Xavier Luc Duval rebutted point by point what the speakers had said against his motion and the points that the whole of the opposition had reproached the government. But the majority will have opted to place its confidence in the current government rather than bring it down!
The major matters of discordance
The case of Slovak Peter Uricek, Covid 19 including deaths and medicines, the upcoming budget, inflation, fuel prices and also the pension were the major points that the Opposition Leader debated. “I don’t want to go into the other nonsense that has been said,” he said. He spoke about the economic state exposed by the various speakers. He called for the complete resignation of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Mauritius. He charged “according to the International Monetary Fund, it is the directives of the highest and the IMF, which have led to the depreciation of the rupee and the current rate of inflation”.
On fuel prices, he announced that “in a few, there will be an artificial attempt to raise fuel prices by 10% and then initiate a hypocritical move where in the next budget there will be a slight decrease. Petrol is sold at 67.30 but bought at Rs 37. The Government earns Rs 30 per litre. This is planned in the Finance Ministry. Don’t take more,” he said.
On the subject of pension, XLD made it clear that “it is a taboo subject. The IMF did not ask to touch the pension. The IMF has asked to target aid in these difficult times. I understand that there is an unhealthy attempt by some parties in the government. Do not hurt the social peace, nobody touches that. It will be your fault,” he warned.
The Opposition Leader made a prediction of the coming food shortage. He warned the government to stock up on commodities such as milk and edible oil. “We don’t want to end up like Sri Lanka with empty shelves,” he said.
Opposition demands
The Opposition is demanding that the government stop wasteful and unnecessary projects. ” One should be stupid to say stop development as Minister Alan Ganoo has misunderstood. We told you to stop wasteful projects”. He then went on to comment on the estimated 122% public debt rate, which is higher than Sri Lanka’s. “We would not have reached this rate if the government had not robbed the Bank of Mauritius to the tune of 158 billion.
The opposition is demanding an increase in the pension by Rs 2000 and the minimum wage, “the government has already raised Rs 15 billion from the CSG in the last one and a half years, they can increase… this year the inflation will increase to 15%” he said. XLD also mentioned that he agreed with the IMF on targeting less fortunate families and giving only household baskets and supermarket vouchers to the deserving, “and not just to certain officers”. XLD also called for the reduction of excessive fuel taxes, and the dismissal of the BOM board. He later called for the reintroduction of better interest rates for residents at the BOM and commercial banks.
Hunger riots
Regarding the ‘Hunger’ riots and the PM’s claims of involvement of members of the chamber, Xavier Luc Duval asked for proof of such involvement. On the electoral petition, the Opposition Leader announced that “ex-MP Adrien Duval will appeal because he is not satisfied”.
The Leader of the Opposition recalled that his intention behind this motion of censure was precisely so that this debate would not be brought back into the streets. He asked the Government to take its responsibilities and talk to the Ministry of Finance so that the next budget would be in the interest of the people. “If a government falls, it is not because the opposition wants it to, but because the people are suffering,” he said.
“Resounding “Noooo”
Speaker Phokeer closed the session by asking Xavier Luc Duval to “Order the Motion” and the House to proceed to a vote. “This assembly has no confidence in this government. Those in favour say Aye, those against, say No”. It was a deafening “Noooo” from the majority that was heard in the parliament. He announced that this “Motion of No Confidence is thus rejected”. Pravind Jugnauth, the Prime Minister announced the next parliamentary session for Tuesday 17 May at 11:30 am.
This debate will have taken more than 10 hours to reach this conclusion. Despite the fact that the motion of censure was rejected, the Opposition Leader does not take it as a total failure, as this exercise has led the government to explain itself to its people. However, he is optimistic that his motion will be supported by the majority “maybe not now but in the future. I don’t expect this motion to pass! We wanted to put the necessary pressure on the government so that, at least once, the budget will be in favour of the people for at least two years or they will really need the help of the state” concluded XLD earlier.
