The Morisien Alliance, made up of the Mouvement Socialiste Militant (MSM), the Muvman Patriot Morisien, the Muvman Liberater and the Plateforme Militante, held its May 1st meeting in Vacoas. It was an extremely important gathering, as we are already in the run-up to the general elections. The ruling parties spared no expense to galvanize a very large crowd in Vacoas.
Finally, the veil was lifted on the famous Vacoas surprise. These were former journalist Jugdish Joypaul, who was present on the Alliance Morisien stage, and amateur meteorologist Afzal Goodur.
First of all, Pravind Jugnauth spoke of his government’s achievements in creating “the necessary environment to have more investment, both local and foreign”. He recalled that his government “had granted more than Rs 4.1 billion in subsidies for rice, flour and household gas… not to mention the sums spent during the pandemic”. As for pensions, Pravind Jugnauth claims to have done more than he promised. At the same time, he reminds the public that the opposition contested the elections on the basis that the old-age pension promise was an electoral snippet…” The PTr and MMM are still against increasing the pension…”, he declared. According to him, “his government has built 8,000 housing units… and is already working on building another 4,000.” In the field of education, he recalled that his government had reinstated subsidies for SC and HSC exam fees.
On another note, Pravind Jugnauth took a swipe at his opponents: “We mustn’t let the opposition set the country on fire!”. He asks, “What is Paul Bérenger’s record?” But he points out that “it was this government that introduced the minimum wage. And at the age of 18, we grant young adults an allowance of Rs 20,000”.
For Pravind Jugnauth, “Navin Ramgoolam caught the Covid-19 because of his carelessness and negligence. The government and I saved his life… During the confinement, Shakeel Mohamed incited people to revolt against the government. He is one of the greatest poisons within the opposition…”, he asserts.
He returned once again to the opposition’s criticism of the drains. “It rains a lot in specific places… Yes, drains need to be built. But even the biggest rivers in the country can’t drain away all the water… Navin Ramgoolam doesn’t have a lesson to teach us on this subject. Remember the tragedy of 2008, when a child died after being swept away by the waters, and that of 2013”, says Pravind Jugnauth.
According to the MSM leader: “Peter Uricek, the Slovak, was a major criminal and drug trafficker. I arranged for him to be handed over to the Slovak authorities. Reza Uteem defended him in Parliament. He attacked me. The Slovak took his case to court and lost. He has just been sentenced to 22 years in prison.”
He also spoke of the “Rs 230 million in Navin Ramgoolam’s safe”, alleging that Navin Ramgoolam still hasn’t said where he received the money from. “Out of this sum, there are 3 million new dollars.”
Strangely, it was Ivan Collendavelloo, who was the speaker before the MSM leader. He declared that the opposition “spends its time fighting over tickets” or “who will be prime minister or president.” He also referred to the bill on political party funding. “We need to be able to control who gives and where the money goes”, he argued, referring to the veil surrounding the dollars found in Navin Ramgoolam’s safes.
VPM Steven Obeegadoo responded by saying that the government is working “pou ti dimounn” and against racism, highlighting in particular the housing units built for various families. For his part, Alan Ganoo asserted, “I’ve never seen a Prime Minister do so much”.
