state-of-the-art 4-sight navigation system which resembled a balanced tripod supporting a bright spark. All would have been perfect, except that three officers coveted the captain’s chair and the fickle crew regularly mutinied in favour of one or the other.

The first was an old Jedi Knight, who had turned completely to the Dark Side. The second was a short-sighted son of a former captain, who had lied about his lineage, assassinated his rivals and betrayed the most vulnerable members of the crew to get the post. The third was a rejected member of a race of condescending albinos, who had deceived the crew into believing that the ship could not operate without them, even though they did little work themselves. They had been the first to board the ship and, though few in number, still controlled most of the trade. Somehow they had managed to convince everyone that they had a divine right to occupy the best quarters and live in luxury while others lived in squalor.

Shortly after an unusually traumatic upheaval, the Dark Knight was reinstated as Captain. Once in control, he ripped the tripod apart, giving each leg as a prize to his key supporters and jettisoned the bright spark. The merchant ship meandered aimlessly. Half-hearted attempts were made to copy the trading strategies of others and unprofitable sectors were subsidised, mostly in the interests of the albinos and their fratres, whom many suspected of secretly manipulating the ship’s controls. Caring less about the lack of progress, the wannabe captains continued their feud for the captain’s chair.

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?

Re-Branding Maurice Ile Durable

OPEN LETTER TO THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Dear Mr Virahsawmy

This is the first time I have written to you but I sense a connection because of our common Dravidian heritage. Unlike your namesake who I consider a traitor to both the Dravidian and African communities.

Anyway, I am a bit concerned about the status of the “Maurice Ile Durable” project or rather “Maurice Iles Durables” as I and the whole island of Rodrigues prefer to write. So I have had an idea. Think back to when your esteemed colleague Xavier Luc Picard, now Captain of INS Enterprise Mauritius was Minister for “Giving Away Islet Nature Reserves to his Friends and Agents of the Prime Minister”. Following his amazingly successful re-branding of our island from “The Model for Heaven” to “Mauritius – c’est un plaisir” (infinitely better than my own suggestions of “The Divine Island” and “The Island of Eden”), I humbly suggest you do the same thing with MID. I think it is possible with just a minor change in the last word. Permit me to offer some suggestions.

But first let us reflect on some notable MID events of last week.

The Island of Eden

Dear Mr President

Imagine a charity from Mauritius being awarded the Nobel Peace prize. Imagine you being the Patron of that charity and receiving one of the most prestigious awards ever made in the history of mankind? Ludicrous? YES! And yet while it is extremely unlikely, it is just possible…

You see an international news organisation that publishes reader-sourced news has just published this joke story which we released to promote our Divine Island:

Honda’s stepping stones to sustainability

Quite intriguingly, Honda chose the redundant sugar factory –  l’Aventure du Sucre – as the venue to launch three hybrid cars in Mauritius. This excellent museum portrays, in graphic detail, the inhuman exploitation of good people of colour by the “then” racist Franco-Mauritian elite. We attended to publicly ridicule the hybrid green-wash propaganda but were pleasantly surprised…

First, because our sparring partner from Yale, and arch supporter of the hybrid deception, Vedant Seeam was guest of honour. Second, because Mr Yoshiaki Nakamura had the perfect repost to our katana-like critique. In his presentation, the President of Honda Motor Southern Africa declared that Honda is committed to an avergage 50% reduction in CO2 emissions from its vehicles by 2020. How on earth did he expect hybrids to achieve that? we asked. He replied that hybrids are but a stepping stone to fossil-fuel free transport, whether it be all electric or hydrogen. Respect sir!