I cannot but agree with our Cardinal when he deplores the fact that " sous des gouvenements successifs, il y a eu une tendance à nommer à certains postes des personnes pressenties pour leur aptitude à protéger des intérêts politiques partisans, plutót qu'à veillerà l'intérêt général. Ce type de pratique révèle combien la corruption, pratiquée au goutte-à-goutte, peut passer longtemps inaperçue, sans faire de bruit".
But there will be always some elements who will find these criticisms quite partisan because such failings also exist in our private sector. Others will point out that in corruption, there are two parties, the bribe giver and the bribe taker. Is it not true that most of the times the bribe givers are our main operators of the private sector?
What about our model of development? About the inequity of our economic system? What about the ease with which the private sector is securing the EIA certificates ? What about the series of smart cities that are affecting the environment jeopardising our future growth rates and impacting on the livelihoods of our fishermen; They could go on and on….They would like also to hear about these, otherwise it will be mere hypocrisy.
We have to be very careful when treading on this sensitive territory which is replete with widwspread intolerance and prejudices. In our special Mauritian context where politics and religion have become strange bedfellows and where the different religious groups and sects compete against each other not only for the State and the Private Sector’s resources for “nou bann” ( CSR money for e.g) but also for new adherents or converts, our central challenge is the challenge of accommodating the different religious groups, identities and cultures in our national dream of Mauritianism.
Such ethos -inclusionist, flexible, agglomerative- can help us to achieve our own unique version of the much-desired Mauritianism. Unfortunately, presently most of the religious groups are still abiding mainly to the doctrine of uniformity rather than accommodation. Until we have seen a progressive evolution from our presently hopeless multiculturalism to more of cross-cultural and inter-cultural communications, exchanges and activities, it’s preferable that the particularist fanaticism of the different religious groups, with any distinction whatsoever, be kept away from politics.
Without an open and constructive exchange to address our prejudices and narrow-mindedness, and in the absence of meaningful reforms for offering truly equal opportunities to every citizen, it is easier to take refuge in the realm of identities and support group vested interests, rather than consider alternative ideas, plans and actions to ensure greater justice and equality for all.
But we should not give up hope for the battle of a genuine “laic” and inter-cultural Mauritius.
