This Motion of No Confidence, a motion of blame by the opposition, against the government follows the sorrowful events that the population has accepted to live for some time. This action was repeated 26 years later, in 1996. This was done by Hervé Duval, who was appointed as a corrective deputy after the death of Sir Gaëtan Duval. The parliamentary session of 10 hours and 30 minutes was not enough. The house stands adjourned for Friday 13 2022 at 15 hours. In short, all the subjects of discord are and will be spread out and especially defended.
The Whys of the Hows
To better understand this approach, it is a permissible retaliatory measure. A Motion of No Confidence, allows parliamentarians to decide whether the Prime Minister and his executives still enjoy a parliamentary majority. If he loses this motion, the Prime Minister is called upon to resign within 3 days followed by the appointment of a government candidate to the post or else 7 days to dissolve the National Assembly leading to an automatic general election. This has never happened in Mauritius before. It happened in 1979 in England and most recently in April this year in Pakistan, the Pakistani Prime Minister, Imran Khan, was overthrown by a vote of no confidence in him by the National Assembly, following several weeks of political crisis. And last week in Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa finally resigned, marking the decline of the Rajapaksa family clan. For the record, in Mauritius, 26 years ago, Hervé Duval presented such a motion of censure against PM Dr Navin Ramgoolam. The PTr in alliance with the MMM had won all 60 seats in the December 1995 elections. In 2018, it was Shakeel Mohammed who used this tool but it was a futile attempt as this motion is to be tabled by an Opposition Leader and not a member.
The ultimate tool used by Xavier Luc Duval
This motion of censure was presented on Tuesday 10 May. In an open letter Xavier Luc Duval, the Leader of the Opposition explains “this initiative follows an unprecedented situation faced by thousands of Mauritian families, on the verge of despair. It is in response to the anger of the people which has caused riots in the country recently. He cites three prominent cases that have led him “a man, suffering from cancer and who, at retirement age, is now forced to go on a collection at the end of each month to buy extremely expensive medicines. A woman who can no longer afford to pay for school transport and no longer knows how to ensure that her daughter can attend school regularly. And finally, the father who is on minimum wage and is simply unable to provide for his family.
He went on to explain that he does not want a repeat of the Sri Lankan situation in Mauritius, i.e. riots causing loss of life before the resignation of the Prime Minister. The Opposition leader outlined the main issues: the soaring prices, the empty state coffers due to the squandering of financial resources during Covid 19, the postponement of the municipal elections, the visible and palpable corruption and the poor health of parliamentary democracy in the country at present.
In his address, XLD outlined the current state of the Mauritian economy, drawing on reports from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Mauritius Bankers’ Association. He went on to call for an increase in the minimum wage rate and pension by Rs 2,000. He also spoke of removing the excessive health measures in the country and cancelling some unnecessary projects at this time for a recovery and injection of subsidies.
He thus made an accumulation of waste, estimated at Rs 74 billion, citing scandals such as BAI, Cote d’Or Sports Complex, Safe City project, Betamax… He also mentioned the Rs 15 billion recovered by the Generalized Social Contribution since 2020. He also mentioned a possible food shortage coming from next month according to his estimates and lamented that only 15 medicines are subsidised out of 4,800 while the biggest consumers are those who constitute the elderly population. He also criticised the increase in fuel prices and the expenses cited in the latest audit report. He blamed the government for this waste and borrowing, saying “When you borrow, you usually mortgage the future. He called for the consideration of municipal elections immediately.
Insufficient time for 28 speakers
The parliamentary session of Tuesday 10 May will not be sufficient and will be extended to Friday 13 May before a conclusion is reached. Here is the list and the time allocated to the 28 speakers today, Xavier Luc Duval was given 40 minutes to speak, Renganaden Dayachy, Minister of Finance, 20 minutes, Paul Berenger 15 minutes, Soodesh Callichurn Minister of Labour, 20 minutes, Shakeel Mohammed 15 minutes, Minister of Social Security Fazila Jeewa Daureeawoo 20 minutes, Dr. Farhad Aumeer, 7 minutes as against Dr. Kailesh Jagutpal, Minister of Health, 20 minutes Rajesh Bhagwan 15 minutes, Attorney General Maneesh Gobin 10 minutes, Michael Sik Yuen 7 minutes, VPM Anwar Husnoo, 20 minutes, Patrick Assirvaden 15 minutes, Sanjit Nuckcheddy 20 minutes, Arianne Navarre- Marie 10 minutes, Francisco François 20 minutes, Kushal Lobine 15 minutes, Kavi Ramano 20 minutes, Ritesh Ramful 15 minutes, VPM and Education Minister Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun 20 minutes, Reza Uteem 15 minutes, Bobby Hureeram 20 minutes, Nando Bodha 10 minutes, Transport Minister Alan Ganoo 20 minutes, Dr Arvind Boolell 15 minutes, Ivan Collendavelloo 20 minutes, VPM Steven Obeegadoo 1 hour, and PM Pravind Jugnauth 1 hour. For the Summing up, Xavier Luc Duval has been allocated 40 minutes.
Namely, originally 630 minutes were to be allocated to the censure motion, 396 minutes for the government and 234 minutes for the opposition, in the spirit of fairness and proportionality. But this time was calculated to be insufficient by the opposition or Patrice Armance, the Whip made it clear that he was forced to reduce the list of opposition speakers. So, for a better spirit of fairness and proportionality, Whips Naveena Ramyad and Patrice Armance are working on a new formula. Hence the extension to Friday 13 May. What will be the ultimate conclusion of these burning debates? What will be the consequences for the country? Answers this Friday 13.
