(Published in the Weekly no 415, 27 August 2010)
Mateo left us on Friday last. His parents ,Anaïs and Hugues, had been living in a tent , for three months after the family was evicted from state land in Pointe-aux-Sables. The baby, who had been staying with some good Samaritans, suffered from kidney disease. We wished we could have done more…a bare minimum…. But what about the State ?
Josie Lebrasse in last week’s Week-End wrote that “Cest ça le patriotisme (de Steve Obeegadoo), la Smart Mauritius, dont on se gargarise avec Rs 19 milliards de Safe city et ses cameras carcérales qui ne marchent pas , ces Rs 20 milliards du métro pendant que la protection de nos zones côtières sont défectueux ? Les 5 milliards de Safe City du stade de Côte d’Or…..alors même que la politique du logement social a été un cuisant échec ….? Tout cela rappelé, encore une fois, pour dire que le pays ne manque pas de moyens, mais de priorités sociales."
Exactly, as I had pointed out in my article “ Le naufrage du petit empereur” (in L’express of the 14th August), “We have been warning them time and again to tone down their social largesse and prioritise their investment and projects. ( Prestige projects : Metro Express, Safe City, Cote d’Or Multisports Complex,...) We had called for a rupture with our present economic model- a rupture that will mean a limit to the construction of hotels, the encroachment on our public beaches, a new Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) bill and an end to the Real Estate Schemes and Smart Cities. Instead of thinking and spending on the priorities of the country- its security, its sustainability, its eco-system, human capital formation , self-reliance, social housing, protecting the environment, le petit empereur was thinking big- of his legacy - Le Metro, High-income Economy, a booming construction sector, Safe city, etc.”
In a note titled “ Our new economic model :Meeting the housing demand of the lower-income groups” in the context of the pre-budget discussions, we had argued that as we are injecting Rs 140 biilion (28% of GDP whereas most economies are spending just 10-15% of their GDP) in the economy and we are all talking about doing things differently post Covid- food security, import substitution, land reform ...what about the social housing issue?
We can also solve the social housing problem once for all - access to decent, low-cost housing can make a meaningful dent on absolute poverty. Why not build on the present elan of solidarity and the injection of billions in the economy-another Rs 20 to 30 billion will not make much of a difference. China built a new hospital of 1000 beds within one week. China ,which has a record of getting things done fast even for monumental projects like our low-cost housing project, can help us solve our social housing problem within one year, if not months. Is it one of their-the authorities- priorities ?
"No way ", commented one of our committed columnist arguing that “Social housing for the poorest segments of society is definitely a big issue. But it has been neglected for decades. Government housing policy is geared towards the middle class who can afford a down payment and subsequent instalments on the acquisition of a home. Why can’t the government lease land at a reasonable fee to poor families who can build their own house or contract a housing loan for that purpose? Successive governments have distributed state land to their cronies for a low fee, which some of them have subleased or resold to third parties for a huge gain. When we talk about land reform, it should be not only for agricultural production purposes but also for social housing.”
As long as we have a political elite which a mere appendage of the economic elite and is at its mercy , they will be deciding the priorities of the country along the lines of IRS (which amounted lately to more than 75% of our FDI), Smart Cities and its gated communities, the High Net-Worth Individuals (HNWI) or Silver Economy…and the continuation of populist policies for the political elite to stay in power .
Sometime back , before the last elections, we had written. “Are they the change we want to see? We doubt if the contesting parties/alliances are capable or are intent on providing us with an alternative vision of the economy, an alternative model of development with ample creative ideas on developing the local economy, culture, education, sports, social housing, the fishing industry ,….while integrating environmental constraints. They do not seem to be ones that will give shape to a new development model; it will be more of tinkering at the edges. We had thought that the parties would be bracing themselves for a total break with the past - a politics of “rupture” or “du vrai changement”. No, we might end up with more of the same, safely anchored in the status quo.”
But now we have an excellent opportunity to deliver them a deadly blow; this regime is showing serious signs of running out of steam and is being strained to breaking point. It is becoming harder for it to cover the cracks and the chances of its collapse are greater than ever before ; the time is ripe now to flex our muscles and grow into a wider movement for a new combative approach for change- for decent housing- Drwa a enn lakaz- for our future Mateos .
Rendez vous Samdi 29 août à Port Louis !
