Our local politics does not churn out politicians that are unencumbered by ego or designs on high office.On the contrary it breeds large egos who run the country and institutions like personal fiefdoms.
Some of our journalists and chatwas have a responsibility in presenting a politician’s career in all its nuance and complexity, not as a glossy advert that can be instrumentalised ,weaponised and peddled by the politician ensuring that his political mismash of 46 years does resonate.
They were easy prey for they underestimated the consummate chameleon, who moves with his time, upgrading himself to the newest trend even if it demands some efforts to align himself to previous rivals and he knows how to pamper the court favorites and the new chatwas and build a network of patronage and clientelism essential to carve out the “mo mem meillleur” display.
The exhibits purposefully included the prestigious LSE, logically promoting him as a brilliant economist and it follows therefrom that there should be no doubt about his competence.
For others , especially the hardcore militants, he is the Trojan Horse of the private sector oligarchy , their agent, the representative, protector and defender of the narrow interests of the plutocracy.
But for many economists , because of his accumulation of successive gaffes over the years, it was difficult to digest and acknowledge the "mo mem meilleur " claim of our LSE poster boy.
� ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐:
1. ๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ค๐๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐: Sithanen took a FRN international loan on the eve of the 1995 general elections. The incoming finance minister, Manou Bheenick, later showed that this FRN borrowing was totally unnecessary, and had led to massive foreign exchange losses. Under heavy criticism for having recklessly indebted the country, Sithanen’s arguments failed to convince; it demonstrated the poverty of his intellect, and exposed the shallowness of his competence.
2. ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ช๐ฃ๐๐จ: The special funds, created outside the budget that were continued by other MoFs since then , were consistently criticised by the IMF . We were not abiding to sound and proper fiscal management as these funds should have been integrated into the budget for better expenditure coordination, accountability and transparency.
3. ๐พ๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ง๐๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ- The depreciation of the rupee(18%) and the high inflation rates experienced between 2006-2009: These years, under the Sithanen-Mansoor tandem , witnessed a total absence of substantive reforms and investment in the economic infrastructure which affected the growth rates of the productive sectors. In the absence of any effort to add meaningful pillars to the economy and improve its competitive edge, the monetary authorities took refuge in their historically tested instrument -competitive depreciation.
4. ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ฉ๐ค๐ง : The reduction of corporate tax from 35% to 15% was not accompanied by measures to rein in expenditure.(The botched-up Programme Based Budget reform failed to deliver).The Director of Audit’s Report reported that wastage and unnecessary expenditures had continued unabated. The reduction in income and corporate tax rates also weakened the revenue base.
5. ๐๐ ๐ข๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ฎ:Besides slashing corporate taxation, he gave huge promotion budgets to the tourism sector, and most importantly, ensured that the EU compensation money for the restructuring of the sugar industry went to the sugar barons.
6.๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ง ๐๐ช ๐จ๐รจ๐๐ก๐ :Under his watch, unsound, albeit criminal, hedging activities at Air Mauritius and STC had swallowed billions of rupees, and burdened the national debt.
7. ๐๐ฃ๐จ๐ค๐ช๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ช๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ค๐ก๐๐๐๐๐จ: A performing minister of finance, besides strengthening revenue, should try to reduce the proportion of current spending as against capital spending. Instead, he did the opposite, and put the burden of fiscal adjustment on capital expenditures, which were sorely needed to boost the country’s infrastructure.
8. ๐๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐จ : Sithanen pursued the IRS schemes with increased determination, an abomination decried by independent economists as a speculative and unproductive use of the country’s strategic land assets by selling them to foreigners. Land prices rose out of reach of most Mauritian households, while sugar barons extracted huge profits on their large property holdings, but contributed marginally to taxation. To add insult to injury, the middle classes were made to pay higher property taxes, the infamous NPRT and
8. ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐ช๐ ๐ผ๐ช๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ฎ : Sithanen was an ardent opponent of the introduction of VAT, and openly and defiantly expressed his objections to the proposed introduction of VAT in 1993.
If the budget has benefited from rising revenues, the integrated operations of the different tax departments under a unified revenue authority have played a critical role, not the NPRT or the taxation of savings.
Some of our economists ,unfortunately, are made by the media whereas others forge their reputation on their own by their insights and analysis of the economy .
Who has been at the forefront of economic issues during the past ten years-blasting the Jugnauth regime on creation of money, on the debt ratio, on the risks of being rated junk status by Moody's , on the falsification of budget figures, on GDP , on the level of investment and revenue ?
Not our "soi-disant" competent Sithanen.! We barely heard him during these long years in the opposition; the few interventions from him were just unbelievable blunders !
๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐๐๐๐๐จ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ข “๐ข๐ค ๐ข๐๐ข ๐ข๐๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ช๐ง” !
-U must be aware of his advice to Padayachy on helicopter money (sic)
- his misconceptions about the large "marge de manoeuvre " from the billions of rupees in the Special Funds (which I highlighted in an article in L’express) and
- his recent mix-up on the ๐ด๐ฐ๐ช ๐
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐น๐30 ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ด. Contrary to what is stated by the BoM Governor, MIC printed money does not amount to Rs81 bn, but only about Rs51 bn.
The amount of MIC deposits of Rs30 bn held with BoM is potential but not actual printed money. It only becomes printed money when MIC draws down on these deposits for lending or investing. If the BoM truly wanted to show its rejection of further money printing, it should have cancelled MIC deposits with BoM, and reduced its equity in MIC accordingly.
Far from what identity politics, the chatwas and the media are projecting, I just wanted to bring forth some few amendments to that hyperbolised and overblown image.
Vashish Bijloll
A greater baker but a poor distributor (large portion for the gros capital and small portion for the countrymen)
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Avivekanand Bissessur
One wonders if these people are not afraid of how they will be judged by History. Nul n'est indispensable, was a popular phrase of the late SGD. Qualities that we always search in our public figures are integrity, honesty, sincerity, and above all truthfulness.
How many of our public figures have these Qualities. How many of them can pass the litmus test?
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Bal Appadu
I am not an economist but I have a better grasp of it than our LSE man. I once asked a good friend of mine from Sciences Po about Sithanen and his facial response said it all!! He should just go quietly
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Gianish Horeessran
"LSE poster boy" rests on solid academic and crisis-management credentials, but critics point to repeated fiscal gambles—some bordering on negligence—that have tested the country’s balance sheet and public trust.
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