Lotus no.73 (New Local Government Act)

[Lotus]

LOTUS no.73 - Political and Social Commentary

Tuesday 22nd of April, 2003

CONTROLLED LEAKS ON NEW LGA-A DISGUISED ATTEMPT TO INSTALL A ONE-PARTY STATE?

That the Local Government Act was being completely revamped is not news. These changes have been expected since the middle of last year. More sinister, is the complete secrecy that has surrounded the new proposals, apart from infrequent controlled leaks to the press. The latest occurred twice in the past few days, and only the two sister newspapers, Le Mauricien and Week-End, were privileged with supposedly confidential information which they used as headlines. However, in view of the content of the articles, one wonders whether there has not been a gross attempt at manipulation of public opinion, rather than responsible journalism by the "independent" press (the "" in this case seem fully justified).

According to the article in Le Mauricien:
(1) "La réforme des Administrations régionales, avec une dévolution des pouvoirs et une décentralisation, a fait l'objet d'étude par un comité placé sous la présidence de Robert Ahnee"

(2) "Les différents conseils municipaux, suite à la réforme Lesjongard, devraient être constitués comme suit : Port-Louis, avec 18 conseillers contre 30 actuellement, Beau-Bassin/Rose-Hill : 15 conseillers, contre 24 actuellement ; Vacoas/Phœnix : 15 contre 24 ; Pamplemousses : 15 conseillers municipaux contre 36 membres au Conseil de districts du Nord ; Rivière-du-Rempart, Flacq et Grand-Port : 15 conseillers. Les cinq autres municipalités comprendront 12 édiles (Curepipe, Quatre-Bornes, Moka, Savanne et Rivière-Noire)"

(3) "Les douze maires seront élus pour un mandat de cinq ans"

(4) "Le nouveau Local Government Bill prévoit la création de nouvelles instances, notamment des comités de quartier pour des besoins de consultations avec les conseillers municipaux. Chaque comité de quartier comprendra 9 habitants résidant ou travaillant dans la région et deux conseillers municipaux nommés par le conseils. " As Village Councils will be abolished, the establishment of comités de quartiers will provide, in a spirit of democracy, a link between the population at grass-root levels", note le document de base

(5) "D'autre part, " an annual local rate shall be levied on the owner of every immovable property situated in the rating of a local Authority"

In the article published in Week-End two days later (almost a carbon copy apart from a few critical amendments):
(6) "Ce nouveau scrutin régional devra se dérouler d'ici la mi-2004"
(7) "L'une des raisons avancées pour justifier le mandat mairal de cinq ans est que cette formule constituera une occasion pour permettre aux maires de présenter un plan de développement de cinq ans et d'assurer sa mise à exécution au lieu de se retrouver avec des priorités modifiées chaque année.

These two articles are NOTHING LESS than an attempt to MANIPULATE PUBLIC OPINION with the help of a supposedly "independent" group of newspapers. It is not surprising that NOT ONE SINGLE other newspaper since Friday has been privy to any such information. Furthermore, the publication of the first article on Friday afternoon is nothing less than an abuse of the secrecy of cabinet deliberations, which the second article in Week-End tries to cover up as: "C'est ce qu'a appris Week-End de sources bien informées à l'Hôtel du gouvernement."

Our comments with regard to the 7 points above:

(1) It is to be noted that the report is being written by the same person who was behind the changes in the Rodrigues electoral system. Let alone his complete lack of experience with regard to Local Government Administration, there are striking differences between what he appears to be preparing for Mauritius compared to what has happened in Rodrigues.
(2) No more talk of proportional representation? Complete abolition of the ward system creating a situation where only the rich, or parties with massive funding, will be able to compete? Such a contrast to EIGHTEEN Regional Assembly Members with constituencies of THREE THOUSAND electors in Rodrigues, as opposed to Curepipe, say, with TWELVE councillors and an electorate of about FIFTY thousand.
(3) One Mayor for 5 years? A complete disregard to the realities of the Mauritian population. Instead of uniting the country, this measure is liable to create extreme frustration. If the choice of candidates is going to be hard in the towns, it is going to be almost impossible in the rural areas.
(4) "in a spirit of democracy, a link between the population at grass-root levels": this simple phrase looks like it came out of Orwell's "1984". After half a century of village councils (one only has to read Chit Dukhira's recent "History of Mauritius" to understand the struggle involved to implant a decent local government system at the rural level), we are expected to believe that the abolition of ELECTED village councils to be replaced by NOMINATED comités de quartier (which will comprise of nothing less than party agents) is done "in a spirit of democracy"! This is called objective reporting by Le Mauricien.
(5) The introduction of a rural tax has always been considered political suicide. Yet this government has found a way around this problem, and it is eloquent that BOTH articles in Le Mauricien and Week-End quote almost the same words, yet do not feel the slightest necessity to even mention the words RURAL TAX. More objective reporting, I suppose?
(6) More manipulation of public opinion: why wait till mid-2004? Why not hold the elections earlier, say before September 2003? The government always boasts that it has the mandate from the people for the Medpoint agreement, so surely this would be a wonderful opportunity to test their support?
(7) It is incredible that the same person that created the post of Chief Commissioner of Rodrigues, along with the extremely important powers and status associated, was quite happy to allow the Regional Assembly to decide on the title-bearer, yet in the case of the new municipalities, so much interest is expressed as to continuity, EVEN THOUGH we might find ourselves in a situation were a mayor elected for 5 years may NOT have a majority in the municipal council.

The proposals, as detailed in Le Mauricien and Week-End, represent the most retrograde step in Local Government legislation over the last fifty years. They are nothing less than a disguised attempt by the government to make use of its position to try and install a monopoly of power at all political levels of Mauritian Society. It is to be hoped that newspapers, instead of acting like local versions of Pravda, try to balance their reporting of such important changes.

Sanjit Teelock

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[Mauricien]

If it happens then it is worrying...but it sounds more like PTR propaganda

[Lotus]

Well it has happened, so it is not PTr propaganda.

You can see my new xcomments on the thread: "A quick analysis of certain sections of THE LGA".

Lotus