Need for new think-tanks

            At a round table  meeting  in the last week of August  at the Link, Ebene on « Appropriate monetary and fiscal policies for export-led growth », organised by  Mauritius Export Association (MEXA),  “les bons techniciens” of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED) were arguing that  there were no cause for alarm  and that we could continue with business as usual.

Titbits: The MedPoint Scam; Appreciating Rupee: The Dutch Disease;The Monetary Policy Stance: A Pause; MTPA: Failing to deliverThe Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment report for Mauritius

The MedPoint Scam: Flouting the rules

If the officials of the concerned ministries had abided to the guidelines/rules of the Investment Project Process Manual (IPPM) issued in accordance with the Finance and Audit Act 2008, there would not have been any scandal whatsoever. The IPPM aims at organizing the Investment Project Process by developing a single window system for project approval and establishing best practices for investment expenditure in the Budget.

Titbits:A Long-Term Strategic Plan; Special Funds; Appreciating Real Exchange Rate;Worrying trends.

A Long-Term Strategic Plan

As the economy limps along at the back of the international field, our dismal record in the implementation of capital projects continues. Indeed, we continue to register unsatisfactory progress on the completion of critical infrastructure targets.

Titbits :Changing the rules of the game; Parastatal reform; FDI takes a hit;PBB still struggling in “deliver­ology”; Repo rate increase: A cautionary approach .

Changing the rules of the game

If our friends, the TINAs, (There Is No Alternatives), intent on getting off the hook, in their right to reply, continuously change the rules of the game to prop up their statements, it tends to portray a deliberate attempt at obfuscating the debate because they are short of arguments.

Getting our priorities right

      The TINAs have cleverly deflected some awkward questions with an easy grace by simplifying the issue as one of poor management rather than a lack of funds. It portrays an incorrect perception on the issue which pertains more to the problem of getting their priorities right rather than that of funding or poor management. Indeed decision-making is a team-work with civil servants doing their part and policy-makers theirs. What if our TINAwallahs- the top civil servants- have failed in doing their part- that they have mismanaged the whole process of decision-making ? Let me explain.!

TINA policies- a re-assessment

      We were overwhelmed by the avalanche of carefully picked achievements – an exalted list compiled very technocratically and in minute details. It took us some time to recover from the aggressive reaction of the TINA's (There Is No Alternative) shouting brigade. Since the decapitation of the TINA movement, the tinawallahs have been running helter-skelter like headless chickens. This is reflected in their reaction, typical of cheerleaders rather than that of a sophisticated anchor - their TINA boss.  Their job is to create chaos when things are getting difficult. This distracts attention from what is centre-stage. The idea is that if you make lot of noise the key issues might get lost in the commotion such that we lose sight of the macro-picture.

The Guy must go !

            We saw it coming. And the chickens have finally come home to roost. We were given some  preliminary warnings that the whole structure at Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED) was not just dysfunctional but nonfunctioning but we kept hoping that it will be able to reform itself to see better days.  But the recent piece of breaking news about the falsification of documents by junior officers of the Ministry appears to be the last straw that is revealing the cracks in the system- nothing but the result of a long culture of arrogance , Me-knows-everything  and poor management.